Bodeker, D., Kuhnel, F., Oldengott, I. M., & Schwarz, D. J. (2021). Lepton flavor asymmetries and the mass spectrum of primordial black holes. Phys. Rev. D, 103(6), 063506–6pp.
Abstract: We study the influence of lepton flavor asymmetries on the formation and the mass spectrum of primordial black holes. We estimate the detectability of their mergers with LIGO/Virgo and show that the currently published gravitational wave events may actually be described by a primordial black hole spectrum from nonzero asymmetries. We suggest to use gravitational-wave astronomy as a novel tool to probe how lepton flavor asymmetric the Universe has been before the onset of neutrino oscillations.
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Celis, A., Fuentes-Martin, J., Vicente, A., & Virto, J. (2017). Gauge-invariant implications of the LHCb measurements on lepton-flavor nonuniversality. Phys. Rev. D, 96(3), 035026–8pp.
Abstract: We study the implications of the recent measurements of R-K and R-K* by the LHCb Collaboration. We do that by adopting a model-independent approach based on the Standard Model effective field theory (SMEFT), with the dominant new physics (NP) effects encoded in the coefficients of dimension-6 operators respecting the full Standard Model (SM) gauge symmetry. After providing simplified expressions for R-K and R-K*, we determine the implications of the recent LHCb results for these observables on the coefficients of the SMEFT operators at low and high energies. We also take into account all b -> sll data, which combined lead to effective NP scenarios with SM pulls in excess of 5 sigma. Thus, the operators discussed in this paper would be the first dimension-6 terms in the SM Lagrangian to be detected experimentally. Indirect constraints on these operators are also discussed. The results of this paper transcend the singularity of the present situation and set a standard for future analyses in b -> s transitions when the NP is assumed to lie above the electroweak scale.
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Middeldorf-Wygas, M. M., Oldengott, I. M., Bödeker, D., & Schwarz, D. J. (2022). Cosmic QCD transition for large lepton flavor asymmetries. Phys. Rev. D, 105, 123533–10pp.
Abstract: We study the impact of large lepton flavor asymmetries on the cosmic QCD transition. Scenarios of unequal lepton flavor asymmetries are observationally almost unconstrained and therefore open up a whole new parameter space for the cosmic QCD transition. We find that for large asymmetries, the formation of a Bose-Einstein condensate of pions can occur and identify the corresponding parameter space. In the vicinity of the QCD transition scale, we express the pressure in terms of a Taylor expansion with respect to the complete set of chemical potentials. The Taylor coefficients rely on input from lattice QCD calculations from the literature. The domain of applicability of this method is discussed.
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Gerbino, M., Freese, K., Vagnozzi, S., Lattanzi, M., Mena, O., Giusarma, E., et al. (2017). Impact of neutrino properties on the estimation of inflationary parameters from current and future observations. Phys. Rev. D, 95(4), 043512–22pp.
Abstract: We study the impact of assumptions about neutrino properties on the estimation of inflationary parameters from cosmological data, with a specific focus on the allowed contours in the n(s)/r plane, where n(s) is the scalar spectral index and r is the tensor-to-scalar ratio. We study the following neutrino properties: (i) the total neutrino mass M-i = Sigma(i)m(i) (where the index i = 1, 2, 3 runs over the three neutrino mass eigenstates); (ii) the number of relativistic degrees of freedom N-eff at the time of recombination; and (iii) the neutrino hierarchy. Whereas previous literature assumed three degenerate neutrino masses or two massless neutrino species (approximations that clearly do not match neutrino oscillation data), we study the cases of normal and inverted hierarchy. Our basic result is that these three neutrino properties induce < 1 sigma shift of the probability contours in the n(s)/r plane with both current or upcoming data. We find that the choice of neutrino hierarchy (normal, inverted, or degenerate) has a negligible impact. However, the minimal cutoff on the total neutrino mass M-v,M-min = 0 that accompanies previous works using the degenerate hierarchy does introduce biases in the n(s)/r plane and should be replaced by M-v,M-min = 0.059 eV as required by oscillation data. Using current cosmic microwave background (CMB) data from Planck and Bicep/Keck, marginalizing over the total neutrino mass M-v and over r can lead to a shift in the mean value of ns of similar to 0.3 sigma toward lower values. However, once baryon acoustic oscillation measurements are included, the standard contours in the n(s)/r plane are basically reproduced. Larger shifts of the contours in the n(s)/r plane (up to 0.8 sigma) arise for nonstandard values of N-eff. We also provide forecasts for the future CMB experiments Cosmic Origins Explorer (COrE, satellite) and Stage-IV (ground-based) and show that the incomplete knowledge of neutrino properties, taken into account by a marginalization over M-v, could induce a shift of similar to 0.4 sigma toward lower values in the determination of ns (or a similar to 0.8 sigma shift if one marginalizes over N-eff). Comparison to specific inflationary models is shown. Imperfect knowledge of neutrino properties must be taken into account properly, given the desired precision in determining whether or not inflationary models match the future data.
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Lee, J. S., & Pilaftsis, A. (2012). Radiative corrections to scalar masses and mixing in a scale invariant two Higgs doublet model. Phys. Rev. D, 86(3), 035004–14pp.
Abstract: We study the Higgs boson mass spectrum of a classical scale invariant realization of the two Higgs doublet model (SI-2HDM). The classical scale symmetry of the theory is explicitly broken by quantum loop effects due to gauge interactions, Higgs self-couplings and top quark Yukawa couplings. We determine the allowed parameter space compatible with perturbative unitarity and electroweak precision data. Taking into account the LEP and the recent LHC exclusion limits on a standard-model-like Higgs boson HSM, we obtain rather strict constraints on the mass spectrum of the heavy Higgs sector of the SI-2HDM. In particular, if MHSM 125 GeV, the SI-2HDM strongly favors scenarios in which at least one of the nonstandard neutral Higgs bosons has a mass close to 400 GeV and is generically degenerate with the charged Higgs boson, whilst the third neutral Higgs scalar is lighter than 500 GeV.
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