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Curtin, D. et al, & Hirsch, M. (2019). Long-lived particles at the energy frontier: the MATHUSLA physics case. Rep. Prog. Phys., 82(11), 116201–133pp.
Abstract: We examine the theoretical motivations for long-lived particle (LLP) signals at the LHC in a comprehensive survey of standard model (SM) extensions. LLPs are a common prediction of a wide range of theories that address unsolved fundamental mysteries such as naturalness, dark matter, baryogenesis and neutrino masses, and represent a natural and generic possibility for physics beyond the SM (BSM). In most cases the LLP lifetime can be treated as a free parameter from the μm scale up to the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis limit of similar to 10(7) m. Neutral LLPs with lifetimes above similar to 100 m are particularly difficult to probe, as the sensitivity of the LHC main detectors is limited by challenging backgrounds, triggers, and small acceptances. MATHUSLA is a proposal for a minimally instrumented, large-volume surface detector near ATLAS or CMS. It would search for neutral LLPs produced in HL-LHC collisions by reconstructing displaced vertices (DVs) in a low-background environment, extending the sensitivity of the main detectors by orders of magnitude in the long-lifetime regime. We study the LLP physics opportunities afforded by a MATHUSLA-like detector at the HL-LHC, assuming backgrounds can be rejected as expected. We develop a model-independent approach to describe the sensitivity of MATHUSLA to BSM LLP signals, and compare it to DV and missing energy searches at ATLAS or CMS. We then explore the BSM motivations for LLPs in considerable detail, presenting a large number of new sensitivity studies. While our discussion is especially oriented towards the long-lifetime regime at MATHUSLA, this survey underlines the importance of a varied LLP search program at the LHC in general. By synthesizing these results into a general discussion of the top-down and bottom-up motivations for LLP searches, it is our aim to demonstrate the exceptional strength and breadth of the physics case for the construction of the MATHUSLA detector.
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Fontes, D., Romao, J. C., & Valle, J. W. F. (2019). Electroweak breaking and Higgs boson profile in the simplest linear seesaw model. J. High Energy Phys., 10(10), 245–28pp.
Abstract: We examine the simplest realization of the linear seesaw mechanism within the Standard Model gauge structure. Besides the standard scalar doublet, there are two lepton-number-carrying scalars, a nearly inert SU(2)(L) doublet and a singlet. Neutrino masses result from the spontaneous violation of lepton number, implying the existence of a Nambu-Goldstone boson. Such “majoron” would be copiously produced in stars, leading to stringent astrophysical constraints. We study the profile of the Higgs bosons in this model, including their effective couplings to the vector bosons and their invisible decay branching ratios. A consistent electroweak symmetry breaking pattern emerges with a compressed spectrum of scalars in which the “Standard Model” Higgs boson can have a sizeable invisible decay into the invisible majorons.
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Nath, N., Srivastava, R., & Valle, J. W. F. (2019). Testing generalized CP symmetries with precision studies at DUNE. Phys. Rev. D, 99(7), 075005–13pp.
Abstract: We examine the capabilities of the DUNE experiment in probing leptonic CP violation within the framework of theories with generalized CP symmetries characterized by the texture zeros of the corresponding CP transformation matrices. We investigate DUNE's potential to probe the two least known oscillation parameters, the atmospheric mixing angle theta(23) and the Dirac CP phase delta(CP). We fix theory-motivated benchmarks for (sin(2)theta(23), delta(CP)) and take them as true values in our simulations. Assuming 3.5 years of neutrino running plus 3.5 years in the antineutrino mode, we show that in all cases DUNE can significantly constrain and in certain cases rule out the generalized CP texture zero patterns.
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Durieux, G., Irles, A., Miralles, V., Peñuelas, A., Perello, M., Poschl, R., et al. (2019). The electro-weak couplings of the top and bottom quarks – Global fit and future prospects. J. High Energy Phys., 12(12), 098–44pp.
Abstract: We evaluate the implications of LHC and LEP/SLC measurements for the electro-weak couplings of the top and bottom quarks. We derive global bounds on the Wilson coefficients of ten two-fermion operators in an effective field theory description. The combination of hadron collider data with Z -pole measurements is found to yield tight limits on the operator coefficients that modify the left-handed couplings of the bottom and top quark to the Z boson. We also present projections for the high-luminosity phase of the LHC and for future electron-positron colliders. The bounds on the operator coefficients are expected to improve substantially during the remaining LHC programme, by factors of 1 to 5 if systematic uncertainties are scaled as statistical ones. The operation of an e(+)e(-) collider at a center-of-mass energy above the top-quark pair production threshold is expected to further improve the bounds by one to two orders of magnitude. The combination of measurements in pp and e(+)e(-) collisions allows for a percent-level determination of the top-quark Yukawa coupling, that is robust in a global fit.
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Ikeno, N., Dias, J. M., Liang, W. H., & Oset, E. (2019). chi(c1) decays into a pseudoscalar meson and a vector-vector molecule. Phys. Rev. D, 100(11), 114011–7pp.
Abstract: We evaluate ratios of the chi(c1) decay rates to eta (eta', K-) and one of the f(0) (1370), f(0) (1710), f(2) (1270), f(2)'(1525), K-2*(1430) resonances, which in the local hidden gauge approach are dynamically generated from the vector-vector interaction. With the simple assumption that the chi(c1) is a singlet of SU(3), and the input from the study of these resonances as vector-vector molecular states, we describe the experimental ratio B(chi(c1)-> eta f(2) (1270))/B(chi(c1) -> eta'f(2)' (1525)) and make predictions for six more ratios that can be tested in future experiments.
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Beltran Jimenez, J., & Delhom, A. (2019). Ghosts in metric-affine higher order curvature gravity. Eur. Phys. J. C, 79(8), 656–7pp.
Abstract: We disprove the widespread belief that higher order curvature theories of gravity in the metric-affine formalism are generally ghost-free. This is clarified by considering a sub-class of theories constructed only with the Ricci tensor and showing that the non-projectively invariant sector propagates ghost-like degrees of freedom. We also explain how these pathologies can be avoided either by imposing a projective symmetry or additional constraints in the gravity sector. Our results put forward that higher order curvature gravity theories generally remain pathological in the metric-affine (and hybrid) formalisms and highlight the key importance of the projective symmetry and/or additional constraints for their physical viability and, by extension, of general metric-affine theories.
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Fileviez Perez, P., & Murgui, C. (2019). Gamma lines from the hidden sector. Phys. Rev. D, 100(12), 123007–11pp.
Abstract: We discuss the visibility of gamma lines from dark matter annihilation. We point out a class of theories for dark matter which predict the existence of gamma lines with striking features. In these theories, the final state radiation processes are highly suppressed and one could distinguish easily the gamma lines from the continuum spectrum. We discuss the main experimental bounds and show that one could test the predictions for gamma lines in the near future in the context of simple gauge theories for dark matter.
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Fileviez Perez, P., Golias, E., Li, R. H., & Murgui, C. (2019). Leptophobic dark matter and the baryon number violation scale. Phys. Rev. D, 99(3), 035009–16pp.
Abstract: We discuss the possible connection between the scale for baryon number violation and the cosmological bound on the dark matter relic density. A simple gauge theory for baryon number which predicts the existence of a leptophobic cold dark matter particle candidate is investigated. In this context, the dark matter candidate is a Dirac fermion with mass defined by the new symmetry breaking scale. Using the cosmological bounds on the dark matter relic density we find the upper bound on the symmetry breaking scale around 200 TeV. The properties of the leptophobic dark matter candidate are investigated in great detail and we show the prospects to test this theory at current and future experiments. We discuss the main implications for the mechanisms to explain the matter and antimatter asymmetry in the Universe.
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Fileviez Perez, P., Murgui, C., & Plascencia, A. D. (2019). Neutrino-dark matter connections in gauge theories. Phys. Rev. D, 100(3), 035041–14pp.
Abstract: We discuss the connection between the origin of neutrino masses and the properties of dark matter candidates in the context of gauge extensions of the Standard Model. We investigate minimal gauge theories for neutrino masses where the neutrinos arc predicted to be Dirac or Majorana fermions. We find that the upper bound on the effective number of relativistic species provides a strong constraint in the scenarios with Dirac neutrinos. In the context of theories where the lepton number is a local gauge symmetry spontaneously broken at the low scale, the existence of dark matter is predicted from the condition of anomaly cancellation. Applying the cosmological bound on the dark matter relic density, we find an upper bound on the symmetry breaking scale in the multi-TeV region. These results imply that we could test simple gauge theories for neutrino masses at current or future experiments.
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Arbelaez, C., Carcamo Hernandez, A. E., Cepedello, R., Hirsch, M., & Kovalenko, S. (2019). Radiative type-I seesaw neutrino masses. Phys. Rev. D, 100(11), 115021–7pp.
Abstract: We discuss a radiative type-I seesaw. In these models, the radiative generation of Dirac neutrino masses allows to explain the smallness of the observed neutrino mass scale for rather light right-handed neutrino masses in a type-1 seesaw. We first present the general idea in a model-independent way. This allows us to estimate the typical scale of right-handed neutrino mass as a function of the number of loops. We then present two example models, at the one- and two-loop level, which we use to discuss neutrino masses and lepton-flavor-violating constraints in more detail. For the two-loop example, right-handed neutrino masses must lie below 100 GeV, thus making this class of models testable in heavy neutral lepton searches.
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