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Arbelaez, C., Kolesova, H., & Malinsky, M. (2014). Witten's mechanism in the flipped SU(5) unification. Phys. Rev. D, 89(5), 055003–16pp.
Abstract: We argue that Witten's loop mechanism for the right-handed Majorana neutrino mass generation identified originally in the SO(10) grand unification context can be successfully adopted to the class of the simplest flipped SU(5) models. In such a framework, the main drawback of the SO(10) prototype-in particular, the generic tension among the gauge unification constraints and the absolute neutrino mass scale-is alleviated, and a simple yet potentially realistic and testable scenario emerges.
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Boucenna, M. S., Morisi, S., Shafi, Q., & Valle, J. W. F. (2014). Inflation and majoron dark matter in the neutrino seesaw mechanism. Phys. Rev. D, 90(5), 055023–6pp.
Abstract: We propose that inflation and dark matter have a common origin, connected to the neutrino mass generation scheme. As a model we consider spontaneous breaking of global lepton number within the seesaw mechanism. We show that it provides an acceptable inflationary scenario consistent with the recent cosmic microwave background B-mode observation by the BICEP2 experiment. The scheme may also account for the baryon asymmetry of the Universe through leptogenesis for reasonable parameter choices.
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Pastore, A., Davesne, D., & Navarro, J. (2014). Nuclear matter response function with a central plus tensor Landau interaction. J. Phys. G, 41(5), 055103–17pp.
Abstract: We present a method to obtain response functions in the random phase approximation (RPA) based on a residual interaction described in terms of Landau parameters with central plus tensor contributions. The response functions keep the explicit momentum dependence of the RPA, in contrast with the traditional Landau approximation. Results for symmetric nuclear matter and pure neutron matter are presented using Landau parameters derived from finite-range interactions, both phenomenological and microscopic. We study the convergence of response functions as the number of Landau parameters is increased.
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T2K Collaboration(Abe, K. et al), Cervera-Villanueva, A., Escudero, L., Gomez-Cadenas, J. J., Izmaylov, A., Monfregola, L., et al. (2014). Observation of Electron Neutrino Appearance in a Muon Neutrino Beam. Phys. Rev. Lett., 112(6), 061802–8pp.
Abstract: The T2K experiment has observed electron neutrino appearance in a muon neutrino beam produced 295 km from the Super-Kamiokande detector with a peak energy of 0.6 GeV. A total of 28 electron neutrino events were detected with an energy distribution consistent with an appearance signal, corresponding to a significance of 7.3 sigma when compared to 4.92 +/- 0.55 expected background events. In the Pontecorvo-Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata mixing model, the electron neutrino appearance signal depends on several parameters including three mixing angles theta(12), theta(23), theta(13), a mass difference vertical bar Delta m(32)(2)vertical bar and a CP violating phase delta(CP). In this neutrino oscillation scenario, assuming vertical bar Delta m(32)(2)vertical bar = 2.4 x 10(-3) eV(2), sin theta(2)(23) = 0.5, and vertical bar Delta m(32)(2)vertical bar > 0 (vertical bar Delta m(32)(2)vertical bar < 0), a best- fit value of sin2 theta(2)(13) = 0.140(- 0.032)(+0.038) (0.170(-0.037)(+0.045)) is obtained at delta(CP) = 0. When combining the result with the current best knowledge of oscillation parameters including the world average value of theta(13) from reactor experiments, some values of delta(CP) are disfavored at the 90% C. L.
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XENON100 Collaboration(Aprile, E. et al), & Orrigo, S. E. A. (2014). First axion results from the XENON100 experiment. Phys. Rev. D, 90(6), 062009–7pp.
Abstract: We present the first results of searches for axions and axionlike particles with the XENON100 experiment. The axion-electron coupling constant, g(Ae), has been probed by exploiting the axioelectric effect in liquid xenon. A profile likelihood analysis of 224.6 live days x 34-kg exposure has shown no evidence for a signal. By rejecting g(Ae) larger than 7.7 x 10(-12) (90% C. L.) in the solar axion search, we set the best limit to date on this coupling. In the frame of the DFSZ and KSVZ models, we exclude QCD axions heavier than 0.3 and 80 eV/c(2), respectively. For axionlike particles, under the assumption that they constitute the whole abundance of dark matter in our galaxy, we constrain gAe to be lower than 1 x 10(-12) (90% C.L.) for masses between 5 and 10 keV/c(2).
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Barranco, L., Boubekeur, L., & Mena, O. (2014). Model-independent fit to Planck and BICEP2 data. Phys. Rev. D, 90(6), 063007–7pp.
Abstract: Inflation is the leading theory to describe elegantly the initial conditions that led to structure formation in our Universe. In this paper, we present a novel phenomenological fit to the Planck, WMAP polarization (WP) and the BICEP2 data sets using an alternative parametrization. Instead of starting from inflationary potentials and computing the inflationary observables, we use a phenomenological parametrization due to Mukhanov, describing inflation by an effective equation of state, in terms of the number of e-folds and two phenomenological parameters alpha and beta. Within such a parametrization, which captures the different inflationary models in a model-independent way, the values of the scalar spectral index n(s), its running and the tensor-to-scalar ratio r are predicted, given a set of parameters (alpha, beta). We perform a Markov Chain Monte Carlo analysis of these parameters, and we show that the combined analysis of Planck and WP data favors the Starobinsky and Higgs inflation scenarios. Assuming that the BICEP2 signal is not entirely due to foregrounds, the addition of this last data set prefers instead the phi(2) chaotic models. The constraint we get from Planck and WP data alone on the derived tensor-to-scalar ratio is r < 0.18 at 95% C.L., value which is consistent with the one quoted from the BICEP2 Collaboration analysis, r = 0.16(-0.05)(+0-06), after foreground subtraction. This is not necessarily at odds with the 2 sigma tension found between Planck and BICEP2 measurements when analyzing data in terms of the usual n(s) and r parameters, given that the parametrization used here, for the preferred value n(s) similar or equal to 0.96, allows only for a restricted parameter space in the usual (n(s), r) plane.
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Karakoc, M. et al, & Molina, F. (2014). Gamow-Teller transitions in the A=40 isoquintet of relevance for neutrino captures in Ar-40. Phys. Rev. C, 89(6), 064313–7pp.
Abstract: Background: The Gamow-Teller response of Ar-40 is important for the use of liquid argon as a medium for neutrino detection. An ambiguity about the Gamow-Teller strength for the excitation of 1(+) states at 2290 and 2730 keV in K-40 results in a significant uncertainty for neutrino capture rates. This ambiguity is caused by the large discrepancy observed between strengths extracted from Ar-40(p, n) charge-exchange data and the transition strengths for the analog transitions studied in the beta decay of Ti-40. Purpose: This study was aimed at resolving the ambiguity between the results from the Ar-40(p, n) charge-exchange and Ti-40 beta-decay data. Method: Shell-model calculations in the sd-pf shell with a new interaction (WBMB-C) were used to study differences between the structure of the transitions from Ar-40 and Ti-40. Distorted-wave Born approximation reaction calculations were used to investigate uncertainties in the extraction of Gamow-Teller strength from the Ar-40(p, n) data. New high-resolution data for the Ar-40(He-3,t) reaction were used to gain further insight into the charge-exchange reaction mechanism and to provide more information to test the validity of the shell-model calculations. Results: The shell-model calculations showed that interference between amplitudes associated with pf and sd components to the low-lying Gamow-Teller transitions, in combination with a difference in Coulomb energy shifts for Ar-40 and Ti-40, can produce the differences on the scale of those observed between the Ar-40 charge-exchange and Ti-40 beta-decay data. In combination with the difference in nuclear penetrability of the (p, n) and (He-3,t) probes, the different contributions from amplitudes associated with transitions in the pf and sd shells are likely also responsible for the observed discrepancy between the ratio of the cross sections for the low-lying 1(+) states in the Ar-40(p, n) and Ar-40(He-3,t) data. Conclusions: On the basis of this study, it is recommended to use Gamow-Teller strengths extracted from the Ar-40(p, n) data, not the Ti-40 beta-decay data, for the calculation of neutrino capture rates. Further theoretical studies are required to achieve a consistent quantitative description for the energy differences between low-lying 1(+) states in K-40 and Sc-40 and the experimentally observed Gamow-Teller strengths.
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Lesgourgues, J., & Pastor, S. (2014). Neutrino cosmology and Planck. New J. Phys., 16, 065002–24pp.
Abstract: Relic neutrinos play an important role in the evolution of the Universe, modifying some of the cosmological observables. We summarize the main aspects of cosmological neutrinos and describe how the precision of present cosmological data can be used to learn about neutrino properties. In particular, we discuss how cosmology provides information on the absolute scale of neutrino masses, complementary to beta decay and neutrinoless double-beta decay experiments. We explain why the combination of Planck temperature data with measurements of the baryon acoustic oscillation angular scale provides a strong bound on the sum of neutrino masses, 0.23 eV at the 95% confidence level, while the lensing potential spectrum and the cluster mass function measured by Planck are compatible with larger values. We also review the constraints from current data on other neutrino properties. Finally, we describe the very good perspectives from future cosmological measurements, which are expected to be sensitive to neutrino masses close to the minimum values guaranteed by flavour oscillations.
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Aguilar, A. C., Binosi, D., Ibañez, D., & Papavassiliou, J. (2014). New method for determining the quark-gluon vertex. Phys. Rev. D, 90(6), 065027–26pp.
Abstract: We present a novel nonperturbative approach for calculating the form factors of the quark-gluon vertex in terms of an unknown three-point function, in the Landau gauge. The key ingredient of this method is the exact all-order relation connecting the conventional quark-gluon vertex with the corresponding vertex of the background field method, which is Abelian-like. When this latter relation is combined with the standard gauge technique, supplemented by a crucial set of transverse Ward identities, it allows the approximate determination of the nonperturbative behavior of all 12 form factors comprising the quark-gluon vertex, for arbitrary values of the momenta. The actual implementation of this procedure is carried out in the Landau gauge, in order to make contact with the results of lattice simulations performed in this particular gauge. The most demanding technical aspect involves the approximate calculation of the components of the aforementioned (fully dressed) three-point function, using lattice data as input for the gluon propagators appearing in its diagrammatic expansion. The numerical evaluation of the relevant form factors in three special kinematical configurations (soft-gluon and quark symmetric limit, zero quark momentum) is carried out in detail, finding qualitative agreement with the available lattice data. Most notably, a concrete mechanism is proposed for explaining the puzzling divergence of one of these form factors observed in lattice simulations.
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Armillis, R., Lazarides, G., & Pallis, C. (2014). Inflation, leptogenesis, and Yukawa quasiunification within a supersymmetric left-right model. Phys. Rev. D, 89(6), 065032–22pp.
Abstract: A simple extension of the minimal left-right symmetric supersymmetric grand unified theory model is constructed by adding two pairs of superfields. This naturally violates the partial Yukawa unification predicted by the minimal model. After including supergravity corrections, we find that this extended model naturally supports hilltop F-term hybrid inflation along its trivial inflationary path with only a very mild tuning of the initial conditions. With a convenient choice of signs of the terms in the Kahler potential, we can reconcile the inflationary scale with the supersymmetric grand unified theory scale. All the current data on the inflationary observables are readily reproduced. Inflation is followed by nonthermal leptogenesis via the decay of the right-handed neutrinos emerging from the decay of the inflaton, and any possible washout of the lepton asymmetry is avoided thanks to the violation of partial Yukawa unification. The extra superfields also assist us in reducing the reheat temperature so as to satisfy the gravitino constraint. The observed baryon asymmetry of the universe is naturally reproduced consistently with the neutrino oscillation parameters.
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