Neutrino Mass Research Articles

Probing the sterile neutrino dipole portal with SN1987A and low-energy supernovae

Beyond the Standard Model electromagnetic properties of neutrinos may lead to copious production of sterile neutrinos in the hot and dense core of a core-collapse supernova. In this work, we focus on the active-sterile transition magnetic moment portal for heavy sterile neutrinos. Firstly, we revisit the SN1987A cooling bounds for dipole portal using the integrated luminosity method, which yields more reliable results (especially in the trapping regime) compared to the previously explored via emissivity loss, also known as the Raffelt criterion. Secondly, we obtain strong bounds on the dipole coupling strength reaching as low as 10−11 GeV−1 from energy deposition, i.e., constrained from the observation of explosion energies of underluminous Type IIP supernovae. In addition, we find that sterile neutrino production from Primakoff upscattering off of a proton dominates over scattering off of an electron for low sterile neutrino masses. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Axion dark matter and additional BSM aspects in an extended 2HDM setup

We illustrate and discuss the phenomenology of a model featuring a two-Higgs doublet sector augmented by two SU(2) singlet scalars. The gauge symmetry group is extended as well with a U(1)Lμ−Lτ component whose spontaneous breaking leads to the gauge boson which has an important effect in the muon (g−2). A global PQ symmetry is introduced upon its breaking; we have the axion particle which is also dark matter (DM) in our work. In particular, we have focused on type-X and type-II 2HDM models and found out that (g−2) cannot be explained only by the scalar sector for type-II 2HDM mainly due to stringent constraint from b→sγ resulted in MH±>800 GeV. For type-II 2HDM, we can have axion coupling with the gluons which generates the axion potential and possible explanation for the strong CP problem. The proposed model accommodates neutrino masses via the type-I seesaw mechanism with an upper bound on the right-handed neutrino mass 1 GeV (1 TeV) for type-II (type-X) 2HDM due to the presence of Planck scale suppressed operators. Moreover, we also have additional scalars which affect the oblique parameters and hence the W-boson mass which leads us to explain the W-boson mass observed at the CDF-II detector. The most stringent constraints on the masses and quartic couplings come from the perturbativity and potential bound from the below conditions which leads to fine-tuning among the parameters in part of the parameter space. Finally, we discuss the possible detection prospects of the axion DM and the additional gauge boson. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Lepton flavour violation signal of the singly charged scalar singlet at the ILC

The singly charged SU(2) L singlet scalar is one of the very interesting new particles, as it can generate neutrino masses at loop level, produce contributions to various flavour observables. We study the possibility of detecting this kind of scalar predicted by the singly-charged scalar model at ILC via the lepton flavour violation process e+e−→S+S−→μe+E . Considering the constraints on the free parameters, we obtain the expected sensitivities of the ILC with the center of mass energy s=1TeV and the integrated luminosity L= 1.5 ab−1 to the parameter space of the singly-charged scalar model. The prospective excluded mass range at 95% C.L. is M S ≳ 470 GeV, 410 GeV for the branching ratio Bμe = 100% , 50%, respectively, while the scalar with M S ≳ 300 GeV is excluded at 95% C.L. for Bμe = 30%.

The Type-I Seesaw family

We provide a comprehensive analysis of the Type-I Seesaw family of neutrino mass models, including the conventional type-I seesaw and its low-scale variants, namely the linear and inverse seesaws. We establish that all these models essentially correspond to a particular form of the type-I seesaw in the context of explicit lepton number violation. We then focus into the more interesting scenario of spontaneous lepton number violation, systematically categorizing all inequivalent minimal models. Furthermore, we identify and flesh out specific models that feature a rich majoron phenomenology and discuss some scenarios which, despite having heavy mediators and being invisible in processes such as μ → eγ, predict sizable rates for decays including the majoron in the final state.

Toward the measurement of neutrino masses: Performance of cosmic magnification with submillimeter galaxies

Context. The phenomenon of magnification bias can induce a non-negligible angular correlation between two samples of galaxies with nonoverlapping redshift distributions. This signal is particularly clear when background submillimeter galaxies are used, and has been shown to constitute an independent cosmological probe. Aims. This work extends prior studies on the submillimeter galaxy magnification bias to the massive neutrino scenario, with the aim being to assess its sensitivity as a cosmological observable to the sum of neutrino masses. Methods. The measurements of the angular cross-correlation function between moderate redshift GAMA galaxies and high-redshift submillimeter H-ATLAS galaxies are fit to the weak lensing prediction down to the arcmin scale. The signal is interpreted under the halo model, which is modified to accommodate massive neutrinos. We discuss the impact of the choice of cosmological parametrization on the sensitivity to neutrino masses. Results. The currently available data on the magnification bias affecting submillimeter galaxies are sensitive to neutrino masses when a cosmological parametrization in terms of the primordial amplitude of the power spectrum (As) is chosen over the local root mean square of smoothed linear density perturbations (σ8). A clear upper limit on the sum of neutrino masses can be derived if the value of As is either fixed or assigned a narrow Gaussian prior, a behavior that is robust against changes to the chosen value.

A realistic neutrino mixing scheme arising from A4 symmetry

We propose a unique lepton mixing scheme and its association with an exact hierarchy-philic neutrino mass matrix texture in the light of Type-I+Type-II seesaw mechanism under the framework of discrete flavour symmetry. The proposed model successfully predicts the normal ordering of neutrino masses and the two Majorana phases. Additionally, the analysis extends to the effective Majorana neutrino mass, in the context of neutrinoless double beta .

Inflation and Higgs phenomenology in a model unifying the DFSZ axion with the majoron

The Two-Higgs-Doublet-Standard Model-Axion-Seesaw-Higgs-Portal inflation (2hdSMASH) model consisting of two Higgs doublets, a Standard Model (SM) singlet complex scalar and three SM singlet right-handed neutrinos can embed axion dark matter, neutrino masses and address inflation. We report on an investigation of the inflationary aspects of 2hdSMASH and its subsequent impact on low energy phenomenology. In particular, we identify inflationary directions for which the parameter values required for successful inflation do not violate perturbative unitarity and boundedness-from-below conditions. By analyzing the renormalization-group flow of the parameters we identify the necessary and sufficient constraints for running all parameters perturbatively and maintaining stability from the electroweak to the PLANCK scale. We observe that stringent constraints arise on the singlet scalar self coupling from inflationary constraints, i.e., λS ∼ 10-10. Further, we find that all theoretical and experimental constraints are satisfied if the portal couplings are typically in the range (v/vS ) and (v/vS )2 (where v, vS refer to the electroweak and singlet scalar vacuum expectation value respectively). As a consequence, inflation is realized in a variety of field space directions in the effective single field regime. Finally we provide testable benchmark scenarios at colliders.

Testing secret interaction with astrophysical neutrino point sources

Recently, the IceCube collaboration observed a neutrino excess in the direction of NGC 1068 with high statistical significance.This constitutes the second detection of an astrophysical neutrino point source after the discovery of a variable emission originating from the blazar TXS 0506+056. Neutrinos emitted by these sources traverse huge, well-determined distances on their way to Earth. This makes them a promising tool to test new physics in the neutrino sector. We consider secret interactions with the cosmic neutrino background and discuss their impact on the flux of neutrino point sources. The observation of emission from NGC 1068 and TXS 0506+056 can then be used to putlimits on the strength of the interaction. We find that our ignorance of the absolute neutrino masses has a strong impact and, therefore, we present limits in two benchmark scenarios with the sum of the neutrino masses around their lower and upper limits.

First constraints on non-minimally coupled Natural and Coleman-Weinberg inflation and massive neutrino self-interactions with Planck+BICEP/Keck

In this work, for the first time in literature, we study the predictions of non-minimally coupled Natural and Coleman-Weinberg potentials in the ns -r plane, and an extended ΛCDM model where we include non-standard self-interactions among massive neutrinos, mediated by a heavy scalar or vector boson. Constraints were derived using the Planck 2018 + BICEP/Keck 2018 datasets along with other data. For the inflationary potentials, we consider two different formulations in gravity that are non-minimally coupled to the scalar field of the inflaton: Metric and Palatini. We only consider the self-interaction to be present among τ-neutrinos and only at moderate strengths. This is because strong interactions among τ-neutrinos, or any strength self-interaction among electron- and muon-neutrinos, as well as any strength flavor-universal interactions, are strongly disfavoured from particle physics experiments.In terms of cosmological data, we use the latest public CMB datasets from Planck 2018 and BICEP/Keck 2018 collaborations, along with other data from CMB lensing, BAO, RSD, and SNe Ia luminosity distance measurements. We find that there are some situations where predictions from the inflationary models are ruled out at more than 2σ by the minimal ΛCDM+r model, but they are allowed in the self-interacting neutrino scenario.

Neutrino Mass Constraint from an Implicit Likelihood Analysis of BOSS Voids

Cosmic voids identified in the spatial distribution of galaxies provide complementary information to two-point statistics. In particular, constraints on the neutrino mass sum, ∑m ν , promise to benefit from the inclusion of void statistics. We perform inference on the CMASS Northern Galactic Cap sample of the third-generation Sloan Digital Sky Survey/Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) with the aim of constraining ∑m ν . We utilize the void size function, the void–galaxy cross power spectrum, and the galaxy auto power spectrum. To extract constraints from these summary statistics we use a simulation-based approach, specifically implicit likelihood inference. We populate approximate gravity-only, particle-neutrino cosmological simulations with an expressive halo occupation distribution model. With a conservative scale cut of kmax=0.15hMpc−1 and a Planck-inspired Lambda cold dark matter prior, we find upper bounds on ∑m ν of 0.43 and 0.35 eV from the galaxy auto power spectrum and the full data vector, respectively (95% credible interval). Relaxing the scale cut to kmax=0.2hMpc−1 , we find 0.28 and 0.32 eV. Generally, void statistics appear to add modest but nonzero information beyond the auto power spectrum. We also substantiate the usual assumption that the void size function is Poisson distributed.

Majorana neutrinos and dark matter from anomaly cancellation

We discuss a simple theory for neutrino masses where the total lepton number is a local gauge symmetry spontaneously broken below the multi-TeV scale. In this context, the neutrino masses are generated through the canonical seesaw mechanism and a Majorana dark matter candidate is predicted from anomaly cancellation. We discuss in great detail the dark matter annihilation channels and find out the upper bound on the symmetry-breaking scale using the cosmological bounds on the relic density. Since in this context the dark matter candidate has suppressed couplings to the Standard Model quarks, one can satisfy the direct detection bounds even if the dark matter mass is close to the electroweak scale. This theory predicts a light pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson (the Majoron) associated to the mechanism of neutrino mass. We discuss briefly the properties of the Majoron and the impact of the big bang nucleosynthesis bounds. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Questions of flavor physics and neutrino mass from a flipped hypercharge

The flavor structure of quarks and leptons is not yet fully understood, but it hints a more fundamental theory of nonuniversal generations. We therefore propose a simple extension of the Standard Model by flipping (i.e., enlarging) the hypercharge U(1)Y to U(1)X⊗U(1)N for which both X and N depend on generations of both quark and lepton. By anomaly cancellation, this extension not only explains the existence of just three fermion generations as observed but also requires the presence of a right-handed neutrino per generation, which motivates seesaw neutrino mass generation. Furthermore, in its minimal version with a scalar doublet and two scalar singlets, the model naturally generates the measured fermion-mixing matrices while it successfully accommodates several flavor anomalies observed in the neutral meson mixings, B-meson decays, lepton-flavor-violating processes of charged leptons, as well as satisfying constraints from particle colliders. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Experimental neutrino physics in a nuclear landscape.

There are profound connections between neutrino physics and nuclear experiments. Exceptionally precise measurements of single and double beta-decay spectra illuminate the scale and nature of neutrino mass and may finally answer the question of whether neutrinos are their own anti-matter counterparts. Neutrino-nucleus scattering underpins oscillation experiments and probes nuclear structure, neutrinos offer a rare vantage point into collapsing stars and nuclear fission reactors and techniques pioneered in neutrino nuclear physics experiments are advancing quantum sensing technologies. In this article, we review current and planned efforts at the intersection of neutrino and nuclear experiments. This article is part of the theme issue 'The liminal position of Nuclear Physics: from hadrons to neutron stars'.

Flipped Quartification: Product Group Unification with Leptoquarks.

The quartification model is an SU(3)4 extension with a bi-fundamental fermion sector of the well-known SU(3)3 bi-fundamentalfication model. An alternative "flipped" version of the quartification model is obtained by rearrangement of the particle assignments. The flipped model has two standard (bi-fundamentalfication) families and one flipped quartification family. In contrast to traditional product group unification models, flipped quartification stands out by featuring leptoquarks and thus allows for new mechanisms to explain the generation of neutrino masses and possible hints of lepton-flavor non-universality.

The Uchuu-glam BOSS and eBOSS LRG lightcones: exploring clustering and covariance errors

ABSTRACT This study investigates the clustering and bias of Luminous Red Galaxies (LRG) in the BOSS-LOWZ, -CMASS, -COMB, and eBOSS samples, using two types of simulated lightcones: (i) high-fidelity lightcones from UchuuN-body simulation, employing SHAM technique to assign LRG to (sub)haloes, and (ii) 16 000 covariance lightcones from GLAM-UchuuN-body simulations, including LRG using HOD data from Uchuu. Our results indicate that Uchuu and glam lightcones closely replicate BOSS/eBOSS data, reproducing correlation function and power spectrum across scales from redshifts 0.2 to 1.0, from 2 to $150 \,h^{-1}\,\mathrm{Mpc}$ in configuration space, from 0.005 to $0.7\, h\,\mathrm{Mpc}^{-1}$ in Fourier space, and across different LRG stellar masses. Furthermore, comparing with existing MD-Patchy and EZmock BOSS/eBOSS lightcones based on approximate methods, our GLAM-Uchuu lightcones provide more precise clustering estimates. We identify significant deviations from observations within $20 \,h^{-1}\,\mathrm{Mpc}$ scales in MD-Patchy and EZmock, with our covariance matrices indicating that these methods underestimate errors by between 10 per cent and 60 per cent. Lastly, we explore the impact of cosmology on galaxy clustering. Our findings suggest that, given the current level of uncertainties in BOSS/eBOSS data, distinguishing models with and without massive neutrino effects on large-scale structure (LSS) is challenging. This paper highlights the Uchuu and GLAM-Uchuu simulations’ robustness in verifying the accuracy of Planck cosmological parameters, providing a strong foundation for enhancing lightcone construction in future LSS surveys. We also demonstrate that generating thousands of galaxy lightcones is feasible using N-body simulations with adequate mass and force resolution.

Role of cosmological gravitational particle production in baryogenesis

We investigate the generation of the baryon asymmetry within the framework of cosmological gravitational particle production, employing the Bogoliubov approach. We examine two well-known baryogenesis scenarios, namely baryogenesis in grand unified theories (GUT) and leptogenesis, while considering reheating temperatures sufficiently low for thermal processes to be negligible. Considering α–attractor T-models for the inflaton potential, we demonstrate that GUT baryogenesis from scalar decays can be successful across a large range of conformal couplings with gravity, without necessitating substantial levels of CP violation. In the case of leptogenesis, we find that the reheating temperature should be TRH≲106 GeV for right-handed neutrino masses M1≲6×1012 GeV to generate the observed asymmetry. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Vector dark matter with Higgs portal in type II seesaw framework

We study the phenomenology of a vector dark matter (VDM) in a U(1)X gauged extension of the Standard Model (SM), which is set in a type II seesaw framework. When this U(1)X symmetry is spontaneously broken by the vacuum expectation value (VEV) of a newly introduced complex scalar singlet, the gauge boson Z′ becomes massive. The stability of the dark matter (DM) is ensured by the presence of an exact charge conjugation symmetry resulting from the structure of the Lagrangian. On the other hand, the SU(2)L triplet scalar facilitates light neutrino masses via the type II seesaw mechanism. We have studied the phenomenology of the usual WIMP DM, considering all possible theoretical and experimental constraints that are applicable. Due to the presence of a triplet scalar, the present framework can also accommodate the observed 2σ deviation in h→Zγ decay rate, recently measured at the LHC. The possibility of nonthermal production of DM from the decay of the singlet scalar has also been briefly discussed. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Searching for 76Ge neutrinoless double beta decay with the CDEX-1B experiment* *Supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFA0402201, 2022YFA1604701, 2022YFA1605000) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (12322511, 12175112, 12005111, 11725522)

We operated a p-type point contact high purity germanium (PPCGe) detector (CDEX-1B, 1.008 kg) in the China Jinping Underground Laboratory (CJPL) for 500.3 days to search for neutrinoless double beta ( ) decay of 76Ge. A total of 504.3 kg day effective exposure data was accumulated. The anti-coincidence and the multi/single-site event (MSE/SSE) discrimination methods were used to suppress the background in the energy region of interest (ROI, 1989–2089 keV for this work) with a factor of 23. A background level of 0.33 counts/ (keV kg yr) was realized. The lower limit on the half life of 76Ge decay was constrained as , corresponding to the upper limits on the effective Majorana neutrino mass: 3.2–7.5 .

Prospects for weighing neutrinos in interacting dark energy models using joint observations of gravitational waves and γ-ray bursts* *Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (12305069, 11947022, 11975072, 11875102, 11835009), the National SKA Program of China (2022SKA0110200, 2022SKA0110203), the National 111 Project (B16009), and the Program of the Education Department of Liaoning Province, China (JYTMS20231695)

Cosmological observations can be used to weigh neutrinos, but this method is model-dependent, with results relying on the cosmological model considered. If we consider interactions between dark energy and dark matter, the neutrino mass constraints differ from those derived under the standard model. On the contrary, gravitational wave (GW) standard siren observations can measure absolute cosmological distances, helping to break parameter degeneracies inherent in traditional cosmological observations, thereby improving constraints on neutrino mass. This paper examines the constraints on neutrino mass within interacting dark energy (IDE) models and explores how future GW standard siren observations could enhance these results. For multi-messenger GW observations, we consider the joint observations of binary neutron star mergers by third-generation ground-based GW detectors and short γ-ray burst observations by missions similar to the THESEUS satellite project. Using current cosmological observations (CMB+BAO+SN), we obtain an upper limit on the neutrino mass in the IDE models of 0.15 (or 0.16) eV. With the inclusion of GW data, the upper limit on the neutrino mass improves to 0.14 eV. This indicates that in the context of IDE models, the improvement in neutrino mass constraints from GW observations is relatively limited. However, GW observations significantly enhance the constraints on other cosmological parameters, such as matter density parameter, the Hubble constant, and coupling strength between dark energy and dark matter.

Probing lepton number violation and Majorana nature of neutrinos at the LHC

Observation of lepton number (L) violation by two units at colliders would provide evidence for the Majorana nature of neutrinos. We study signals of L-violation in the context of two popular models of neutrino masses, the type-II seesaw model and the Zee model, wherein small neutrino masses arise at the tree-level and one-loop level, respectively. We focus on L-violation signals at the LHC arising through the process pp → ℓ±ℓ′± + jets within these frameworks. We obtain sensitivity to L-violation in the type-II seesaw model for triplet scalar masses up to 700 GeV and in the Zee model for charged scalar masses up to 4.8 TeV at the high-luminosity LHC with an integrated luminosity of 3 ab−1.