Small Yukawa Research Articles

Thermal production of light Dirac right-handed sneutrino dark matter

We consider the production of right-handed (RH) sneutrino dark matter in a model of Dirac neutrino where neutrino Yukawa coupling constants are very small. Dark matter RH sneutrinos are produced by scatterings and decays of thermal particles in the early Universe without reaching thermal equilibrium due to the small Yukawa couplings. We show that not only decays of thermal particles but also the thermal scatterings can be a dominant source as well as non-thermal production in a scenario with light sneutrinos and charged sleptons while other supersymmetric particles are heavy. We also discuss the cosmological implications of this scenario.

Flavor-specific scalar mediators

New singlet scalar bosons have broad phenomenological utility and feature prominently in many extensions of the Standard Model. Such scalars are often taken to have Higgs-like couplings to SM fermions in order to evade stringent flavor bounds, e.g. by assuming Minimal Flavor Violation (MFV), which leads to a rather characteristic phenomenology. Here we describe an alternative approach, based on an effective field theory framework for a new scalar that dominantly couples to one specific SM fermion mass eigenstate. A simple flavor hypothesis ensures adequate suppression of new flavor changing neutral currents. We consider radiatively generated flavor changing neutral currents and scalar potential terms in such theories, demonstrating that they are often suppressed by small Yukawa couplings, and also describe the role of $CP$ symmetry. We further demonstrate that such scalars can have masses that are significantly below the electroweak scale while still being natural, provided they are sufficiently weakly coupled to ordinary matter. In comparison to other flavor scenarios, our framework is rather versatile since a single (or a few) desired scalar couplings may be investigated in isolation. We illustrate this by discussing in detail the examples of an up-specific scalar mediator to dark matter and a muon-specific scalar that may address the $\sim 3 \sigma$ muon anomalous magnetic moment discrepancy.

Indirect detection of neutrino portal dark matter

We investigate the feasibility of the indirect detection of dark matter in a simple model using the neutrino portal. The model is very economical, with right-handed neutrinos generating neutrino masses through the Type-I seesaw mechanism and simultaneously mediating interactions with dark matter. Given the small neutrino Yukawa couplings expected in a Type-I seesaw, direct detection and accelerator probes of dark matter in this scenario are challenging. However, dark matter can efficiently annihilate to right-handed neutrinos, which then decay via active-sterile mixing through the weak interactions, leading to a variety of indirect astronomical signatures. We derive the existing constraints on this scenario from Planck cosmic microwave background measurements, Fermi dwarf spheroidal galaxies and Galactic Center gamma-rays observations, and Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer - 02 antiprotons observations, and also discuss the future prospects of Fermi and the Cherenkov Telescope Array. Thermal annihilation rates are already being probed for dark matter lighter than about 50 GeV, and this can be extended to dark matter masses of 100 GeV and beyond in the future. This scenario can also provide a dark matter interpretation of the Fermi Galactic Center gamma ray excess, and we confront this interpretation with other indirect constraints. Finally we discuss some of the exciting implications of extensions of the minimal model with large neutrino Yukawa couplings and Higgs portal couplings.

Higgsino-like dark matter from sneutrino late decays

We consider Higgsino-like dark matter (DM) in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) with additional right-handed neutrino chiral superfields, and propose a new non-thermal way of generating the right amount of relic DM via sneutrino late decays. Due to the large DM annihilation cross-section, decays must occur at lower temperatures than the freeze-out temperature Td≪TF,χ˜10∼μ/25, implying a mostly right-handed lightest sneutrino with very small Yukawa interactions. In that context, the right amount of Higgsino-like DM relic density can be accounted for if sneutrinos are produced via thermal freeze-in in the early Universe.

H → μτ and muon g − 2 in the alignment limit of two-Higgs-doublet model

We examine the h→μτ and muon g−2 in the exact alignment limit of two-Higgs-doublet model. In this case, the couplings of the SM-like Higgs to the SM particles are the same as the Higgs couplings in the SM at the tree level, and the tree-level lepton–flavor–violating coupling hμτ is absent. We assume the lepton–flavor–violating μτ excess observed by CMS to be respectively from the other neutral Higgses, H and A, which almost degenerates with the SM-like Higgs at the 125 GeV. After imposing the relevant theoretical constraints and experimental constraints from the precision electroweak data, B-meson decays, τ decays and Higgs searches, we find that the muon g−2 anomaly and μτ excess favor the small lepton Yukawa coupling and top Yukawa coupling of the non-SM-like Higgs around 125 GeV, and the lepton–flavor–violating coupling is sensitive to another heavy neutral Higgs mass. In addition, if the μτ excess is from H around 125 GeV, the experimental data of the heavy Higgs decaying into μτ favor mA>230 GeV for a relatively large Ht¯t coupling.

Top-phobic heavy Higgs boson as the 750 GeV diphoton resonance

A hint of a new resonance at a mass of 750\,GeV has been observed in the diphoton channel of LHC Run 2 at $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV. The signal rate is too large to interpret it as a new Higgs boson in the context of weakly-coupled renormalizable models. One way is to reduce its total decay rate, which is possible if the CP-even heavy Higgs boson $H^0$ in the aligned two Higgs doublet model becomes top-phobic. To ensure sufficient gluon fusion production, we introduce vector-like quarks (VLQ). The Higgs precision data as well as the exclusion limits from no excesses in other 8 TeV LHC searches of $Z\gamma$, $b\bar{b}$, $\tau^+\tau^-$, and $jj$ channels are simultaneously included. In Type I, top-phobic $H^0$ cannot explain the 750\,GeV diphoton signal and the Higgs precision data simultaneously since the universal Yukawa couplings of the up-type and down-type VLQs always make more contribution to $h^0$ than to $H^0$. In Type II, small Yukawa coupling of the up-type VLQ but sizable Yukawa coupling for the down-type VLQ is shown to explain the signal while satisfying other LHC exclusion limits.

New and trivialCPsymmetry for extendedA4flavor

The combination of $\nu_\mu$-$\nu_\tau$ exchange together with CP conjugation in the neutrino sector (known as $\mathrm{CP}^{\mu\tau}$ symmetry or $\mu\tau$-reflection) is known to predict the viable pattern: $\theta_{23}=45^\circ$, maximal Dirac CP phase and trivial Majorana phases. We implement such a CP symmetry as a new CP symmetry in theories with $A_4$ flavor. The implementation in a complete renormalizable model leads to a new form for the neutrino mass matrix that leads to further predictions: normal hierarchical spectrum with lightest mass and $m_{\beta\beta}$ ($0\nu\beta\beta$) of only few meV, and either $\nu_1$ or $\nu_2$ has opposite CP parity. An approximate $L_\mu-L_\tau$ symmetry arises naturally and controls the flavor structure of the model. The light neutrino masses are generated by the extended seesaw mechanism with 6 right-handed neutrinos (RHNs). The requirement of negligible one-loop corrections to light neutrino masses, validity of the extended seesaw approximation and not too long-lived BSM states to comply with BBN essentially restricts the parameters of the model to a small region: three relatively light right-handed neutrinos at the GeV scale, heavier neutrinos at the electroweak scale and Yukawa couplings smaller than the electron Yukawa. Such a small Yukawa couplings render these RHNs unobservable in terrestrial experiments.

On the light quark mass effects in Higgs boson production in gluon fusion

Production of Higgs bosons at the LHC is affected by the contribution of light quarks, that mediate the gg → Hg transition. Although their impact is suppressed by small Yukawa couplings, it is enhanced by large logarithms of the ratio of the Higgs boson mass or its transverse momentum to light quark masses. We study the origin of this enhancement, focusing on the abelian corrections to gg → Hg amplitudes of the form $$ {\left({C}_F{\alpha}_s{\mathrm{\mathcal{L}}}^2\right)}^n $$ , where $$ \mathrm{\mathcal{L}}\in \left\{ \ln \left(s/{m}_b^2\right),\kern0.5em \ln \left({p}_{\perp}^2/{m}_b^2\right)\right\} $$ . We show how these non-Sudakov double logarithmic terms can be resummed to all orders in the strong coupling constant. Interestingly, we find that the transverse momentum dependence of these corrections is very weak due to a peculiar cancellation between different logarithmic terms. Although the abelian part of QCD corrections is not expected to be dominant, it can be used to estimate missing higher-order corrections to light quark contributions to Higgs boson production at the LHC.

Yukawa couplings in 6D gauge–Higgs unification onT2/ZNwith magnetic fluxes

We discuss the Yukawa couplings in 6D gauge-Higgs unification models on $T^2/Z_N$ in the presence of magnetic fluxes. We provide general formulae for them, and numerically evaluate their magnitude in a specific model on $T^2/Z_3$. Thanks to the nontrivial profiles of the zero-mode wave functions, the top quark Yukawa coupling can be reproduced without introducing a large representation of the gauge group for matter fields. However, it is difficult to realize small Yukawa couplings only by the magnetic fluxes and the Wilson-line phases because of the complicated structure of the mode functions on $T^2/Z_N$ ($N=3,4,6$).

Lepton flavor violating decays of Standard-Model-like Higgs in 3-3-1 model with neutral lepton

The one loop contribution to the lepton flavor violating decay h0→μτ of the SM-like neutral Higgs (LFVHD) in the 3-3-1 model with neutral lepton is calculated using the unitary gauge. We have checked in detail that the total contribution is exactly finite, and the divergent cancellations happen separately in two parts of active neutrinos and exotic heavy leptons. By numerical investigation, we have indicated that the one-loop contribution of the active neutrinos is very suppressed while that of exotic leptons is rather large. The branching ratio of the LFVHD strongly depends on the Yukawa couplings between exotic leptons and SU(3)L Higgs triplets. This ratio can reach 10−5 providing large Yukawa couplings and constructive correlations of the SU(3)L scale (v3) and the charged Higgs masses. The branching ratio decreases rapidly with the small Yukawa couplings and large v3.

ATLAS diboson excesses from the stealth doublet model

The ATLAS Collaboration has reported excesses in diboson invariant mass searches of new resonances around 2 TeV, which might be a prediction of new physics around that mass range. We interpret these results in the context of a modified stealth doublet model where the extra Higgs doublet has a Yukawa interaction with the first generation quarks, and show that the heavy CP-even Higgs boson can naturally explain the excesses in the WW and ZZ channels with a small Yukawa coupling, ξ∼0.15, and a tiny mixing angle with the SM Higgs boson, α∼0.05. Furthermore, the model satisfies constraints from colliders and electroweak precision measurements.

On the stability of the electroweak vacuum in the presence of low-scale seesaw models

The scale of neutrino masses and the Planck scale are separated by more than twenty-seven order of magnitudes. However, they can be linked by imposing the stability of the electroweak (EW) vacuum. The crucial ingredient is provided by the generation of neutrino masses via a seesaw mechanism triggered by Yukawa interactions between the standard model (SM) Higgs and lepton doublets and additional heavy right-handed neutrinos. These neutrinos participate to the renormalization group (RG) running of the dimensionless SM couplings, affecting their high-energy behavior. The Higgs quartic coupling is dragged towards negative values, thus altering the stability of the EW vacuum. In the usual type-I seesaw model, this effect is too small to be a threat since, in order to comply with low-energy neutrino data, one is forced to consider either too small Yukawa couplings or too heavy right-handed neutrinos. In this paper we explore this general idea in the context of low-scale seesaw models. These models are characterized by sizable Yukawa couplings and right-handed neutrinos with mass of the order of the EW scale, thus maximizing their impact on the RG flow. As a general result, we find that Yukawa couplings such that Tr $$ \left({Y}_{{}^v}^{\dagger }{Y}_v\right) $$ ≳ 0.4 are excluded. We discuss the impact of this bound on several observables, with a special focus on the lepton flavor violating process μ → eγ and the neutrino-less double beta decay.

Scalar singlet dark matter and gamma lines

We point out the possibility to test the simplest scalar dark matter model at gamma-ray telescopes. We discuss the relevant constraints and show the predictions for direct detection, gamma line searches and LHC searches. Since the final state radiation processes are suppressed by small Yukawa couplings one could observe the gamma lines from dark matter annihilation.

Direct detection with dark mediators

We introduce dark mediator Dark Matter (dmDM) where the dark and visible sectors are connected by at least one light mediator ϕ carrying the same dark charge that stabilizes DM. ϕ is coupled to the Standard Model via an operator q¯qϕϕ⁎/Λ, and to dark matter via a Yukawa coupling yχχc¯χϕ. Direct detection is realized as the 2→3 process χN→χ¯Nϕ at tree-level for mϕ≲10 keV and small Yukawa coupling, or alternatively as a loop-induced 2→2 process χN→χN. We explore the direct-detection consequences of this scenario and find that a heavy O(100 GeV) dmDM candidate fakes different O(10 GeV) standard WIMPs in different experiments. Large portions of the dmDM parameter space are detectable above the irreducible neutrino background and not yet excluded by any bounds. Interestingly, for the mϕ range leading to novel direct detection phenomenology, dmDM is also a form of Self-Interacting Dark Matter (SIDM), which resolves inconsistencies between dwarf galaxy observations and numerical simulations.

PQ-symmetry for a small Dirac neutrino mass, dark radiation and cosmic neutrinos

We propose a supersymmetric scenario in which the small Yukawa couplings for the Dirac neutrino mass term are generated by the spontaneous-breaking of Pecci-Quinn symmetry. In this scenario, a right amount of dark matter relic density can be obtained by either right-handed sneutrino or axino LSP, and a sizable amount of axion dark radiation can be obtained. Interestingly, the decay of right-handed sneutrino NLSP to axino LSP is delayed to around the present epoch, and can leave an observable cosmological background of neutrinos at the energy scale of \U0001d4aa(10−100) GeV.

Displaced vertices and long-lived charged particles in the NMSSM with right-handed sneutrinos

We study LHC signatures of displaced vertices and long-lived charged particles within the context of the Next-to-Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with right-handed (RH) sneutrinos. In this construction the RH neutrino can be produced directly from Higgs decays or in association with a RH sneutrino when the latter is the lightest supersymmetric particle. The RH neutrino is generally long-lived, since its decay width is proportional to the neutrino Yukawa, a parameter which is predicted to be small. The RH neutrino late decay can therefore give rise to displaced vertices at the LHC, which can be identified through the decay products, which involve two leptons (2ℓ + T ) or a lepton with two jets (ℓjj). We simulate this signal for the current LHC configuration (a centre of mass of 8 TeV and an integrated luminosity of $ \mathcal{L} $ = 20 fb−1), and a future one (13 TeV and $ \mathcal{L} $ = 100 fb−1). We show that a region of the parameter space of this model can be probed and that the RH neutrino mass can be reconstructed from the end-point of the two-lepton invariant mass distribution or the central value of the mass distribution for two jets plus one lepton. Another exotic signature of this construction is the production of a long-lived stau. If the stau is the next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle, it can decay through diagrams involving the small neutrino Yukawa, and would escape the detector leaving a characteristic trail. We also simulate this signal for various benchmark points and show that the model can be within the reach of the future run of the LHC.

Dirac neutrinos from flavor symmetry

We present a model where Majorana neutrino mass terms are forbidden by the flavor symmetry group $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Delta}}(27)$. Neutrinos are Dirac fermions and their masses arise in the same way as those of the charged fermions, due to very small Yukawa couplings. The model fits current neutrino oscillation data and correlates the octant of the atmospheric angle ${\ensuremath{\theta}}_{23}$ with the magnitude of the lightest neutrino mass, with maximal mixing excluded for any neutrino mass hierarchy.

Higgs boson mass, neutrino masses and mixing and keV dark matter in an U(1) R − lepton number model

We discuss neutrino masses and mixing in the framework of a supersymmetric model with an $U(1)_{R}$ symmetry, consisting of a single right handed neutrino superfield with an appropriate R charge. The lepton number ($L$) of the standard model fermions are identified with the negative of their R-charges. As a result, a subset of leptonic R-parity violating operators can be present and are consistent with the $U(1)_R$ symmetry. This model can produce one light Dirac neutrino mass at the tree level without the need of introducing a very small neutrino Yukawa coupling. We analyze the scalar sector of this model in detail paying special attention to the mass of the lightest Higgs boson. One of the sneutrinos might acquire a substantial vacuum expectation value leading to interesting phenomenological consequences. Different sum rules involving the physical scalar masses are obtained and we show that the lightest Higgs boson mass receives a contribution proportional to the square of the neutrino Yukawa coupling $f$. This allows for a 125 GeV Higgs boson at the tree level for $f \sim {\cal O} (1)$ and still having a small tree level mass for the active neutrino. In order to fit the experimental results involving neutrino masses and mixing angles we introduce a small breaking of $U(1)_R$ symmetry, in the context of anomaly mediated supersymmetry breaking. In the presence of this small R-symmetry breaking, light neutrino masses receive contributions at the one-loop level involving the R-parity violating interactions. We also identify the right handed sterile neutrino as a warm dark matter candidate in our model. In the case of R-symmetry breaking, the large $f$ case is characterized by a few hundred MeV lightest neutralino as an unstable lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) and we briefly discuss the cosmological implications of such a scenario.

Baryon asymmetry and dark matter from soft leptogenesis

The framework for soft leptogenesis minimally extended with a DM sector is studied. A heavy singlet neutrino superfield acts as the source for (s)lepton asymmetry and by coupling to the singlet DM superfield it produces a DM particle density through decays. The nature of DM generated is twofold depending on whether the Yukawa and DM couplings are either small or large. With sufficiently small Yukawa and DM couplings DM annihilations into MSSM particles are slow and as a consequence all DM particles form the DM component. The solutions to Boltzmann equations are given and the dependence between the DM masses and coupling are presented in this weak coupling regime. Also, the behavior of the efficiency of producing asymmetric DM is determined with weak couplings. We note that a different outcome arises if the couplings are larger because then the ADM component is dominant due to the effectiveness of DM decays into the MSSM sector.

Dimensional transitions in small Yukawa clusters

We provide a detailed analysis of structural transitions leading to rapid changes in the dimensionality of small Yukawa clusters. These transformations are induced by variations in the shape of confinement as well as the screening strength. We show that even in the most primitive systems composed of only a few strongly interacting particles, the order parameter exhibits a power-law behavior in the vicinity of the critical point of the continuous transition. The critical exponent γ = 1/2 is found to be universal in all studied cases, which is consistent with the general theory of continuous phase transitions.