Majorana Mass Scale Research Articles

From Dirac to Majorana: The cosmic neutrino background capture rate in the minimally extended Standard Model

We investigate the capture rate of the cosmic neutrino background on tritium within the Standard Model, extended to incorporate three right-handed singlet neutrinos with explicit lepton-number violation. We consider a scenario where the 6×6 neutrino mixing matrix factorizes into three independent 2×2 pairs and analyze the states produced from weak interactions just before neutrino decoupling. Taking into account the unrestricted Majorana mass scale associated with lepton number violation, spanning from the grand unification scale to Planck-suppressed values, we observe a gradual transition in the capture rate from a purely Majorana neutrino to a purely (pseudo) Dirac neutrino. We demonstrate that the capture rate is modified if the lightest active neutrino is relativistic, and this can be used to constrain the tiniest value of mass-squared difference ∼10−35 eV2, between the active-sterile pair, probed so far. Consequently, the cosmic neutrino capture rate could become a promising probe for discerning the underlying mechanism responsible for generating neutrino masses. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Supersymmetric baryogenesis in a hybrid inflation model

We study baryogenesis in a hybrid inflation model which is embedded to the minimal supersymmetric model with right-handed neutrinos. Inflation is induced by a linear combination of the right-handed sneutrinos and its decay reheats the universe. The decay products are stored in conserved numbers, which are transported under the interactions in equilibrium as the temperature drops down. We find that at least a few percent of the initial lepton asymmetry is left under the strong wash-out due to the lighter right-handed (s)neutrinos. To account for the observed baryon number and the active neutrino masses after a successful inflation, the inflaton mass and the Majorana mass scale should be 1013 GeV and mathcal{O} (109–1010) GeV, respectively.

No-go limitations on UV completions of the neutrino option

We discuss the possible origin of the Majorana mass scale(s) required for the "Neutrino Option" where the electroweak scale is generated simultaneously with light neutrino masses in a type-I seesaw model, by common dimension four interactions. We establish no-go constraints on the perturbative generation of the Majorana masses required due to global symmetries of the seesaw Lagrangian.

Clockwork for neutrino masses and lepton flavor violation

We investigate the generation of small neutrino masses in a clockwork framework which includes Dirac mass terms as well as Majorana mass terms for the new fermions. We derive analytic formulas for the masses of the new particles and for their Yukawa couplings to the lepton doublets, in the scenario where the clockwork parameters are universal. When the universal Majorana mass vanishes, the zero mode of the clockwork sector forms a Dirac pair with the active neutrino, with a mass which is in agreement with oscillations experiments for a sufficiently large number of clockwork gears. On the other hand, when it does not vanish, neutrino masses are generated via the seesaw mechanism. In this case, and due to the fact that the effective Yukawa couplings of the higher modes can be sizable, neutrino masses can only be suppressed by postulating a large Majorana mass scale. Finally, we discuss the constraints on the mass scale of the clockwork fermions from the non-observation of the rare leptonic decay μ→eγ.

A model realizing inverse seesaw and resonant leptogenesis

We construct a model realizing the inverse seesaw mechanism. The model has two types of gauge singlet fermions in addition to right-handed neutrinos. A required Majorana mass scale (keV scale) for generating the light active neutrino mass in the conventional inverse seesaw can be naturally explained by a "seesaw" mechanism between the two singlet fermions in our model. We find that our model can decrease the magnitude of hierarchy among the mass parameters by $\mathcal{O}(10^4)$ from that in the conventional inverse seesaw model. We also show that a successful resonant leptogenesis occurs for generating the baryon asymmetry of the universe in our model. The desired mass degeneracy for the resonant leptogenesis can also be achieved by the "seesaw" between the two singlet fermions.

Lepton dipole moments in supersymmetric low-scale seesaw models

We study the anomalous magnetic and electric dipole moments of charged leptons in supersymmetric low-scale seesaw models with right-handed neutrino superfields. We consider a minimally extended framework of minimal supergravity, by assuming that CP violation originates from complex soft SUSY-breaking bilinear and trilinear couplings associated with the right-handed sneutrino sector. We present numerical estimates of the muon anomalous magnetic moment and the electron electric dipole moment (EDM), as functions of key model parameters, such as the Majorana mass scale mN and tan(\beta). In particular, we find that the contributions of the singlet heavy neutrinos and sneutrinos to the electron EDM are naturally small in this model, of order 10^{-27} - 10^{-28} e cm, and can be probed in the present and future experiments.

Charged lepton flavor violation in supersymmetric low-scale seesaw models

We study charged lepton flavour violation in low-scale seesaw models of minimal supergravity, which realize large neutrino Yukawa couplings thanks to approximate lepton-number symmetries. There are two dominant sources of lepton flavour violation in such models. The first source originates from the usual soft supersymmetry-breaking sector, whilst the second one is entirely supersymmetric and comes from the supersymmetric neutrino Yukawa sector. Within the framework of minimal supergravity, we consider both sources of lepton flavour violation, soft and supersymmetric, and calculate a number of possible lepton-flavour-violating transitions, such as the photonic decays of muons and taus, mu -> e gamma, tau -> e gamma and tau -> mu gamma, their neutrinoless three-body decays, mu -> e e e, tau -> e e e, tau -> mu mu mu, tau -> e e mu and tau -> e mu mu, and the coherent mu -> e conversion in nuclei. After taking into account the exclusion bounds placed by present experiments of lepton flavour violation, we derive combined theoretical limits on the universal heavy Majorana mass scale mN and the light-to-heavy neutrino mixings. Supersymmetric low-scale seesaw models offer distinct correlated predictions for lepton-flavour-violating signatures, which might be discovered in current and projected experiments, such as MEG, COMET/PRISM, Mu2e, super-BELLE and LHCb.

Minimal models with light sterile neutrinos

We study the constraints imposed by neutrino oscillation experiments on the minimal extensions of the Standard Model (SM) with n R gauge singlet fermions (“righthanded neutrinos”), that can account for neutrino masses. We consider the most general coupling of the new fields to the SM fields, in particular those that break lepton number and we do not assume any a priori hierarchy in the mass parameters. We proceed to analyze these models starting from the lowest level of complexity, defined by the number of extra fermionic degrees of freedom. The simplest choice that has enough free parameters in principle (i.e. two mass differences and two angles) to explain the confirmed solar and atmospheric oscillations corresponds to n R = 1. This minimal choice is shown to be excluded by data. The next-to-minimal choice corresponds to n R = 2. We perform a systematic study of the full parameter space in the limit of degenerate Majorana masses by requiring that at least two neutrino mass differences correspond to those established by solar and atmospheric oscillations. We identify several types of spectra that can fit long-baseline reactor and accelerator neutrino oscillation data, but fail in explaining solar and/or atmospheric data. The only two solutions that survive are the expected seesaw and quasi-Dirac regions, for which we set lower and upper bounds respectively on the Majorana mass scale. Solar data from neutral current measurements provide essential information to constrain the quasi-Dirac region. The possibility to accommodate the LSND/MiniBoone and reactor anomalies, and the implications for neutrinoless double-beta decay and tritium beta decay are briefly discussed.

Spontaneously broken parity and consistent cosmology with transitory domain walls

Domain wall structure which may form in theories with spontaneously broken parity is generically in conflict with standard cosmology. It has been argued that Planck scale suppressed effects can be sufficient for removing such domain walls. We study this possibility for three specific evolution scenarios for the domain walls, with evolution during a radiation dominated era, during a matter dominated era, and that accompanied by weak inflation. We determine the operators permitted by the supergravity formalism and find that the field content introduced to achieve desired spontaneous parity breaking makes possible Planck scale suppressed terms which can potentially remove the domain walls safely. However, the parity breaking scale, equivalently the Majorana mass scale ${M}_{R}$ of the right-handed neutrino, does get constrained in some of the cases, notably for the matter dominated evolution case which would be generic to string theory inspired models, giving rise to moduli fields. One left-right symmetric model with only triplets and bidoublets is found to be more constrained than another admitting a gauge singlet.

The seesaw with many right-handed neutrinos

There are no upper limits on the possible number of massive, singlet (right-handed) neutrinos that may participate in the seesaw mechanism, and some string constructions motivate seesaw models with up to O(100) right-handed neutrinos. In this case, the seesaw mass scale can be significantly higher than that in the traditional scheme with just 3 right-handed neutrinos. We consider the possible phenomenological implications of such models, in particular, for lepton-flavour violation and electric dipole moments. Since the neutrino masses depend on the Majorana mass scale linearly, while supersymmetric loop corrections depend on it logarithmically, the magnitude of lepton-flavour- and CP-violating transitions may increase with the multiplicity of the right-handed neutrinos and may be enhanced by orders of magnitude. We also point out that, in the context of leptogenesis, the bounds on the reheating temperature and the lightest neutrino mass get relaxed compared to those in the case of 3 right-handed neutrinos.

Lightest Higgs boson mass in split supersymmetry with the seesaw mechanism

In the minimal supersymmetric standard model extended by including right-handed neutrinos with see-saw mechanism, the neutrino Yukaka couplings can be as large as the top-quark Yukawa couplings and thus the neutrino/sneutrino may cause sizable effects in Higgs boson self-energy loops. Our explicit one-loop calculations show that the neutrino/sneutrino effects may have an opposite sign to top/stop effects and thus lighten the lightest Higgs boson. If the soft-breaking mass of the right-handed neutrino is very large (at the order of Majorana mass scale), such as in the split-SUSY scenario, the effects can lower the lightest Higgs boson mass by a few tens of GeV. So the Higgs mass bound of about 150 GeV in split-SUSY may be lowered significantly if right-handed neutrinos come into play with see-saw mechanism.

Probing the Majorana mass scale of right-handed neutrinos in mSUGRA

We discuss the perspectives of testing the right-handed Majorana mass scale M_R of the SUSY see-saw model in the mSUGRA framework. Lepton-flavor violating low energy processes are analyzed in recently proposed post-LEP benchmark scenarios, taking into account present uncertainties and future developments in the neutrino sector. Nonobservation of mu -> e gamma in the next-generation PSI experiment will provide upper bounds on M_R of the order of 10^(12-14) GeV, while on the other hand, a positive signal for tau -> mu gamma at SUPERKEKB or the LHC may determine M_R for a given mSUGRA scenario with an accuracy of a factor of 2.

Neutrino oscillations, SUSY see-saw mechanism and charged lepton flavor violation

Neutrino oscillations give clear evidence for non-vanishing neutrino masses and lepton-flavor violation (LFV) in the neutrino sector. This provides strong motivation to search for signals of LFV also in the charged lepton sector, and to probe the SUSY see-saw mechanism. We compare the sensitivity of rare radiative decays on the right-handed Majorana mass scale M R with the reach in slepton-pair production at a future linear collider.

Non-Anomalous Flavor Symmetries and SU(6) xSU(2)R Model

We introduce the flavor symmetry ZM ×ZN ×D4 into the SU(6) ×SU(2)R string-inspired model. The cyclic group ZM and the dihedral group D4 are R symmetries, while ZN is a non-R symmetry. By imposing the anomaly-free conditions on the model, we obtain a viable solution under many phenomenological constraints coming from the particle spectra. for the neutrino sector, we find a LMA-MSW solution but no SMA-MSW solution. The solution includes phenomenologically acceptable results concerning fermion masses and mixings and also concerning hierarchical energy scales including the GUT scale, the μ scale and the Majorana mass scale of R-handed neutrinos.

Right-handed-neutrino Majorana mass at the SUSY GUT scale and the solution of the solar-neutrino problem.

In the SUSY GUT scenario, it is natural to assume the right-handed-neutrino Majorana-mass scale to be $10^{16}$ GeV. This will in principle lead, by the seesaw mechanism, to a $ \nu_{\tau} $ mass of order $ m_t^2 / (10^{16}\, {\rm GeV}) \sim 3 \times 10^{-3}\, {\rm eV} $. This suggests that the solution of the solar-neutrino puzzle should be either the MSW effect in $\nu_e$--$\nu_{\tau}$ oscillations, with $ m_{\nu_{\tau}}^2 \sim 10^{-5}\, {\rm eV}^2 $, or long-wavelength $\nu_e$--$\nu_{\mu}$ oscillations, with $ m_{\nu_{\mu}}^2 \sim 10^{-10}\, {\rm eV}^2 $. These solutions require unexpectedly large mixings of $ \nu_e $ with $ \nu_{\tau} $ and $ \nu_{\mu} $, respectively. I suggest a variation of the Dimopoulos--Hall--Raby model for the fermion mass matrices which can accomodate such large mixings.