Yukawa Sector Research Articles

FCNC-free multi-Higgs-doublet models from broken family symmetries

We demonstrate how residual flavour symmetries, infrared signatures of symmetry breaking in complete models of flavour, can naturally forbid (or limit in a flavour specific way) flavour-changing neutral currents (FCNC) in multi-Higgs-doublet models (MHDM) without using mass hierarchies. We first review how this model-independent mechanism can control the fermionic mixing patterns of the Standard Model, and then implement the symmetries in the Yukawa sector of MHDM, which allows us to intimately connect the predictivity of a given flavour model with its ability to sequester FCNC. Finally, after discussing various subtleties of the approach, we sketch an A4 toy model that realises an explicit example of these simplified constructions.

With or without U(2)? Probing non-standard flavor and helicity structures in semileptonic B decays

Motivated by the recent hints of lepton flavor universality violation observed in semileptonic B decays, we analyze how to test flavor and helicity structures of the corresponding amplitudes in view of future data. We show that the general assumption that such non-standard effects are controlled by a U(2)q×U(2)ℓ flavor symmetry, minimally broken as in the Standard Model Yukawa sector, leads to stringent predictions on leptonic and semileptonic B decays. Future measurements of RD(⁎), RK(⁎), B(B¯c,u→ℓν¯), B(B¯→πℓν¯), B(B→πℓℓ¯), B(Bs,d→ℓℓ¯(′)), as well as various polarization asymmetries in B¯→D(⁎)τν¯ decays, will allow to prove or falsify this general hypothesis independently of its dynamical origin.

Relating the Cabibbo angle to tanβ in a two Higgs-doublet model

In a two Higgs-doublet model with $D_4$ flavor symmetry, we establish a relation between $\tan\beta$ and the Cabibbo angle. Due to a small number of parameters, the quark Yukawa sector of the model is very predictive. The flavor changing neutral currents are small enough to allow for relatively light nonstandard scalars to pass through the flavor constraints.

Peccei-Quinn symmetry and nucleon decay in renormalizable SUSY SO(10)

We suggest simple ways of implementing Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry to solve the strong CP problem in renormalizable SUSY SO(10) models with a minimal Yukawa sector. Realistic fermion mass generation requires that a second pair of Higgs doublets survive down to the PQ scale. We show how unification of gauge couplings can be achieved in this context. Higgsino mediated proton decay rate is strongly suppressed by a factor of (MPQ/MGUT)2, which enables all SUSY particles to have masses of order TeV. With TeV scale SUSY spectrum, pto overline{v}{K}^{+} decay rate is expected to be in the observable range. Lepton flavor violating processes μ → eγ decay and μ − e conversion in nuclei, induced by the Dirac neutrino Yukawa couplings, are found to be within reach of forthcoming experiments.

Simplified models of flavourful leptoquarks

We study the implications of single leptoquark extensions of the Standard Model (SM) under the assumption that their enhanced Yukawa sectors are invariant under global Abelian flavour symmetries already present in SM mass terms. Such symmetries, assumed to be the ‘residual’ subgroups of an ultra-violet flavour theory, have previously been considered in order to predict fermionic mixing angles. Here we focus instead on their effect on the novel flavour structures sourced by the leptoquark representations that address the present {R}_{K^{(star )}} anomalies in semileptonic rare B-decays. Combined with existing flavour data, the residual symmetries prove to be extremely constraining; we find that the (quark-lepton) leptoquark Yukawa couplings fall within mathcal {O}(10) highly predictive patterns, each with only a single free parameter, when ‘normal’ (SM-like) hierarchies are assumed. In addition, proton decay for the scalar SU(2) triplet representation is naturally avoided in the residual symmetry approach without relying on further model building. Our results indicate that a simultaneous explanation for the {R}_{K^{(star )}} anomalies and the flavour puzzle may be achieved in a simplified, model-independent formalism.

B\u2013L Model with mathbf{S}_{3} symmetry

We make a scalar extension of the B–L gauge model where the mathbf{S}_{3} non-abelian discrete group drives mainly the Yukawa sector. Motived by the large and small hierarchies among the quark and active neutrino masses, respectively, the quark and lepton families are not treated on the same footing under the assignment of the discrete group. As a consequence, the nearest neighbor interaction (NNI) textures appear in the quark sector, leading to the CKM mixing matrix, whereas in the lepton sector, a soft breaking of the mu leftrightarrow tau symmetry in the effective neutrino mass, which comes from type I see-saw mechanism, provides a non-maximal atmospheric angle and a non-zero reactor angle.

Flavor structure of GUTs and uncertainties in proton lifetime estimates

We study the flavour aspects of proton lifetime estimates in simple Grand unified models paying particular attention to their inherent fragility due to the notorious lack of control of some of the key parameters governing the relevant hard-process amplitudes. Among these, the theoretical uncertainties in the flavour structure of the baryon and lepton number violating charged currents due to the potential higher-order effects afflicting the matching of the underlying Yukawa couplings to the low-energy data often play a prominent role. Focusing on the minimal variants of the most popular unified models we study the potential instabilities of the corresponding proton lifetime estimates based on the renormalizable-level Yukawa fits with respect to the Planck-scale induced flavour effects. In particular, we perform a detailed numerical analysis of all minimal $SO(10)$ Yukawa sector fits available in the literature and show that the proton lifetime estimates based on these inputs exhibit a high degree of robustness with respect to moderate-size perturbations, well within the expected "improvement window" of the upcoming proton decay searches.

\u21242 breaking effects in 2-loop RG evolution of 2HDM

We investigate the effects of a ℤ2 symmetry in the mathcal{C}mathcal{P} -conserving Two-Higgs-Doublet-Model (2HDM); which is often imposed to prevent Flavor-Changing-Neutral-Currents (FCNCs) at tree-level. Specifically, we analyze how a breaking of the ℤ2 symmetry spreads during renormalization group evolution; employing general 2-loop renormalization group equations that we have derived. Evolving the model from the electroweak to the Planck scale, we find that while the case of an exact ℤ2 symmetric 2HDM is very constrained, a soft breaking of the ℤ2 symmetry extends the valid parameter space regions. The effects of a hard ℤ2 breaking in the scalar sector as well as the stability of the flavor alignment ansatz are also investigated. We find that while a hard breaking of the ℤ2 symmetry in the potential is problematic, since it speeds up the growth of quartic couplings, the generated FCNCs are heavily suppressed. Conversely, we also find that hard ℤ2 breaking in the Yukawa sector at most gives moderate ℤ2 breaking in the potential; whereas the FCNCs can become quite sizable far away from the ℤ2 symmetric regions.

One-loop structure of the photon propagator in the standard model extension

We study radiative corrections on the photon propagator from the electroweak sector of the minimal Lorentz- and $CPT$-violating Standard Model Extension. We derive the most general Lorentz-violating ghost sector from BRST symmetry and renormalization theory. We introduce a Lorentz-violating nonlinear gauge that simplifies both the Higgs and gauge-sector extensions, which can be helpful in radiative corrections. At one loop, these sectors contribute to the $CPT$-even part of the photon propagator, characterized by the Riemann-type tensor $(k_F)_{\alpha\beta\mu\nu}$. We give exact results for the contributions to the SO(1,3) irreducible parts of $(k_F)_{\alpha \beta \mu \nu}$, namely, the Weyl-type tensor $(\hat{k}_F)_{\alpha \beta \mu \nu}$, the Ricci-type tensor $(k_F)_{\alpha \beta}$, and the curvature-type scalar $k_F$. In the Yukawa sector, one-loop contributions are ultraviolet finite, but most of them are unobservable due to finite renormalization. The only observable effect is a contribution proportional to $(k_F)_{\alpha \beta}$ that emerges via a dimension-6 term that is observer and gauge invariant. In the Higgs and gauge sectors, all the irreducible parts of the corresponding Riemann-type tensors receive divergent contributions, so they are observable. The only finite contribution corresponds to the dimension-6 term. We think of these contributions as radiative corrections to the renormalized tensors and assume that both effects are of the same order of magnitude to find bounds from vacuum birefringence and compare with the literature. Bounds on $(k_F)_{\alpha \beta}$ contributions, innocuous to birefringence, are also derived using limits on the renormalized tensor from Laser-Interferometer-Gravitational-Wave-Observatory data. We compare these bounds with the literature. Beta functions associated with $(\hat{k}_F)_{\alpha \beta \mu \nu}$ and $(k_F)_{\alpha \beta}$ are derived.

A theory of R(D*, D) anomaly with right-handed currents

We present an ultraviolet complete theory for the R(D*) and R(D) anomaly in terms of a low mass WR± gauge boson of a class of left-right symmetric models. These models, which are based on the gauge symmetry SU(3)c × SU(2)L × SU(2)R × U(1)B − L, utilize vector-like fermions to generate quark and lepton masses via a universal seesaw mechanism. A parity symmetric version as well as an asymmetric version are studied. A light sterile neutrino emerges naturally in this setup, which allows for new decay modes of B-meson via right-handed currents. We show that these models can explain R(D*) and R(D) anomaly while being consistent with LHC and LEP data as well as low energy flavor constraints arising from {K}_L-{K}_S,kern0.5em {B}_{d,s}-{overline{B}}_{d,s},kern0.5em D-overline{D} mixing, etc., but only for a limited range of the WR mass: 1.2 (1.8) TeV ≤ {M}_{W_R} ≤ 3 TeV for parity asymmetric (symmetric) Yukawa sectors. The ratio R(D)/R(D*) is predicted to be ≃ 1.16, which is the same as in the Standard Model. The light sterile neutrinos predicted by the model may be relevant for explaining the MiniBoone and LSND neutrino oscillation results. The parity symmetric version of the model provides a simple solution to the strong CP problem without relying on the axion. It also predicts an isospin singlet top partner with a mass MT = (1.5 − 2.5) TeV.

Running of fermion observables in non-supersymmetric SO(10) models

We investigate the complete renormalization group running of fermion observables in two different realistic non-supersymmetric models based on the gauge group SO(10) with intermediate symmetry breaking for both normal and inverted neutrino mass orderings. Contrary to results of previous works, we find that the model with the more minimal Yukawa sector of the Lagrangian fails to reproduce the measured values of observables at the electroweak scale, whereas the model with the more extended Yukawa sector can do so if the neutrino masses have normal ordering. The difficulty in finding acceptable fits to measured data is a result of the added complexity from the effect of an intermediate symmetry breaking as well as tension in the value of the leptonic mixing angle {theta}_{{}^{23}}^{ell } .

Higgs Pair Production as a Signal of Enhanced Yukawa Couplings.

We present a nontrivial correlation between the enhancement of the Higgs-fermion couplings and the Higgs pair production cross section in two Higgs doublet models with a flavor symmetry, with implications for LHC searches. This symmetry suppresses flavor-changing neutral couplings of the Higgs boson and allows for a partial explanation of the hierarchy in the Yukawa sector. After taking into account the constraints from electroweak precision measurements, Higgs coupling strength measurements, and unitarity and perturbativity bounds, we identify an interesting region of parameter space leading to enhanced Yukawa couplings as well as enhanced di-Higgs gluon fusion production at the LHC reach. This effect is visible in both the resonant and nonresonant contributions to the Higgs pair production cross section. We encourage dedicated searches based on differential distributions as a novel way to indirectly probe enhanced Higgs couplings to light fermions.

Constraining composite Higgs models using LHC data

We systematically study the modifications in the couplings of the Higgs boson, when identified as a pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson of a strong sector, in the light of LHC Run 1 and Run 2 data. For the minimal coset SO(5)/SO(4) of the strong sector, we focus on scenarios where the standard model left- and right-handed fermions (specifically, the top and bottom quarks) are either in 5 or in the symmetric 14 representation of SO(5). Going beyond the minimal 5L − 5R representation, to what we call here the ‘extended’ models, we observe that it is possible to construct more than one invariant in the Yukawa sector. In such models, the Yukawa couplings of the 125 GeV Higgs boson undergo nontrivial modifications. The pattern of such modifications can be encoded in a generic phenomenological Lagrangian which applies to a wide class of such models. We show that the presence of more than one Yukawa invariant allows the gauge and Yukawa coupling modifiers to be decorrelated in the ‘extended’ models, and this decorrelation leads to a relaxation of the bound on the compositeness scale (f ≥ 640 GeV at 95% CL, as compared to f ≥ 1 TeV for the minimal 5L − 5R representation model). We also study the Yukawa coupling modifications in the context of the next-to-minimal strong sector coset SO(6)/SO(5) for fermion-embedding up to representations of dimension 20. While quantifying our observations, we have performed a detailed χ2 fit using the ATLAS and CMS combined Run 1 and available Run 2 data.

Two-loop top and bottom Yukawa corrections to the Higgs-boson masses in the complex MSSM

Results for the two-loop corrections to the Higgs-boson masses of the MSSM with complex parameters of {mathcal {O}}{left( alpha _t^2+alpha _talpha _b+alpha _b^2right) } from the Yukawa sector in the gauge-less limit are presented. The corresponding self-energies and their renormalization have been obtained in the Feynman-diagrammatic approach. The impact of the new contributions on the Higgs spectrum is investigated. Furthermore, a comparison with an existing result in the limit of the MSSM with real parameters is carried out. The new results will be included in the public code FeynHiggs.

CP4 miracle: shaping Yukawa sector with CP symmetry of order four

We explore the phenomenology of a unique three-Higgs-doublet model based on the single CP symmetry of order 4 (CP4) without any accidental symmetries. The CP4 symmetry is imposed on the scalar potential and Yukawa interactions, strongly shaping both sectors of the model and leading to a very characteristic phenomenology. The scalar sector is analyzed in detail, and in the Yukawa sector we list all possible CP4-symmetric structures which do not run into immediate conflict with experiment, namely, do not lead to massless or mass-degenerate quarks nor to insufficient mixing or CP -violation in the CKM matrix. We show that the parameter space of the model, although very constrained by CP4, is large enough to comply with the electroweak precision data and the LHC results for the 125 GeV Higgs boson phenomenology, as well as to perfectly reproduce all fermion masses, mixing, and CP violation. Despite the presence of flavor changing neutral currents mediated by heavy Higgs scalars, we find through a parameter space scan many points which accurately reproduce the kaon CP -violating parameter ϵK as well as oscillation parameters in K and B(s) mesons. Thus, CP4 offers a novel minimalistic framework for building models with very few assumptions, sufficient predictive power, and rich phenomenology yet to be explored.

Lepton-flavored electroweak baryogenesis

We explore lepton-flavored electroweak baryogenesis, driven by CP-violation in leptonic Yukawa sector, using the $\tau-\mu$ system in the two Higgs doublet model as an example. This setup generically yields, together with the flavor-changing decay $h\to \tau \mu$, a tree-level Jarlskog-invariant that can drive dynamical generation of baryon asymmetry during a first-order electroweak phase transition and results in CP-violating effect in the decay $h\to \tau\tau$. We find that the observed baryon asymmetry can be generated in parameter space compatible with current experimental results for the decays $h\to \tau \mu$, $h\to \tau\tau$ and $\tau \rightarrow \mu \gamma$, as well as the present bound on the electric dipole moment of the electron. The baryon asymmetry generated is intrinsically correlated with the CP-violating decay $h\to \tau\tau$ and the flavor-changing decay $h\to \tau\mu$, which thus may serve as "smoking guns" to test lepton-flavored electroweak baryogenesis.

Pati-Salam SUSY GUT with Yukawa unification

Previous studies of a three family Yukawa unified supersymmetric grand unified theory (SUSY GUT) with SO(10) or Pati-Salam (PS) gauge symmetry proposed by Raby and students show that this model is able to fit low energy and inflation observables. However, the fit to low energy observables is not great especially for $\sin2\beta$, and up and down quark masses. In this paper, we show that by choosing PS as the gauge group and modifying the Yukawa sector, the low energy fit improves significantly while other qualities of the model are maintained. In particular, the lightest SUSY particle is the neutralino with mass of order 300 - 500 GeV, the lightest stop and sbottom have mass of order 3 - 5 TeV and the CP odd Higgs mass is of order 5 - 6 TeV, so we are in the decoupling limit for the light Higgs. In addition, we reinterpret gluino simplified model analyses by the ATLAS and CMS collaborations and find that the most stringent gluino mass bound for our model is $M_{\tilde{g}}\sim1.9\,\text{TeV}$. The current best fit point, consistent with this bound, with gluino mass $M_{\tilde{g}}=1.9\,\text{TeV}$ has $\chi^2/\text{dof}\approx1.12$, compared to the best fit point of the previous model with $\chi^2/\text{dof}=1.90$. We find that predictions for the electric dipole moment of the electron, the branching ratio $BR(\mu \rightarrow e \gamma)$ and the CP violating angle in the lepton sector, $\sin\delta$, are affected significantly as compared to previous results. In summary, we are unable to rule out this model or place an upper bound on gluino mass accessible by this run of the LHC because the $\chi^2/\text{dof}$ of this model is well below $2\sigma$ even for a gluino mass as high as 2.7 TeV. On the bright side, this means that this model is still viable and we might find low energy SUSY particles in the near future.

FN-2HDM: Two Higgs Doublet Models with Froggatt-Nielsen symmetry

We embed Two Higgs Doublet Models (2HDMs) in the Froggatt Nielsen (FN) framework. We find that the approximate FN symmetry predicts i) approximate Natural Flavor Conservation (NFC) of Types II or IV in the Yukawa sector, and ii) approximate Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry in the scalar sector. We discuss the phenomenological consequences of these features.

Two-Higgs-doublet-portal dark-matter models in light of direct search and LHC data

We explore simple Higgs-portal models of dark matter (DM) with spin 1/2, 3/2, and 1, respectively, applying to them constraints from the LUX and PandaX-II direct detection experiments and from LHC measurements on the 125-GeV Higgs boson. With only one Higgs doublet, we find that the spin-1/2 DM having a purely scalar effective coupling to the doublet is viable only in a narrow range of mass near the Higgs pole, whereas the vector DM is still allowed if its mass is also close to the Higgs pole or exceeds 1.4 TeV, both in line with earlier analyses. Moreover, the spin-3/2 DM is in a roughly similar situation to the spin-1/2 DM, but has surviving parameter space which is even more restricted. We also consider the two-Higgs-doublet extension of each of the preceding models, assuming that the expanded Yukawa sector is that of the two-Higgs-doublet model of type II. We show that in these two-Higgs-doublet-portal models significant portions of the DM mass regions excluded in the simplest scenarios by direct search bounds can be reclaimed due to suppression of the effective DM interactions with nucleons at some ratios of the CP -even Higgs bosons’ couplings to the up and down quarks. The regained parameter space contains areas which can yield a DM-nucleon scattering cross-section that is far less than its current experimental limit or even goes below the neutrino-background floor.

Effective theories of flavor and the nonuniversal MSSM

Flavor symmetries \`{a} la Froggatt-Nielsen~(FN) provide a compelling way to explain the hierarchies of fermionic masses and mixing angles in the Yukawa sector. In Supersymmetric~(SUSY) extensions of the Standard Model where the mediation of SUSY breaking occurs at scales larger than the breaking of flavor, this symmetry must be respected not only by the Yukawas of the superpotential, but by the soft-breaking masses and trilinear terms as well. In this work we show that contrary to naive expectations, even starting with completely flavor blind soft-breaking in the full theory at high scales, the low-energy sfermion mass matrices and trilinear terms of the effective theory, obtained upon integrating out the heavy mediator fields, are strongly non-universal. We explore the phenomenology of these SUSY flavor models after the latest LHC searches for new physics.