Lepton Flavor Violation Processes Research Articles

Distinguishing models with μ → e observables

Upcoming experiments will improve the reach for the lepton flavour violating (LFV) processes μ → eγ, μ → eoverline{e}e and μA → eA by orders of magnitude. We investigate whether this upcoming data could rule out some popular TeV-scale LFV models (the type II seesaw, the inverse seesaw and a scalar leptoquark) using a bottom-up EFT approach. We take the data to be the twelve Wilson coefficients that experiments can constrain and in principle determine independently. In this 12-dimensional coefficient space, each model can only predict points in a specific subspace; for instance, flavour change involving singlet electrons is suppressed in the seesaw models, and the leptoquark induces negligible coefficients for 4-lepton scalar operators. Using the fact that none of these models can populate the whole region accessible to upcoming experiments, we show that μ → e experiments have the ability to rule them out.

MEG II physics and detector performance

In the panorama of the state-of-the-art searches for extremely rare Charged Lepton Flavor Violating (CLFV) processes, the Mu-E-Gamma (MEG) experiment is definitely a reference point in the intensity frontier of modern physics research, setting the best upper limit on the μ + → e + γ decay. The upgrade of MEG, MEG II, wants to give further impetus to the CLFV searches with muons. MEG II relies on a series of upgrades: on the photon side we point up improvements of the γ detector resolutions and acceptance; on the positron side we rely on completely brand new detectors with better acceptance, efficiency and performances; on the Trigger and Data Acquisition (DAQ) side we are able to exploit a higher muon beam intensity despite the increased number of read out channels thanks to a new and optimized electronics. After three years of commissioning, in 2021 the MEG II experiment finally entered the physics data taking phase. An overview of the MEG II physics and experimental contexts is presented, together with the current detector performances based on data. Thanks to the new experimental apparatus the final sensitivity goal is expected to be one order of magnitude better than the first phase of MEG.

Search for charged lepton flavor violation in J/ψ decays at BESIII

The observation of any charged lepton flavor violation (CLFV) process would be a clear signal of new physics beyond the Standard Model. Various decay modes, including lepton (μ, τ) decays, pseudoscalar meson (K,π) decays, vector meson (ϕ, J/ψ, Υ) decays, and Higgs decays, have been explored to detect CLFV. Focusing on the search for CLFV at the τ-charm region, the results of the search for J/ψ → eτ/eμ using the 10 billion J/ψ events collected by the BESIII experiment are presented. The upper limits (ULs) at the 90% confidence level are ℬ(J/ψ → e ± τ ∓) < 7.5 × 10-8 and ℬ(J/ψ → e ± μ ∓) < 4.5 × 10-9, respectively. Improving the previously published limits by two orders of magnitudes, the results are the most stringent CLFV searches in heavy quarkonium system.

Box-enhanced charged lepton flavor violation in the Grimus-Neufeld model

In the Grimus-Neufeld model (GNM) the neutrino mass generation from an extended Higgs sector leads to bounds for charged lepton flavor violating (cLFV) processes. Here we update bounds from a previous study by extending the parameter space to a nonvanishing Majorana phase of the Pontecorvo-Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata matrix and to heavier charged Higgs boson masses. Three-body cLFV decays are shown to contribute significantly in the large mass regions, as the boxes are enhanced relatively to photonic diagrams. This is in contrast to the smaller mass region studied before, in which the two-body decays tightly restrict the parameter space. The Majorana phase is shown to change limits within 1 order of magnitude. The tiny seesaw scale is assumed, which makes the cLFV decays in the GNM similar to the cLFV decays in the scotogenic model and the scoto-seesaw models.

Phenomenological and cosmological implications of a scotogenic three-loop neutrino mass model

We propose a scotogenic model for generating neutrino masses through a three-loop seesaw. It is a minimally extended inert doublet model with a spontaneously broken global symmetry U(1)′ and a preserved ℤ2 symmetry. The three-loop suppression allows the new particles to have masses at the TeV scale without fine-tuning the Yukawa couplings. The model leads to a rich phenomenology while satisfying all the current constraints imposed by neutrinoless double-beta decay, charged-lepton flavor violation, and electroweak precision observables. The relatively large Yukawa couplings lead to sizable rates for charged lepton flavor violation processes, well within future experimental reach. The model could also successfully explain the W mass anomaly and provides viable fermionic or scalar dark matter candidates.

A minimal modular invariant neutrino model

We present a neutrino mass model based on modular symmetry with the fewest input parameters to date, which successfully accounts for the 12 lepton masses and mixing parameters through 6 real free parameters including the modulus. The neutrino masses are predicted to be normal ordering, the atmospheric angle θ23 is quite close to maximal value and the Dirac CP phase δCP is about 1.34π. We also study the soft supersymmetry breaking terms due to the modulus F-term in this minimal model, which are constrained to be the non-holomorphic modular forms. The radiative lepton flavor violation process μ → eγ is discussed.

Measuring lepton flavor violation at the LHC

A new process with the lepton flavor violation (LFV) is presented in the setup for the LHC. The LFV is induced by the one-loop effect through Higgs bosons in the framework of the type-III two Higgs doublet model. At the decoupling limit of the parameter space of type-III two Higgs doublet model, where the masses of heavier Higgs bosons are at TeV scale while the mass of the lighter Higgs boson remains as the SM Higgs boson, the LFV process is strongly suppressed at the tree level. However, one-loop induced LFV process is instead realized to be a sizeable production cross section in vector-boson fusion production process at LHC. Since the LFV process may not be produced by the $s$-channel $H/A$ or ${H}^{\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}}$ bosons decays only, rather mixture with the $t$-channel production mode allows us to access to the higher Higgs boson mass region than current $s$-channel based searches at the LHC. This gives complementary path to cover the parameter spaces in LFV couplings.

Lepton flavor violation and scotogenic Majorana neutrino mass in a Stueckelberg U(1)X model

We construct a scotogenic Majorana neutrino mass model in a gauged U(1)X extension of the standard model, where the mass of the gauge boson and the unbroken gauge symmetry, which leads to a stable dark matter (DM), can be achieved through the Stueckelberg mechanism. It is found that the simplest version of the extended model consists of the two inert-Higgs doublets and one vector-like singlet fermion. In addition to the Majorana neutrino mass, we study the lepton flavor violation (LFV) processes, such as ℓi → ℓjγ, ℓi → 3ℓj, μ − e conversion rate in nucleus, and muonium-antimuonium oscillation. We show that the sensitivities of μ → 3e and μ − e conversion rate designed in Mu3e and COMET/Mu2e experiments make both decays the most severe constraints on the μ → e LFV processes. It is found that τ → μγ and τ → 3μ can reach the designed significance level of Belle II. In addition to explaining the DM relic density, we also show that the DM-nucleon scattering cross section can satisfy the currently experimental limit of DM direct detection.

Muon conversion to an electron in nuclei in the B−L symmetric SSM

In a few years, the COMET experiment at J-PARC and the Mu2e experiment at Fermilab will probe the $\mu-e$ conversion rate in the vicinity of $\mathcal{O}(10^{-17})$ for an Al target with high experimental sensitivity. Within the framework of the minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model with local $B-L$ gauge symmetry (B-LSSM), we analyze the lepton flavor violating (LFV) process of $\mu-e$ conversion in nuclei. Considering the constraint of the experimental upper limit of the LFV rare decay $\mu\rightarrow e\gamma$, the $\mu-e$ conversion rates in nuclei within the B-LSSM can achieve $\mathcal{O}(10^{-12})$, which is 5 orders of magnitude larger than the future experimental sensitivity at the Mu2e and COMET experiments and may be detected in the near future.

Flavour and dark matter in a scoto/type-II seesaw model

The neutrino mass and dark matter (DM) problems are addressed in a Standard Model extension where the type-II seesaw and scotogenic mechanisms coexist. The model features a flavour \U0001d4b58 discrete symmetry which is broken down to a \U0001d4b52, stabilising the (scalar or fermion) DM particle. Spontaneous CP violation is implemented through the complex vacuum expectation value of a singlet scalar field, inducing observable CP-violating effects in the lepton sector. The structure of the effective neutrino mass matrix leads to constraints on the low-energy neutrino observables, namely the atmospheric neutrino mixing angle θ23, the Dirac CP-violating phase δ and the absolute neutrino mass scale mlightest. In particular, in most cases, the model selects one θ23 octant with δ ≃ 3π/2. Moreover, the obtained lower bounds on mlightest are typically in the range probed by cosmology. We also analyse the constraints imposed on the model by current experimental limits on charged lepton flavour violating (cLFV) processes, as well as future projected sensitivities. It is shown that the Higgs triplet and scotogenic contributions to cLFV never overlap and that the interplay among Yukawa couplings, dark charged scalar masses and mixing leads to a wide parameter-space region compatible with current experimental bounds. We investigate the scalar and fermion DM parameter space of our model by considering relic density, direct-detection (DD) and collider constraints. For scalar DM the mass interval 68 GeV ≲ mDM ≲ 90 GeV is viable and will be probed by future DD searches. In the fermion DM case, correct relic density is always obtained for mDM ≳ 45 GeV thanks to dark fermion-scalar coannihilation channels.

Lepton flavor violation, lepton (g − 2)μ, e and electron EDM in the modular symmetry

We study the lepton flavor violation (LFV), the leptonic magnetic moments (g − 2)μ, e and the electric dipole moment (EDM) of the electron in the Standard-Model Effective Field Theory with the ΓN modular flavor symmetry. We employ the stringy Ansatz on coupling structure that 4-point couplings of matter fields are written by a product of 3-point couplings of matter fields. We take the level 3 finite modular group, Γ3 for the flavor symmetry, and discuss the dipole operators at nearby fixed point τ = i, where observed lepton masses and mixing angles are well reproduced. Suppose the anomaly of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon to be evidence of the new physics (NP), we have related it with (g − 2)e, LFV decays, and the electron EDM. It is found that the NP contribution to (g − 2)e is proportional to the lepton masses squared likewise the naive scaling. We also discuss the correlations among the LFV processes μ → eγ, τ → μγ and τ → eγ, which are testable in the future. The electron EDM requires the tiny imaginary part of the relevant Wilson coefficient in the basis of real positive charged lepton masses, which is related to the μ → eγ transition in our framework.

Importance of vector leptoquark-scalar box diagrams in Pati-Salam unification with vector-like families

We study lepton flavor violation (LFV) induced by one-loop box diagrams in Pati-Salam (PS) unification with vector-like families. The vector leptoquark (LQ) associated with the PS gauge symmetry breaking generally causes various LFV processes such as KL → μe and μ → e conversion at the tree-level, thereby driving its mass scale to be higher than PeV scale. The vector-like families are introduced to suppress such tree-level LFV processes, allowing the LQ to have TeV scale mass. In this paper, we point out that there are inevitable one-loop contributions to those LFV processes from the box diagrams mediated by both one LQ and one scalar field, even if the tree-level contributions are suppressed. We consider a concrete model for demonstration, and show that the vector-like fermion masses have an upper bound for a given LQ mass when the one-loop induced processes are consistent with the experimental limits. The vector-like fermion mass should be lighter than 3 TeV for 20 TeV LQ, if a combination of the couplings does not suppress KL → μe decay. Our findings would illustrate importance of the box diagrams involving both LQ and physical modes of symmetry breaking scalars in TeV scale vector LQ models.

A non-renormalizable neutrino mass model with S3 ⊗ Z2 symmetry

The lepton sector is studied within a flavored non-renormalizable model where the S3 ⊗ Z2 flavor symmetry controls the masses and mixings. In this work, the effective neutrino as well as the charged lepton mass matrices are hierarchical and these have (under a benchmark in the charged sector) a kind of Fritzsch textures that accommodate the mixing angles in good agreement with the last experimental data. The model favors the normal hierarchy, this also predicts consistent values for the CP-violating phase and the |mee| effective Majorana neutrino mass rate. Along with this, the branching ratio for the lepton flavor violation process, µ → eγ, is below the current bound.

Phenomenology of one zero texture Yukawa matrix in a flavor symmetric scotogenic model

The scotogenic model is well known for accommodating small neutrino mass and dark matter. Here, we have realized the scotogenic model with the help of discrete flavor symmetry [Formula: see text]. We have obtained three one zero textures of Yukawa coupling matrices from the model and have studied its impact on neutrino phenomenology and related aspects of cosmology. On the basis of [Formula: see text] symmetry, we have further discarded two structures of one zero texture Yukawa coupling matrix. We further analyze if the effective mass of active neutrinos obtained by the virtue of the Yukawa coupling matrix is consistent with the KamLAND-Zen limit for [Formula: see text]. Also different lepton flavor violating (LFV) processes such as [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] are implemented and their influence on neutrino phenomenology is studied corresponding to the Yukawa coupling matrix. The entire work is carried out considering the dark matter mass [Formula: see text] in the region 450–750 GeV. We have also obtained some significant results for baryon asymmetry of the Universe in agreement with the one zero texture of the coupling matrices. Furthermore, interesting results for relic abundance on the basis of distinct mass splittings are between the inert scalars.

Non-zero θ13 and δCP phase with A4 flavor symmetry and deviations to tri-bi-maximal mixing via Z2 × Z2 invariant perturbations in the neutrino sector

In this work, a flavour theory of a neutrino mass model based on A4 symmetry is considered to explain the phenomenology of neutrino mixing. The spontaneous symmetry breaking of A4 symmetry in this model leads to tribimaximal mixing in the neutrino sector at a leading order. We consider the effect of Z2×Z2 invariant perturbations in neutrino sector and find the allowed region of correction terms in the perturbation matrix that is consistent with 3σ ranges of the experimental values of the mixing angles. We study the entanglement of this formalism on the other phenomenological observables, such as δCP phase, the neutrino oscillation probability P(νμ→νe), the effective Majorana mass |mee| and |mνeeff|. A Z2×Z2 invariant perturbations in this model is introduced in the neutrino sector which leads to testable predictions of θ13 and CP violation. By changing the magnitudes of perturbations in neutrino sector, one can generate viable values of δCP and neutrino oscillation parameters. Next we investigate the feasibility of charged lepton flavour violation in type-I seesaw models with leptonic flavour symmetries at high energy that leads to tribimaximal neutrino mixing. We consider an effective theory with an A4×Z2×Z2 symmetry, which after spontaneous symmetry breaking at high scale which is much higher than the electroweak scale leads to charged lepton flavour violation processes once the heavy Majorana neutrino mass degeneracy is lifted either by renormalisation group effects or by a soft breaking of the A4 symmetry. In this context the implications for charged lepton flavour violation processes like μ→eγ, τ→eγ, τ→μγ are discussed.

New limits from lepton flavour violating processes on the Littlest Higgs model with T-parity

We study lepton flavor violation (LFV) within the Littlest Higgs Model with T parity (LHT) realizing an inverse seesaw (ISS) mechanism of type I. In this scenario there appear new $\mathcal{O}$(TeV) Majorana neutrinos, driving LFV. We are analyzing the heavy Majorana neutrinos effects on LFV processes: $\ell \to \ell' \gamma$, $Z \to \bar{\ell}\ell'$, $L \to 3 \ell$ decays and $\mu \to e$ conversion in nuclei but we emphasize Type III decay channel of $L \to 3 \ell$ which are known as "wrong-sign": $\ell \rightarrow \ell' \ell'' \Bar{\ell}'''$ satisfying $\ell \neq \ell' = \ell'' \neq \ell'''$, since these processes vanish in the traditional LHT. First, we get values to $| \theta_{ej} \theta^{\dagger}_{\mu j}|$, $| \theta_{ej} \theta^{\dagger}_{\tau j}|$, and $| \theta_{\mu j} \theta^{\dagger}_{\tau j}|$ through $\ell \to \ell' \gamma$. With aid of these limits for mixing matrices, we can demonstrate that results for branching ratios of wrong sign processes yield within one order of magnitude below present bounds. We do not expect large correlations among the two wrong-sign decay modes. Also, we see that the mean values of heavy Majorana neutrino masses for all LFV processes are quasi-degenerate around 4 TeV.

Modular symmetry in the SMEFT

We study the modular symmetric standard model effective field theory. We employ the stringy Ansatz on coupling structure that 4-point couplings ${y}^{(4)}$ of matter fields are written by a product of 3-point couplings ${y}^{(3)}$ of matter fields, i.e., ${y}^{(4)}={y}^{(3)}{y}^{(3)}$. In this framework, we discuss the flavor structure of bilinear fermion operators and 4-fermion operators, where the holomorphic and antiholomorphic modular forms appear. From the Ansatz, the ${A}_{4}$ modular-invariant semileptonic four-fermion operator $[{\overline{E}}_{R}\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}{E}_{R}][{\overline{D}}_{R}\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}{D}_{R}]$ does not lead to the flavor changing (FC) processes since this operator would be constructed in terms of gauge couplings $g$ as ${y}^{(3)}\ensuremath{\sim}g$. The chirality flipped bilinear operator $[{\overline{D}}_{R}\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}{D}_{L}]$ also does not lead FC if the mediated mode corresponds to the Higgs boson ${H}_{d}$. In this case, the flavor structure of this operator is the exactly same as the mass matrix. On the other hand, if the flavor structure of the operator is not the exactly same as the mass matrix, the situation would change drastically. Then, we obtain the nontrivial relations of FC transitions at nearby fixed points $\ensuremath{\tau}=i,\ensuremath{\omega},i\ensuremath{\infty}$, which are testable in the future. As an application, we discuss the relations of the lepton flavor violation processes $\ensuremath{\mu}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}e\ensuremath{\gamma},\ensuremath{\tau}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}\ensuremath{\mu}\ensuremath{\gamma}$ and $\ensuremath{\tau}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}e\ensuremath{\gamma}$ at nearby ${\ensuremath{\tau}}_{e}=i$, where the successful lepton mass matrix was obtained. We also study the flavor changing 4-quark operators in the ${A}_{4}$ modular symmetry of quarks. As a result, the minimal flavor violation could be realized by taking relevant specific parameter sets of order one.

Zee model with quasidegenerate neutrino masses and where to find it

We present a Zee model with a family dependent Z_2 symmetry for radiative neutrino masses. Our motivation is to get a model that correctly describes neutrino oscillation phenomena, while at the same time offers definite predictions. The imposed Z_2 symmetry greatly reduces the number of free parameters in the model. These parameters are then determined from the neutrino data, from which one can study its outcomes. Our setup only admits quasidegenerate neutrino masses with the sum of neutrino masses between 100 and 130 meV, the effective Majorana mass between 20 and 40 meV, and the effective electron neutrino mass between 48 and 53 meV. The ratio of the vacuum expectation values of the Higgs doublets, tan beta , is found to be tan beta lesssim 0.5 and tan beta gtrsim 10. The former is ruled out by lepton flavor violation (LFV) processes, such as mu rightarrow egamma and mu rightarrow e conversion, which are determined up to two loops. For the latter, these LFV processes are within reach of the next generation of experiments. Moreover, for tan beta gtrsim 10, the couplings of heavy neutral scalars to dimuon are significant. If they are sufficiently light, i.e., lesssim 200 GeV, collider search for their decays into muon pair provides a stronger constraint on most parts of the model parameter space than the LFV ones.

Lepton flavor violation in the Littlest Higgs Model with T parity realizing an inverse seesaw

We study lepton flavor violation (LFV) within the Littlest Higgs Model with T parity (LHT) realizing an inverse seesaw (ISS) mechanism of type I. With respect to the traditional LHT, there appear new \U0001d4aa(10 TeV) Majorana neutrinos, driving LFV. For τ → mathrm{ell ell}^{prime}overline{mathrm{ell}}^{{primeprime} } (including wrong-sign, ℓ = e, μ) decays and μ → e conversion in Ti, we get typical rates only one order of magnitude below present bounds (ℓ → ℓ′γ can reach the current upper limit) and for Z → overline{tau}mathrm{ell } , μ → eeoverline{e} and conversion in Au, results are within two orders of magnitude from present limits. Correlations among modes are drastically different to the traditional LHT and other models, which would ease the confrontation of this scenario to eventual measurements of LFV processes involving charged leptons.

Sensitivity of lepton flavor violation process B+ → K+μ−τ+ in future experiments

The upcoming upgrades of Large Hadron Collider (LHC) to High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) and the proposed Future Circular Collider (FCC-hh) offer an opportunity of observing the Lepton Flavor Violating (LFV) process beyond the Standard Model. Monte Carlo simulation of generating and detecting an LFV process [Formula: see text] on CMS at LHC (Run-3), HL-LHC, and FCC-hh reference detector (FRD) is performed. This process is favored by the leptoquark models, particularly the three-site Pati–Salam model but disfavored by the gauged [Formula: see text] model, both of which are introduced to address the [Formula: see text] anomalies. We study possible backgrounds with similar final states and use Multi-Variable Analysis (MVA) to discriminate signal events from possible backgrounds. The MVA output is used to estimate Single Event Sensitivity (SES) of this process, yielding encouraging results on CMS at HL-LHC and FRD at FCC-hh with considerable SES values of about [Formula: see text] (CMS, LHC Run-3), [Formula: see text] (CMS, HL-LHC) and [Formula: see text] (FRD, FCC-hh), suggesting it’s promising to probe such process in the future high energy physics experiments and constrain the new physics models more rigorously.