Abstract: We show that for a relatively light majoron (<< 100 eV) non-thermal production from topological defects is an efficient production mechanism. Taking the type I seesaw as benchmark scheme, we estimate the primordial majoron abundance and determine the required parameter choices where it can account for the observed cosmological dark matter. The latter is consistent with the scale of unification. Possible direct detection of light majorons with future experiments such as PTOLEMY and the formation of boson stars from the majoron dark matter are also discussed.

Abstract: We revisit the topic of invisible neutrino decay in the precision cosmological context, via a first-principles approach to understanding the cosmic microwave background and large-scale structure phenomenology of such a non-standard physics scenario. Assuming an effective Lagrangian in which a heavier standard-model neutrino nu(H) couples to a lighter one nu(l) and a massless scalar particle phi via a Yukawa interaction, we derive from first principles the complete set of Boltzmann equations, at both the spatially homogeneous and the firstorder inhomogeneous levels, for the phase space densities of nu(H), nu(l), and phi in the presence of the relevant decay and inverse decay processes. With this set of equations in hand, we perform a critical survey of recent works on cosmological invisible neutrino decay in both limits of decay while nu(H) is ultra-relativistic and non-relativistic. Our two main findings are: (i) in the non-relativistic limit, the effective equations of motion used to describe perturbations in the neutrino-scalar system in the existing literature formally violate momentum conservation and gauge invariance, and (ii) in the ultra-relativistic limit, exponential damping of the anisotropic stress does not occur at the commonly-used rate Gamma(T) = (1/tau(0))( m(nu H)/E-nu H)(3), but at a rate similar to (1/ tau(0))(m(nu H)/E-nu H)(5). Both results are model-independent. The impact of the former finding on the cosmology of invisible neutrino decay is likely small. The latter, however, implies a significant revision of the cosmological limit on the neutrino lifetime tau(0) from tau(old)(0) greater than or similar to 1.2 x 10(9) s (m(nu H)/50 meV)(3) to tau(0) greater than or similar to (4 x 10(5) -> 4 x 10(6)) s (m(nu H)/50 meV)(5).

Abstract: We revisit the production of baryon asymmetries in the minimal type I seesaw model with heavy Majorana singlets in the GeV range. In particular we include “washout” effects from scattering processes with gauge bosons, Higgs decays and inverse decays, besides the dominant top scatterings. We show that in the minimal model with two singlets, and for an inverted light neutrino ordering, future measurements from SHiP and neutrinoless double beta decay could in principle provide sufficient information to predict the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe. We also show that SHiP measurements could provide very valuable information on the PMNS CP phases.

Abstract: We revisit the generation of a matter-antimatter asymmetry in the minimal extension of the Standard Model with two singlet heavy neutral leptons (HNL) that can explain neutrino masses. We derive an accurate analytical approximation to the solution of the complete linearized set of kinetic equations, which exposes the non-trivial parameter dependencies in the form of parameterization-independent CP invariants. The identification of various washout regimes relevant in different regions of parameter space sheds light on the relevance of the mass corrections in the interaction rates and clarifies the correlations of baryogenesis with other observables. In particular, by requiring that the measured baryon asymmetry is reproduced, we derive robust upper or lower bounds on the HNL mixings depending on their masses, and constraints on their flavour structure, as well as on the CP-violating phases of the PMNS mixing matrix, and the amplitude of neutrinoless double-beta decay. We also find certain correlations between low and high scale CP phases. Especially emphasizing the testable part of the parameter space we demonstrate that our findings are in very good agreement with numerical results. The methods developed in this work can help in exploring more complex scenarios.

Abstract: We review standard and non-standard neutrino physics probes that are based on nuclear measurements. We pay special attention on the discussion of prospects to extract new physics at prominent rare event measurements looking for neutrino-nucleus scattering, such as the coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CE nu NS) that may involve lepton flavor violation (LFV) in neutral-currents (NC). For the latter processes several appreciably sensitive experiments are currently pursued or have been planed to operate in the near future, like the COHERENT, CONUS, CONNIE, MINER, TEXONO, RED100, vGEN, Ricochet, NUCLEUS, etc. We provide a thorough discussion on phenomenological and theoretical studies, in particular those referring to the nuclear physics aspects in order to provide accurate predictions for the relevant experiments. Motivated by the recent discovery of CE nu NS at the COHERENT experiment and the active experimental efforts for a new measurement at reactor-based experiments, we summarize the current status of the constraints as well as the future sensitivities on nuclear and electroweak physics parameters, non-standard interactions, electromagnetic neutrino properties, sterile neutrinos and simplified scenarios with novel vector Z ' or scalar phi mediators. Indirect and direct connections of CE nu NS with astrophysics, direct Dark Matter detection and charge lepton flavor violating processes are also discussed.