Heavy Neutrino Mass Research Articles

Limits on W_{R} from Meson Decays.

In this Letter we show that pseudoscalar meson leptonic decay data can be used to set stringent limits on the mass m_{W_{R}} of a right-handed vector boson, such as the one that appears in left-right symmetric models. We have shown that for a heavy neutrino with a mass m_{N} in the range 50<m_{N}/MeV<1900 one can constraint m_{W_{R}}≳(4-19) TeV at 90% CL. This provides the most stringent experimental limits on the W_{R} mass to date for this heavy neutrino mass range.

Calculable neutrino Dirac mass matrix and one-loop θ¯ in the minimal left-right symmetric model

We revisit the contribution to the strong CP parameter θ¯ from leptonic CP violation at one-loop level in the minimal left-right symmetric model in the case of generalized parity as the left-right symmetry. The Hermitian neutrino Dirac mass matrix MD can be calculated using the light and heavy neutrino masses and mixings. We propose a parametrization of the right-handed neutrino mixing matrix VR and construct the heavy neutrino mass that maintains the Hermiticity of MD. We further apply it to evaluate the one-loop θ¯, denoted as θ¯loop, as a function of the sterile neutrino masses for explicit examples of VR. By requiring the magnitude of θ¯loop≲10−10, we derive the upper limits on the sterile neutrino masses, which are within reach of direct searches at the Large Hadron Collider and neutrinoless double beta decay experiments. Furthermore, our parametrization is pertinent for other phenomenological investigations. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Search for heavy Majorana neutrinos in e±e± and e±μ± final states via WW scattering in pp collisions at [formula omitted] TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for heavy Majorana neutrinos in scattering of same-sign W boson pairs in proton–proton collisions at s=13 TeV at the LHC is reported. The dataset used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb−1, collected with the ATLAS detector during 2015–2018. The search is performed in final states including a same-sign ee or eμ pair and at least two jets with large invariant mass and a large rapidity difference. No significant excess of events with respect to the Standard Model background predictions is observed. The results are interpreted in a benchmark scenario of the Phenomenological Type-I Seesaw model. New constraints are set on the values of the |VeN|2 and |VeNVμN⁎| parameters for heavy Majorana neutrino masses between 50 GeV and 20 TeV, where VℓN is the matrix element describing the mixing of the heavy Majorana neutrino mass eigenstate with the Standard Model neutrino of flavour ℓ=e,μ. The sensitivity to the Weinberg operator is investigated and constraints on the effective ee and eμ Majorana neutrino masses are reported. The statistical combination of the ee and eμ channels with the previously published μμ channel is performed.

Post-inflationary leptogenesis and dark matter production: metric versus Palatini formalism

We investigate production of non-thermal dark matter particles and heavy sterile neutrinos from inflaton during the reheating era, which is preceded by a slow-roll inflationary epoch with a quartic potential and non-minimal coupling (ξ) between inflaton and gravity. We compare our analysis between metric and Palatini formalism. For the latter, the tensor-to-scalar ratio, r, decreases with ξ. We find that for ξ = 0.5 and number of e-folds ~ 60, r can be as small as ~ O\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\mathcal{O} $$\\end{document} (10−3) which may be validated at future reaches of upcoming CMB observation such as CMB-S4 etc. We identify the permissible range of Yukawa coupling yχ between inflaton and fermionic DM χ, to be O\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\mathcal{O} $$\\end{document} (10−3.5) ≳ yχ ≳ O\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\mathcal{O} $$\\end{document} (10−20) for metric formalism and O\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\mathcal{O} $$\\end{document} (10−4) ≳ yχ ≳ O\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$ \\mathcal{O} $$\\end{document} (10−11) for Palatini formalism which is consistent with current PLANCK data and also within the reach of future CMB experiments. For the scenario of leptogenesis via the decay of sterile neutrinos produced from inflaton decay, we also investigate the parameter space involving heavy neutrino mass MN1 and Yukawa coupling yN1 of sterile neutrino with inflaton, which are consistent with current CMB data and successful generation of the observed baryon asymmetry of the universe via leptogenesis. In contrast to metric formalism, in the case of Palatini formalism, for successful leptogenesis to occur, we find that yN1 has a very narrow allowable range and is severely constrained from the consistency with CMB predictions.

CP violation in lepton-number-conserving processes through heavy Majorana neutrinos at future lepton colliders

Small neutrino masses confirmed in the neutrino oscillation experiments indicate the need for new physics beyond the standard model. Seesaw mechanism is an interesting way to extend the standard model for explaining the neutrino masses. In a low-scale type-I seesaw mechanism, the tiny masses of neutrinos can be explained by heavy Majorana neutrino masses. Heavy Majorana neutrinos can lead to lepton-number-violating processes and the induced CP violation can contribute to the baryon asymmetry in the Universe. Heavy Majorana neutrinos can also lead to lepton-number-conserving processes and in this paper, we study the CP violation in lepton-number-conserving processes through heavy Majorana neutrinos at future lepton colliders. New possible observations of CP violation can also be connected to evidences of new physics beyond the standard model.

The physics case for neutrino–neutrino collisions

Addressing the mass origin and properties of neutrinos is of strong interest to particle physics, baryogenesis and cosmology. Popular explanations involve physics beyond the standard model, for example, the dimension-5 Weinberg operator or heavy Majorana neutrinos arising from ‘seesaw’ models. The current best direct limits on the electron neutrino mass, derived from nuclei beta decay or neutrinoless double beta decay processes, are at the sub-electronvolt level. Here we propose a novel neutrino–neutrino collider where the neutrino beam is generated from TeV scale muon decays. Such collisions can happen between either neutrinos and anti-neutrinos, or neutrinos and neutrinos. We find that with a tiny integrated luminosity of about 10−5 fb−1 we can already expect to observe direct neutrino anti-neutrino annihilation, νν¯→Z , which also opens the door to explore neutrino related resonances νν¯→X . The low luminosity requirement can accommodate a relatively large emittance muon beam. Such a device would also allow for probing heavy Majorana neutrino and effective Majorana neutrino mass through ν ν → HH to a competitive level, for both electron and muon types.

Superradiant leptogenesis

We investigate how superradiance affects the generation of baryon asymmetry in a universe with rotating primordial black holes, considering a scenario where a scalar boson is coupled to the heavy right-handed neutrinos. We identify the regions of the parameter space where the scalar production is enhanced due to superradiance. This enhancement, coupled with the subsequent decay of the scalar into right handed neutrinos, results in the non-thermal creation of lepton asymmetry. We show that successful leptogenesis is achieved for masses of primordial black holes in the range of order O(0.1 g) − O(10 g) and the lightest of the heavy neutrino masses, MN ~ O(1012) GeV. Consequently, regions of the parameter space, which in the case of Schwarzchild PBHs were incompatible with viable leptogenesis, can produce the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry.

Beyond lepton number violation at the HL-LHC: resolving heavy neutrino-antineutrino oscillations

Collider testable low-scale seesaw models predict pseudo-Dirac heavy neutrinos, that can produce an oscillating pattern of lepton number conserving and lepton number violating events. We explore if such heavy neutrino-antineutrino oscillations can be resolved at the HL-LHC. To that end, we employ the first ever full Monte Carlo simulation of the oscillations, for several example benchmark points, and show under which conditions the CMS experiment is able to discover them. The workflow builds on a FeynRules model file for the phenomenological symmetry protected seesaw scenario (pSPSS) and a patched version of MadGraph, able to simulate heavy neutrino-antineutrino oscillations. We use the fast detector simulation Delphes and present a statistical analysis capable of inferring the significance of oscillations in the simulated data. Our results demonstrate that, for heavy neutrino mass splittings smaller than about 100 μeV, the discovery prospects for heavy neutrino-antineutrino oscillation at the HL-LHC are promising.

Search for heavy Majorana neutrinos in the τ final state at proton-electron colliders

We utilize the lepton number violation signal process p e− → τ+jjj to search for heavy Majorana neutrinos at future proton-electron colliders. The LHeC (FCC-eh) is considered to run with an electron beam energy of 60 GeV, a proton beam energy of 7 (50) TeV and an integrated luminosity of 1 (3) ab−1, and the electron beam is considered to be unpolarized. We apply detector configurations and simulate signal and related standard model background events for both hadronic τh and leptonic τℓ final states, ℓ being a muon. After preselection, multivariate analyses are performed to reject the background. The strategy to reconstruct the heavy neutrino mass is developed and distributions of reconstructed mass are presented. Discovery sensitivities on parameter |VτN|2|VeN|2/(|VτN|2 + |VeN|2) for the heavy neutrino mass between 10 and 3000 GeV are predicted. At the 2-σ significance, the best discovery sensitivity is ∼ 1.2 × 10−5 (5.0 × 10−6) at the LHeC (FCC-eh) when mN ∼ 100 GeV for the hadronic τh final state. Sensitivities for the leptonic τℓ final state are found to be similar to those for the hadronic τh final state for most of the parameter space investigated. We also derive the limits on mixing parameters from electroweak precision data (EWPD) and DELPHI experiment. Assuming |VτN|2 = |VeN|2 = |VℓN|2, sensitivity bounds from the LHeC and FCC-eh experiments are found to be stronger than those from EWPD when mN ≲ 900 GeV, and also stronger than those from DELPHI when mN ≳ 70 GeV. Constraints are also interpreted and compared in the |VτN|2 vs. |VeN|2 plane. Compared with current limits from EWPD, DELPHI, and LHC experiments, future pe experiments can probe large additional regions in the parameter space formed by |VτN|2 and |VeN|2, and thus significantly enhance the discovery potential for a large portion of the |VτN|2 vs. |VeN|2 plane.

Michel parameters for elucidating the neutrinos nature and searching for new physics

&#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D; We use the most general four-lepton effective interaction Hamiltonian to investigate the impact of massive Dirac and Majorana neutrinos on the leptonic decays of muons and taus. Our analysis encompasses the specific energy and angular distribution of the resulting charged lepton, accounting for both the initial and final polarizations of the charged leptons. Additionally, we identify the emergence of novel generalized Michel parameters and concentrate on the influence of the heavy neutrino masses, which can make significant contributions in cases where new sterile neutrinos exhibit non-negligible mixing. Our analysis reveals that the most promising scenario occurs in the case of τ decays, featuring one heavy neutrino with a mass approximately ranging from 10^2 to 10^3 MeV. In this setting, the discrepancy between the Dirac and Majorana cases could reach an order of magnitude of 10^−4, which is significant enough to be detected in present and future experiments.&#x0D; &#x0D; &#x0D;

Connecting (g − 2)μ to neutrino mass in the extended neutrinophilic 2HDM

One simple way to lower the scale of the seesaw mechanism that generates neutrino masses is to attribute part of their smallness to a suppressed vacuum expectation value of a second Higgs doublet as in the neutrinophilic 2HDM or in the type IB seesaw model. On that structure we add one charged singlet scalar to induce a chirally enhanced contribution to (g – 2)μ with the same righthanded neutrinos of the seesaw. We discuss the interplay of generating the necessary contribution to the latter with lepton flavor violation which is also necessarily brought to low scale. We show that it is possible to explain (g –2)μ even for heavy neutrino masses of order of a few TeV.

Constraining the transitional magnetic dipole moment interaction between active and heavy neutrinos with the Z' at FASERnu

We investigate the effects of the transitional magnetic dipole type interactions of the active-to-heavy-neutrino associated with a new neutral gauge boson Z' on neutrino-nucleon scattering at the ForwArd Search ExpeRiment-nu (FASERnu ). We consider the neutral-current neutrino-nucleon scattering (nu Arightarrow N A', where A' denotes the disintegrated nuclei) as the production mechanism of the heavy neutrino N at FASERnu and estimate the sensitivity reach on the magnetic-type dipole coupling omega _{nu _alpha } for a range of heavy neutrino mass (1,textrm{GeV}< textrm{M}_{textrm{N}} < 70 mathrm{~GeV}). In this study, we consider three benchmark models, in which the heavy neutrino is coupled to L_e, L_mu or L_tau doublet, respectively.

Can SUSY relax lepton number violation constraints coming from loop corrections to light neutrino masses on the low-scale seesaw mechanism?

Heavy neutrinos from the Type-I Seesaw model can have a large mixing with active states, motivating their search at collider experiments. However, loop corrections to light neutrino masses constrain the heavy neutrinos to appear in pseudo-Dirac pairs, leading to a potential suppression of lepton number violating parameters. In this work we perform a detailed review of a proposal to relax constraints on lepton number violation by adding supersymmetry. We define the conditions necessary to maximise the SUSY screening effect, with the objective of allowing a larger mass splitting between low-scale heavy neutrino masses. We find that the sole addition of SUSY does not guarantee a screening, and that favourable cases have some degree of fine-tuning.

Probing the mixing parameter |VτN|2 for heavy neutrinos

Because of the difficulty in detecting final state taus, the mixing parameter $|V_{\tau N}|^2$ for heavy neutrino $N$ is not well studied at current experiments, compared with other mixing parameters $|V_{e N}|^2$ and $|V_{\mu N}|^2$. In this paper, we focus on a challenging scenario where $N$ mixes with active neutrino of tau flavour only, i.e. $ |V_{\tau N}|^2 \neq 0 $ and $|V_{e N}|^2 = |V_{\mu N}|^2 = 0$. We derive current constraints on $|V_{\tau N}|^2$ from the rare $Z$-boson decay and electroweak precision data (EWPD). To forecast the future limits, we also investigate the signal $p p \to \tau^{\pm} \tau^{\pm} j j $ via a Majorana heavy neutrino at future proton-proton colliders. To suppress the background, both taus are required to decay leptonically into muons, leading to the final state containing two same sign muons, at least two jets plus moderate missing energy. The signal and relevant background processes are simulated at the HL-LHC and SppC/FCC-hh with center-of-mass energy of 14 TeV and 100 TeV. The preselection and multivariate analyses based on machine-learning are performed to reduce background. Limits on $|V_{\tau N}|^2$ are shown for heavy neutrino mass in the range 10-1000 GeV based on measurements from the rare $Z$-boson decay and EWPD, and searches at the HL-LHC and SppC/FCC-hh with integrated luminosities of 3 and 20 ab$^{-1}$.

Non-Minimal Approximation for the Type-I Seesaw Mechanism

A non-minimal approximation for effective masses of light and heavy neutrinos in the framework of a type-I seesaw mechanism with three generations of sterile Majorana neutrinos which recover the symmetry between quarks and leptons is considered. The main results are: (a) the next-order corrections to the effective mass matrix of heavy neutrinos due to terms O(θMD) are obtained, which modify the commonly used representation for the effective mass (MD is a Dirac neutrino mass when the electroweak symmetry is spontaneously broken); and (b) the general form of the mixing matrix is found in non-minimal approximation parametrized by a complex 3×3 matrix satisfying a nontrivial constraint. Numerical analysis within the νMSM framework demonstrates the very small effect of new contributions of direct collider observables as opposed to their possible significance for cosmological models.

New physics in WWγ at one loop via Majorana neutrinos

Current experimental data guarantees the presence of physics beyond the Standard Model in the neutrino sector. The responsible physical description might show itself through virtual effects on low-energy observables. In particular, massive neutrinos are able to produce contributions to the triple gauge coupling $WW\gamma$. The present paper deals with the calculation, estimation and analysis of one-loop contributions from Majorana neutrinos to the Lorentz-covariant $WW\gamma$ parametrization. Our calculations show that CP-odd effects vanish exactly, whereas CP-even contributions, $\Delta\kappa$ and $\Delta Q$, remain. According to our estimations, the effects from heavy neutrinos with masses in the range of hundreds of GeVs dominate over those from light neutrinos. This investigation shows that contributions from heavy Majorana neutrinos to the anomaly $\Delta\kappa$ could be as large as $\sim{\cal O}(10^{-3})$, one order of magnitude below the Standard-Model contribution. We find that the International Linear Collider, sensitive to triple gauge couplings participating in $WW$ production, might measure these effects in electron-positron collisions at a center-of-mass energy of $800\,{\rm GeV}$, as long as heavy-neutrino masses are $\gtrsim300\,{\rm GeV}$ and below $\sim1500\,{\rm GeV}$.

Tests of low-scale leptogenesis in charged lepton flavour violation experiments

We consider low-energy tests of low-scale leptogenesis based on the type I seesaw scenario with three right-handed singlet neutrinos νlR. In this scenario, successful leptogenesis is possible for quasi-degenerate in mass heavy Majorana neutrinos N1,2,3, M1,2,3≅M, |Mj−Mi|≪M, i≠j=1,2,3, heavy Majorana neutrino masses M∼(0.05−5×105) GeV, and Nj charged current and neutral current weak interaction couplings as large as O(10−2). We derive the constraints on the corresponding leptogenesis parameter space from the existing data from low-energy experiments, including the limits from the experiments on μ→eγ decay and on the rate of μ−e conversion in gold. We show also that the planned and upcoming experiments on charged lepton flavour violation with μ±, MEG II on the μ→eγ decay, Mu3e on μ→eee decay, Mu2e and COMET on μ−e conversion in aluminium and PRISM/PRIME on μ−e conversion in titanium, can probe significant region of the viable leptogenesis parameter space, and thus have a potential for a discovery. Experiments on τ→eee(μμμ) and τ→e(μ)γ decays (e.g., BELLE II) also can probe a part of the leptogenesis parameter space, although a relatively small one.

Michel parameters in the presence of massive Dirac and Majorana neutrinos

We analyse the effects of Dirac and Majorana neutrinos on leptonic decays of muon and tau leptons using the most general four-lepton effective interaction Hamiltonian of dimension six. We calculate the specific energy and angular distribution of the final charged lepton, including the polarizations of the initial and final charged leptons. We discuss the new generalized Michel parameters and focus on the effects of the heavy neutrino masses that would lead to sizable contributions on scenarios where the new sterile neutrinos have non-negligible mixing. Specifically, the most promising scenario is found for the case of τ decay with one heavy final-state neutrino with a mass around 102 − 103 MeV, where the linear term suppression could be of order 10−4, low enough to be measured in current and forthcoming experiments.

EV Hubble scale inflation with a radiative plateau: Very light inflaton, reheating, and dark matter in B−L extensions

We study radiative plateau-like inflation \& Z$_{BL}$-portal freeze-in fermionic dark matter (DM) in a minimal B-L extended model. The U(1)$_{B-L}$ Higgs, responsible for heavy neutrino masses, also drives inflation in the early universe, thanks to radiative corrections from the heavy neutrinos \& the Z$_{BL}$ gauge boson. In our benchmark choice for the U(1)$_{B-L}$ gauge coupling $g_{B-L}\sim10^{-4}$, a light Z$_{BL}$ boson can be explored by current and future lifetime frontier experiments, such as FASER and FASER 2 at the LHC, SHiP, Belle II and LHCb. For the benchmark, the Hubble scale of inflation ($\mathcal{H}_{inf}$) is very low ($\mathcal{H}_{inf} = \mathcal{O}(100)$ eV) \& the inflaton turns out to be very light with mass of $\mathcal{O}(1)$ eV, and consequently the decay width of inflaton is extremely small. We investigate a 2-field system with the inflaton/B-L Higgs and the Standard Model (SM) Higgs, and find that the reheating with a suffuciently high temperature occurs when the water-fall direction to the SM Higgs direction opens up in the trajectory of the scalar field evolution.

Tri-resonant leptogenesis in a seesaw extension of the Standard Model

We study a class of leptogenesis models where the light neutrinos acquire their observed small masses by a symmetry-motivated construction. This class of models may naturally include three nearly degenerate heavy Majorana neutrinos that can strongly mix with one another and have mass differences comparable to their decay widths. We find that such a tri-resonant heavy neutrino system can lead to leptonic CP asymmetries which are further enhanced than those obtained in the usual bi-resonant approximation. Moreover, we solve the Boltzmann equations by paying special attention to the temperature dependence of the relativistic degrees of freedom of the plasma. The latter results in significant corrections to the evolution equations for the heavy neutrinos and the lepton asymmetry that have been previously ignored in the literature. We show the importance of these corrections to accurately describe the dynamical evolution of the baryon-to-photon ratio ηB for heavy neutrino masses at and below 100 GeV, and demonstrate that successful leptogenesis at lower masses can be significantly affected by the variation of the relativistic degrees of freedom. The parameter space for the leptogenesis model is discussed, and it could be probed in future experimental facilities searching for charged lepton flavour violation and heavy neutrinos in future Z-boson factories.