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Fonseca, R. M., & Hirsch, M. (2016). Lepton number violation in 331 models. Phys. Rev. D, 94(11), 115003–16pp.
Abstract: Different models based on the extended SU(3)(C) x SU(3)(L) x U(1)(X) (331) gauge group have been proposed over the past four decades. Yet, despite being an active research topic, the status of lepton number in 331 models has not been fully addressed in the literature, and furthermore many of the original proposals can not explain the observed neutrino masses. In this paper we review the basic features of various 331 models, focusing on potential sources of lepton number violation. We then describe different modifications which can be made to the original models in order to accommodate neutrino (and charged lepton) masses.
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Dib, C., Helo, J. C., Hirsch, M., Kovalenko, S., & Schmidt, I. (2012). Heavy sterile neutrinos in tau decays and the MiniBooNE anomaly. Phys. Rev. D, 85(1), 011301–4pp.
Abstract: Current results of the MiniBooNE experiment show excess events that indicate neutrino oscillations, but only if one goes beyond the standard 3 family scenario. Recently a different explanation of the events has been given, not in terms of oscillations but by the production and decay of a massive sterile neutrino with large transition magnetic moment. We study the effect of such a sterile neutrino in the rare decays tau(-) -> mu(-)mu(+)pi(-)nu and tau(-) -> mu(-)mu(+)e(-)nu nu. We find that searches for these decays, featuring displaced vertices between the mu(-) and the other charged particles, constitute reliable tests for the existence of the sterile neutrino proposed to explain the MiniBooNE anomaly. These searches could be done with already existing experimental data.
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Arbelaez, C., Helo, J. C., & Hirsch, M. (2019). Long-lived heavy particles in neutrino mass models. Phys. Rev. D, 100(5), 055001–15pp.
Abstract: All extensions of the standard model that generate Majorana neutrino masses at the electroweak scale introduce some heavy mediators, either fermions and/or scalars, weakly coupled to leptons. Here, by “heavy,” we mean implicitly the mass range between a few 100 GeV up to, say, roughly 2 TeV, such that these particles can be searched for at the LHC. We study decay widths of these mediators for several different tree-level neutrino mass models. The models we consider range from the simplest d = 5 seesaw up to d = 11 neutrino mass models. For each of the models, we identify the most interesting parts of the parameter space, where the heavy mediator fields are particularly long lived and can decay with experimentally measurable decay lengths. One has to distinguish two different scenarios, depending on whether fermions or scalars are the lighter of the heavy particles. For fermions, we find that the decay lengths correlate with the inverse of the overall neutrino mass scale. Thus, since no lower limit on the lightest neutrino mass exists, nearly arbitrarily long decay lengths can be obtained for the case in which fermions are the lighter of the heavy particles. For charged scalars, on the other hand, there exists a maximum value for the decay length in these models. This maximum value depends on the model and on the electric charge of the scalar under consideration but can at most be of the order of a few millimeters. Interestingly, independent of the model, this maximum occurs always in a region of parameter space, where leptonic and gauge boson final states have similar branching ratios, i.e., where the observation of lepton number-violating final states from scalar decays is possible.
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Cordero-Carrion, I., Hirsch, M., & Vicente, A. (2019). Master Majorana neutrino mass parametrization. Phys. Rev. D, 99(7), 075019–6pp.
Abstract: After introducing a master formula for the Majorana neutrino mass matrix, we present a master parametrization for the Yukawa matrices automatically in agreement with neutrino oscillation data. This parametrization can be used for any model that induces Majorana neutrino masses. The application of the master parametrization is also illustrated in an example model, with special focus on its lepton flavor violating phenomenology.
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Hirsch, M., Srivastava, R., & Valle, J. W. F. (2018). Can one ever prove that neutrinos are Dirac particles? Phys. Lett. B, 781, 302–305.
Abstract: According to the “Black Box” theorem the experimental confirmation of neutrinoless double beta decay (0 nu 2 beta) would imply that at least one of the neutrinos is a Majorana particle. However, a null 0 nu 2 beta signal cannot decide the nature of neutrinos, as it can be suppressed even for Majorana neutrinos. In this letter we argue that if the null 0 nu 2 beta decay signal is accompanied by a 0 nu 2 beta quadruple beta decay signal, then at least one neutrino should be a Dirac particle. This argument holds irrespective of the underlying processes leading to such decays.
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