Beltran, R., Cottin, G., Hirsch, M., Titov, A., & Wang, Z. S. (2023). Reinterpretation of searches for long-lived particles from meson decays. J. High Energy Phys., 05(5), 031–31pp.
Abstract: Many models beyond the Standard Model predict light and feebly interacting particles that are often long-lived. These long-lived particles (LLPs) in many cases can be produced from meson decays. In this work, we propose a simple and quick reinterpretation method for models predicting LLPs produced from meson decays. With the method, we are not required to run Monte-Carlo simulation, implement detector geometries and efficiencies, or apply experimental cuts in an event analysis, as typically done in recasting and reinterpretation works. The main ingredients our method requires are only the theoretical input, allowing for computation of the production and decay rates of the LLPs. There are two conditions for the method to work: firstly, the LLPs in the models considered should be produced from a set of mesons with similar mass and lifetime (or the same meson) and second, the LLPs should, in general, have a lab-frame decay length much larger than the distance between the interaction point and the detector. As an example, we use this method to reinterpret exclusion bounds on heavy neutral leptons (HNLs) in the minimal “3+1” scenario, into those for HNLs in the general effective-field-theory framework as well as for axion-like particles. We are able to reproduce existing results, and obtain new bounds via reinterpretation of past experimental results, in particular, from CHARM and Belle.
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Beltran, R., Cepedello, R., & Hirsch, M. (2023). Tree-level UV completions for NRSMEFT d=6 and d=7 operators. J. High Energy Phys., 08(8), 31pp.
Abstract: We study ultra-violet completions for operators in standard model effective field theory extended with right-handed neutrinos (NRSMEFT). Using a diagrammatic method, we generate systematically lists of possible tree-level completions involving scalars, fermions or vectors for all operators at d = 6 and d = 7, which contain at least one right-handed neutrino. We compare our lists of possible UV models to the ones found for pure SMEFT. We also discuss how the observation of LNV processes via NRSMEFT operators at the LHC can be related to Majorana neutrino masses of the standard model neutrinos.
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Blennow, M., Fernandez-Martinez, E., Hernandez-Garcia, J., Lopez-Pavon, J., Marcano, X., & Naredo-Tuero, D. (2023). Bounds on lepton non-unitarity and heavy neutrino mixing. J. High Energy Phys., 08(8), 030–41pp.
Abstract: We present an updated and improved global fit analysis of current flavour and electroweak precision observables to derive bounds on unitarity deviations of the leptonic mixing matrix and on the mixing of heavy neutrinos with the active flavours. This new analysis is motivated by new and updated experimental results on key observables such as V-ud, the invisible decay width of the Z boson and the W boson mass. It also improves upon previous studies by considering the full correlations among the different observables and explicitly calibrating the test statistic, which may present significant deviations from a & chi;(2) distribution. The results are provided for three different Type-I seesaw scenarios: the minimal scenario with only two additional right-handed neutrinos, the next to minimal one with three extra neutrinos, and the most general one with an arbitrary number of heavy neutrinos that we parametrise via a generic deviation from a unitary leptonic mixing matrix. Additionally, we also analyze the case of generic deviations from unitarity of the leptonic mixing matrix, not necessarily induced by the presence of additional neutrinos. This last case relaxes some correlations among the parameters and is able to provide a better fit to the data. Nevertheless, inducing only leptonic unitarity deviations avoiding both the correlations implied by the right-handed neutrino extension as well as more strongly constrained operators is challenging and would imply significantly more complex UV completions.
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Beltran, R., Cottin, G., Helo, J. C., Hirsch, M., Titov, A., & Wang, Z. S. (2023). Long-lived heavy neutral leptons from mesons in effective field theory. J. High Energy Phys., 01(1), 015–38pp.
Abstract: In the framework of the low-energy effective field theory of the Standard Model extended with heavy neutral leptons (HNLs), we calculate the production rates of HNLs from meson decays triggered by dimension-six operators. We consider both lepton number-conserving and lepton-number-violating four-fermion operators involving either a pair of HNLs or a single HNL. Assuming that HNLs are long-lived, we perform simulations and investigate the reach of the proposed far detectors at the high-luminosity LHC to (i) active-heavy neutrino mixing and (ii) the Wilson coefficients associated with the effective operators, for HNL masses below the mass of the B-meson. We further convert the latter to the associated new-physics scales. Our results show that scales in excess of hundreds of TeV and the active-heavy mixing squared as small as 10(-15 )can be probed by these experiments.
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Hernandez, P., Lopez-Pavon, J., Rius, N., & Sandner, S. (2022). Bounds on right-handed neutrino parameters from observable leptogenesis. J. High Energy Phys., 12(12), 012–58pp.
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.
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Cottin, G., Helo, J. C., Hirsch, M., Pena, C., Wang, C. S. A., & Xie, S. (2023). Long-lived heavy neutral leptons with a displaced shower signature at CMS. J. High Energy Phys., 02(2), 011–16pp.
Abstract: We study the LHC discovery potential in the search for heavy neutral leptons (HNL) with a new signature: a displaced shower in the CMS muon detector, giving rise to a large cluster of hits forming a displaced shower. A new Delphes module is used to model the CMS detector response for such displaced decays. We reinterpret a dedicated CMS search for neutral long-lived particles decaying in the CMS muon endcap detectors for the minimal HNL scenario. We demonstrate that this new strategy is particularly sensitive to active-sterile mixings with tau leptons, due to hadronic tau decays. HNL masses between similar to 1-6 GeV can be accessed for mixings as low as vertical bar V-tau N vertical bar(2) similar to 10(-7), probing unique regions of parameter space in the tau sector.
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Fernandez-Martinez, E., Gonzalez-Lopez, M., Hernandez-Garcia, J., Hostert, M., & Lopez-Pavon, J. (2023). Effective portals to heavy neutral leptons. J. High Energy Phys., 09(9), 001–45pp.
Abstract: The existence of right-handed neutrinos, or heavy neutral leptons (HNLs), is strongly motivated by the observation of neutrino masses and mixing. The mass of these new particles could lie below the electroweak scale, making them accessible to lowenergy laboratory experiments. Additional new physics at high energies can mediate new interactions between the Standard Model particles and HNLs, and is most conveniently parametrized by the neutrino Standard Model Effective Field Theory, or nu SMEFT for short. In this work, we consider the dimension six nu SMEFT operators involving one HNL field in the mass range of O(1) MeV < MN < O(100) GeV. By recasting existing experimental limits on the production and decay of new light particles, we constrain the Wilson coefficients and new physics scale of each operator as a function of the HNL mass.
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