Mechanism Of Neutrino Mass Generation Research Articles

Leptoquark-mediated two-loop neutrino mass in unified theory

Scalar leptoquarks naturally arise within unified theories, offering a promising avenue for addressing one of the most significant challenges of the Standard Model–the existence of non-zero neutrino masses. In this work, we present a unified theory based on the SU(5) gauge group, where neutrino mass appears at the two-loop level via the propagation of scalar leptoquarks. Due to the unified framework, the charged fermion and neutrino masses and mixings are entangled and determined by a common set of Yukawa couplings. These exotic particles not only shed light on the neutrino mass generation mechanism but also help to achieve the unification of gauge couplings and are expected to lead to substantial lepton flavor violating rates, offering tangible opportunities for experimental verification. Reproducing the observed neutrino mass scale necessitates that a set of leptoquarks reside a few orders of magnitude below the unification scale–a specific feature of the proposed scenario. Moreover, maximizing the unification scale implies TeV scale new physics states, making them accessible at colliders. The diverse roles that leptoquarks play highlight the elegance and predictive ability of the proposed unified model.

The minimal massive Majoron Seesaw Model

A convincing explanation of the smallness of neutrino masses is represented by the Type-I Seesaw mechanism, where the two measured neutrino mass differences can be generated by introducing at least two right-handed neutrinos. In an ultraviolet complete model, it is possible to dynamically generate the heavy Majorana scale through the spontaneous symmetry breaking of a global Abelian symmetry and the most economical realisation consists in coupling the two exotic neutral leptons to a singlet complex scalar field. The associated Goldstone boson is often dubbed as Majoron, which may achieve a non-vanishing mass by means of a small term that explicitly breaks the Abelian symmetry. In a generic model, the neutrino and Majoron mass generation mechanisms are completely uncorrelated. In this paper, instead, we reduce the landscape of possible models proposing a unique, minimal and predictive framework in which these two types of masses are strictly tied and arise from the same source. Bounds from various terrestrial and astrophysical experiments are discussed.

Neutrino Flavor Model Building and the Origins of Flavor and CP Violation

The neutrino sector offers one of the most sensitive probes of new physics beyond the Standard Model of Particle Physics (SM). The mechanism of neutrino mass generation is still unknown. The observed suppression of neutrino masses hints at a large scale, conceivably of the order of the scale of a rand unified theory (GUT), which is a unique feature of neutrinos that is not shared by the charged fermions. The origin of neutrino masses and mixing is part of the outstanding puzzle of fermion masses and mixings, which is not explained ab initio in the SM. Flavor model building for both quark and lepton sectors is important in order to gain a better understanding of the origin of the structure of mass hierarchy and flavor mixing, which constitute the dominant fraction of the SM parameters. Recent activities in neutrino flavor model building based on non-Abelian discrete flavor symmetries and modular flavor symmetries have been shown to be a promising direction to explore. The emerging models provide a framework that has a significantly reduced number of undetermined parameters in the flavor sector. In addition, such a framework affords a novel origin of CP violation from group theory due to the intimate connection between physical CP transformation and group theoretical properties of non-Abelian discrete groups. Model building based on non-Abelian discrete flavor symmetries and their modular variants enables the particle physics community to interpret the current and anticipated upcoming data from neutrino experiments. Non-Abelian discrete flavor symmetries and their modular variants can result from compactification of a higher-dimensional theory. Pursuit of flavor model building based on such frameworks thus also provides the connection to possible UV completions: in particular, to string theory. We emphasize the importance of constructing models in which the uncertainties of theoretical predictions are smaller than, or at most compatible with, the error bars of measurements in neutrino experiments. While there exist proof-of-principle versions of bottom-up models in which the theoretical uncertainties are under control, it is remarkable that the key ingredients of such constructions were discovered first in top-down model building. We outline how a successful unification of bottom-up and top-down ideas and techniques may guide us towards a new era of precision flavor model building in which future experimental results can give us crucial insights into the UV completion of the SM.

A hybrid type I + III inverse seesaw mechanism in U(1)R−L-symmetric MSSM

We show that, in a U(1)R−L-symmetric supersymmetric model, the pseudo-Dirac bino and wino can give rise to three light neutrino masses through effective operators, generated at the messenger scale between a SUSY breaking hidden sector and the visible sector. The neutrino-bino/wino mixing follows a hybrid type I+III inverse seesaw pattern. The light neutrino masses are governed by the ratio of the U(1)R−L-breaking gravitino mass, m3/2, and the messenger scale ΛM. The charged component of the SU(2)L-triplet, here the lightest charginos, mix with the charged leptons and generate flavor-changing neutral currents at tree level. We find that resulting lepton flavor violating observables yield a lower bound on the messenger scale, ΛM ≳ (500 − 1000) TeV for a simplified hybrid mixing scenario. We identify interesting mixing structures for certain U(1)R−L-breaking singlino/tripletino Majorana masses. For example, in some parameter regimes, bino or wino has no mixing with the electron neutrino. We also describe the rich collider phenomenology expected in this neutrino-mass generation mechanism.

An alternate left-right symmetric model with Dirac neutrinos

We study a different variant of left-right symmetric model, incorporating Dirac type neutrinos. In the absence of the bi-doublet scalars, the possibility of a universal seesaw type of mass generation mechanism for all the Standard Model charged fermions have been discussed. The model has been constructed by extending the Standard Model particle spectrum with heavy vector-like fermions as well as different scalar multiplets. We have shown that this model can generate non zero neutrino mass through loop mediated processes. The parameters which are involved in neutrino mass generation mechanism can satisfy the neutrino oscillation data for both normal and inverted hierarchy. The lightest charged Higgs plays a crucial role in neutrino mass generation mechanism and can have mass of {mathcal {O}}[text {GeV}]. We have systematically studied different constraints which are relevant for the charged Higgs phenomenology. In addition to that we also briefly discuss discovery prospects of the charged Higgs at different colliders.

PeV-scale leptogenesis, gravitational waves, and black holes from a SUSY-breaking phase transition

Supersymmetry is a highly motivated theoretical framework, whose scale of breaking may be at PeV energies, to explain null searches at the Large Hadron Collider. SUSY breaking through a first order phase transition may have occurred in the early universe, leading to potential gravitational wave signals. Constructing a realistic model for gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking, we show that such a transition can also induce masses for heavy right-handed neutrinos and sneutrinos, whose CP-violating decays give leptogenesis at the PeV scale, and a novel mechanism of neutrino mass generation at one loop. For the same models we predict the possible gravity wave signals, and we study the possibility of production of primordial black holes during the phase transition.

Texture-zero patterns of lepton mass matrices from modular symmetry

Texture zeros in fermion mass matrices have been widely considered in tackling the Standard Model flavour puzzle. In this work, we perform a systematic analysis of texture zeros in lepton mass matrices in the framework of {Gamma}_3^{prime}cong {T}^{prime } modular symmetry. Assuming that the lepton fields transform as irreducible representations of T′, we obtain all possible texture-zero patterns for both charged-lepton and neutrino mass matrices which can be achieved from T′ modular symmetry. We provide representative models for the phenomenologically-viable textures which can accommodate the experimental data. The predictions for lepton mixing angles, CP-violating phases, light neutrino masses and effective neutrino mass relevant for neutrinoless double beta decay, are discussed. We find that the minimal viable lepton model depends on only 7 real free parameters including the modulus τ (the corresponding charged-lepton mass matrix contains 4 vanishing entries, and the neutrino mass matrix has 1 texture zero). Finally, we study in detail three benchmark models, one for each neutrino mass generation mechanism considered (Dirac, Majorana via Weinberg operator and Majorana via minimal type-I seesaw mechanism).

Displaced vertex and disappearing track signatures in type-III seesaw

We investigate a prospect of probing the type-III seesaw neutrino mass generation mechanism at various collider experiments by searching for a disappearing track and a displaced vertex signature originating from the decay of SU(2)_L triplet fermion (Sigma ). Since Sigma is primarily produced at colliders through the electroweak gauge interactions, its production rate is uniquely determined by its mass. We find that a Sigma particle produces a disappearing track signature from the decay of its charged component, which can be searched at the HL-LHC. Furthermore, we show that if the lightest observed neutrino has a mass of around 10^{-9} eV, the neutral component of {Sigma } can be discovered at the proposed MATHUSLA detector. We also show that the charged component of {Sigma } can be potentially be observed at FCC-he as a displaced vertex signature.

Exploiting a future galactic supernova to probe neutrino magnetic moments

A core-collapse supernova (SN) offers an excellent astrophysical laboratory to test non-zero neutrino magnetic moments. In particular, the neutronization burst phase, which lasts for a few tens of milliseconds post-bounce, is dominated by electron neutrinos and can offer exceptional discovery potential for transition magnetic moments. We simulate the neutrino spectra from the burst phase in forthcoming neutrino experiments like the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), and the Hyper-Kamiokande (HK), by taking into account spin-flavour conversions of supernova neutrinos caused by interactions with ambient magnetic fields. We find that the sensitivities to neutrino transition magnetic moments which can be explored by these experiments for a galactic SN are an order to several orders of magnitude better than the current terrestrial and astrophysical limits. Additionally, we also discuss how this realization might provide light on three important neutrino properties: (a) the Dirac/Majorana nature, (b) the neutrino mass ordering, and (c) the neutrino mass-generation mechanism.

Muon to Positron Conversion

Lepton-flavor violation (LFV) has been discovered in the neutrino sector by neutrino oscillation experiments. The minimal extension of the Standard Model (SM) to include neutrino masses allows LFV in the charged sector (CLFV) at the loop level, but at rates that are too small to be experimentally observed. Lepton-number violation (LNV) is explicitly forbidden even in the minimally extended SM, so the observation of an LNV process would be unambiguous evidence of physics beyond the SM. The search for the LNV and CLFV process μ−+N(A,Z)→e++N′(A,Z−2) (referred to as μ−→e+) complements 0νββ decay searches, and is sensitive to potential flavor effects in the neutrino mass-generation mechanism. A theoretical motivation for μ−→e+ is presented along with a review of the status of past μ−→e+ experiments and future prospects. Special attention is paid to an uncertain and potentially dominant background for these searches, namely, radiative muon capture (RMC). The RMC high energy photon spectrum is theoretically understudied and existing measurements insufficiently constrain this portion of the spectrum, leading to potentially significant impacts on current and future μ−→e+ work.

Scotogenic Majorana neutrino masses in a predictive orbifold theory of flavor

The use of extra space-time dimensions provides a promising approach to the flavour problem. The chosen compactification of a 6-dimensional orbifold implies a remnant family symmetry $A_4$. This makes interesting predictions for quark and lepton masses, for neutrino oscillations and neutrinoless double beta decay, providing also a very good global description of all flavour observables. Due to an auxiliary $\mathbb{Z}_4$ symmetry, we implement a scotogenic Majorana neutrino mass generation mechanism with a viable WIMP dark matter candidate.

Flavour and CP symmetries in the inverse seesaw

We consider an inverse seesaw mechanism of neutrino mass generation in which the Standard Model is extended by 3+3 (heavy) sterile states, and endowed with a flavour symmetry G_f, G_f=Delta (3 , n^2) or G_f=Delta (6 , n^2), and a CP symmetry. These symmetries are broken in a peculiar way, so that in the charged lepton sector a residual symmetry G_ell is preserved, while the neutral fermion sector remains invariant under the residual symmetry G_nu =Z_2 times CP. We study the concrete setup, where the Majorana mass term for three of the sterile states conserves G_nu , while the remaining mass terms (i.e. couplings of left-handed leptons and heavy sterile states, as well as the Dirac-type couplings among the latter) do not break the flavour or CP symmetry. We perform a comprehensive analysis of lepton mixing for different classes of residual symmetries, giving examples for each of these, and study in detail the impact of the additional sterile states on the predictions for lepton mixing. We further confront our results with those obtained in the model-independent scenario, in which the light neutrino mass matrix leaves the residual symmetry G_nu intact. We consider the phenomenological impact of the inverse seesaw mechanism endowed with flavour and CP symmetries, in particular concerning effects of non-unitarity of the lepton mixing matrix (which strongly constrain the parameter space of the scenario), prospects for neutrinoless double beta decay and for charged lepton flavour violating processes.

The dark Z′ and sterile neutrinos behind current anomalies

We show how, in the B−L extension of the SM (BLSM) with an Inverse Seesaw (IS) mechanism for neutrino mass generation, a light Z′ state with moderate couplings to SM objects, hence ‘dark’ in its nature, can be associated, in conjunction with light sterile neutrinos, to some present day data anomalies, such as the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon as well as a possible signal indicating the existence of sterile neutrinos in neutrino beam experiments.

Leptogenesis from low-energy CP violation in minimal left-right symmetric model

We perform a thermal unflavored leptogenesis analysis on minimal left-right symmetric models with discrete left-right symmetry identified as generalized parity or charge conjugation. When left-right symmetry is unbroken in the lepton Yukawa sector, the neutrino Dirac coupling matrix is completely determined by neutrino masses and mixing angles, allowing CP violation needed to generate leptogenesis totally resides in the low-energy sector. With two lepton asymmetry generation ways, both type I and mixed type I+II neutrino mass generation mechanisms are considered. After solving the Boltzmann equations numerically, we find that the low-energy CP phases in the lepton mixing matrix can successfully produce the observed baryon asymmetry, and in some cases, the Dirac CP phase can be the only source of CP violation. Finally, we discuss the interplay among low-energy CP phase measurements, leptogenesis, and neutrinoless double beta decay. We show that the viable models for successful leptogenesis can be probed in next-generation neutrinoless double-beta decay experiments.

Origin of neutrino masses and disappearance ofprimordial antimatter

<p indent="0mm">The standard model (SM) of particle physics has proved to be a huge success in describing the microscopic structures of matter and the behaviors of strong, weak and electromagnetic forces, but it is incomplete in some aspects. For example, the SM itself provides no answer about the origin of tiny neutrino masses, and it fails in accounting for the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry of the Universe. To go beyond the SM, one may wonder whether there exists an intrinsic connection between the solutions to these two fundamental issues in particle physics and cosmology. It is argued that the seesaw mechanism for neutrino mass generation and the associated leptogenesis mechanism for cosmological baryogenesis may pave a way for our deeper understanding of the origin of neutrino masses and mysterious disappearance of primordial antimatter of the Universe. Behind these two mechanisms is the existence of heavy and sterile Majorana neutrinos, which interact with the known (light and active) neutrinos via the Yukawa interactions. The SM contains no right-handed neutrino fields, and hence there is no way to write out a Dirac neutrino mass term. The simplest way to go beyond the SM is to introduce the right-handed neutrino fields and allow for lepton number violation. In this case the right-handed neutrino fields and their charge-conjugate counterparts may constitute a Majorana mass term which, together with the Yukawa interactions between left- and right-handed neutrino fields via the Higgs field, leads us to the origin of tiny Majorana masses for three active neutrinos. Such a seesaw mechanism attributes the smallness of active neutrino masses to the largeness of sterile neutrino masses as compared with the electroweak scale. The lepton-number-violating and CP-violating decays of those heavy degrees of freedom in the early Universe may produce a net lepton-antilepton asymmetry, and the latter may be partly converted into a net baryon-antibaryon asymmetry via the sphaleron process. This is just the leptogenesis mechanism, and it has attracted a lot of attention thanks to the observations of neutrino oscillations in the past decades. The seesaw and leptogenesis scenarios are correlated with each other, and they provide an elegant way of accounting for the cosmological baryon-antibaryon asymmetry and tiny neutrino masses. A pressing question is how to test such a “killing two birds with one stone” picture at low-energy experiments. It seems that a direct test of this picture is extremely difficult or even impossible, but one may always collect various “fossils” of heavy Majorana neutrinos which might have played a crucial role in the early Universe. In this connection it will be greatly helpful to verify the Majorana nature of massive neutrinos by observing the neutrinoless double-beta decays, to measure CP violation in neutrino oscillations and to test unitarity of the 3×3 flavor mixing matrix of three active neutrinos.

Extraction of neutrino Yukawa parameters from displaced vertices of sneutrinos

We study displaced signatures of sneutrino pairs potentially emerging at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in a Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model supplemented with right-handed neutrinos triggering a Type-I seesaw mechanism. We show how such signatures can be established through a heavy Higgs portal, the sneutrinos then decaying to charged leptons and charginos giving rise to further leptons or hadrons. We finally illustrate how the Yukawa parameters of neutrinos can be extracted by measuring the lifetime of the sneutrino from the displaced vertices, thereby characterising the dynamics of the underlying mechanism of neutrino mass generation. We show our numerical results for the case of both the current and High-Luminosity LHC.

Scrutinizing vacuum stability in IDM with Type-III inverse seesaw

We consider the extension of the Standard Model (SM) with an inert Higgs doublet that also contains two or three sets of SU(2)L triplet fermions with hypercharge zero and analyze the stability of electroweak vacuum for the scenarios. The model represents a Type-III inverse seesaw mechanism for neutrino mass generation with a Dark matter candidate. An effective potential approach calculation with two-loop beta function have been carried out in deciding the fate of the electroweak vacuum. Weak gauge coupling g2 shows a different behaviour as compared to the Standard Model. The modified running of g2, along with the Higgs quartic coupling and Type-III Yukawa couplings become crucial in determining the stability of electroweak vacuum. The interplay between two and three generations of such triplet fermions reveals that extensions with two generations is favoured if we aspire for Planck scale stability. Bounds on the Higgs quartic couplings, Type-III Yukawa and number of triplet fermion generations are drawn for different mass scale of Type-III fermions. The phenomenologies of inert doublet and Type-III fermions at the LHC and other experiments are commented upon.

Flavoured CP-asymmetry at the effective neutrino mass floor

Both neutrinoless double beta decay and leptogenesis require neutrinos to be Majorana fermions. A relation between these two phenomena can be derived once the mechanism of neutrino mass generation is specified. Using the current data from the neutrino oscillations, we constrain the Majorana phases of the neutrino mixing matrix by minimising the effective neutrino mass in neutrinoless double beta decay. Given these Majorana phases at the effective neutrino mass floor, we show that it is possible to obtain a large enough CP asymmetry (≥10−8) required for adequate leptogenesis, without additional phases at high scale. Such scenario pushes the lower bound on M1 (the mass of the lightest of the heavy neutrinos in the Type-I see-saw mechanism) to a higher value compared to the usual Davidson-Ibarra bound. In particular, we find that M1≥1010(109) GeV for the case of Normal (Inverted) hierarchy. We extend our analysis to the case when one of the heavy neutrinos decouples (two right handed neutrino models). In this case we find M1≥1010(1011) GeV for the case of Normal (Inverted) hierarchy.

Relaxing cosmological neutrino mass bounds with unstable neutrinos

At present, cosmological observations set the most stringent bound on the neutrino mass scale. Within the standard cosmological model (ΛCDM), the Planck collaboration reports ∑mv< 0.12 eV at 95 % CL. This bound, taken at face value, excludes many neutrino mass models. However, unstable neutrinos, with lifetimes shorter than the age of the universe τν ≲ tU, represent a particle physics avenue to relax this constraint. Motivated by this fact, we present a taxonomy of neutrino decay modes, categorizing them in terms of particle content and final decay products. Taking into account the relevant phenomenological bounds, our analysis shows that 2-body decaying neutrinos into BSM particles are a promising option to relax cosmological neutrino mass bounds. We then build a simple extension of the type I seesaw scenario by adding one sterile state ν4 and a Goldstone boson ϕ, in which νi→ ν4ϕ decays can loosen the neutrino mass bounds up to ∑mv ∼ 1 eV, without spoiling the light neutrino mass generation mechanism. Remarkably, this is possible for a large range of the right-handed neutrino masses, from the electroweak up to the GUT scale. We successfully implement this idea in the context of minimal neutrino mass models based on a U(1)μ−τ flavor symmetry, which are otherwise in tension with the current bound on ∑mv.

Probing vector-like top partner from same-sign dilepton events at the LHC

The standard model is a successful theory but is lacking a mechanism for neutrino mass generation as well as a solution to the naturalness problem. In the models that are proposed to simultaneously solve the two problems, heavy Majorana neutrinos and top partners are usually predicted to lead to a new decay mode of the top partner mediated by the heavy Majorana neutrinos: . In this paper, we will study the observability of such a new signature via the pair production process of a top partner in a model independent way. By performing Monte Carlo simulations, we present the 2σ exclusion limits of the top partner mass and mixing parameters at the HL-LHC.