Abstract: We analyze the strong CP problem and the implications for axion physics in the context of U-1 vector leptoquark models, recently put forward as an elegant solution to the hints of lepton flavor universality violation in B-meson decays. It is shown that in minimal gauge models containing the U-1 as a gauge boson, the Peccei-Quinn solution of the strong CP problem requires the introduction of two axions. Characteristic predictions for the associated axions can be deduced from the model parameter space hinted by B-physics, allowing the new axion sector to account for the dark matter of the Universe. We also provide a specific ultraviolet completion of the axion sector that connects the Peccei-Quinn mechanism to the generation of neutrino masses.

Abstract: The even-weight modular forms of level N can be arranged into the common irreducible representations of the inhomogeneous finite modular group Gamma(N) and the homogeneous finite modular group Gamma(N)' which is the double covering of Gamma(N) , and the odd-weight modular forms of level N transform in the new representations of Gamma(N)'. We find that the above structure of modular forms can naturally generate texture zeros of the fermion mass matrices if we properly assign the representations and weights of the matter fields under the modular group. We perform a comprehensive analysis for the Gamma(3)' congruent to T' modular symmetry. The three generations of left-handed quarks are assumed to transform as a doublet and a singlet of T', and we find six possible texture-zero structures of the quark mass matrix up to row and column permutations. We present five benchmark quark models which can produce very good fits to the experimental data. These quark models are further extended to include the lepton sector, and the resulting models can give a unified description of both quark and lepton masses and flavor mixing simultaneously, although they contain a smaller number of free parameters than the observables.

Abstract: We revisit discovery prospects for a long-lived sterile neutrino N at the LHC in the context of left-right symmetric theories. We focus on a displaced vertex search strategy sensitive to O(GeV) neutrino masses produced via a right-handed W-R boson. Both on-shell and off-shell Drell-Yan production of W-R are considered. We estimate the reach as a function of m(N) and m(WR). With root s = 13 TeV and 300/fb of integrated luminosity, the LHC can probe neutrino masses as high as approximately 30 GeV and m(wR) around 6 TeV. The reach goes up to 11.5 TeV with 3000/tb and m(N) similar to 45 GeV. This represents an improvement of a factor of 2 in sensitivity with respect to earlier work.

Abstract: Motivated by a possible interplay between the mechanism of dynamical symmetry breaking and the seesaw mechanism for generating fermion masses, we present a scale-invariant model that extends the gauge symmetry of the Standard Model electroweak sector to SU(3)L (R) U(1)X (R) U(1)N, with a built-in B – L symmetry. The model is based on the symmetry structure of the known 3-3-1 models and, thus, it relates the number of the three observed fermion generations with the cancellation of gauge anomalies. Symmetry breaking is triggered via the Coleman-Weinberg mechanism, taking into account a minimal set of scalar field multiplets. We establish the stability conditions for the tree-level scalar potential imposing the copositivity criteria and use the method of Gildener-Weinberg for computing the one-loop effective potential when one has multiple scalar fields. With the addition of vectorial fermions, getting their mass mainly through the vacuum expectation value of scalar singlets at 103 TeV, the B – L symmetry leads to textures for the fermion mass matrices, allowing seesaw mechanisms for neutrinos and quarks to take place. In particular, these mechanisms could partly explain the mass hierarchies of the quarks. Once the breakdown of the SU(3)L symmetry is supposed to occur around 10 TeV, the model also predicts new particles with TeV-scale masses, such as a neutral scalar H1, a charged scalar HI, and the gauge bosons Z', W'I, and Y0, that could be searched with the high-luminosity LHC.

Abstract: In two Higgs doublet models (2HDMs) shaped by some unbroken symmetry, imposing perturbativity requirements on the quartic couplings can imply that the allowed masses of all the fundamental scalars are bounded from above. This important property is analyzed in detail for the only two realistic 2HDMs with an exact symmetry, the case with Z(2) symmetry and the case with CP symmetry. It is also noticeable that one exception arises in each case: when the vacuum is assumed to respect the imposed symmetry, a decoupling regime can nevertheless appear without violating perturbativity requirements. In both models with an exact symmetry and no decoupling regime, soft symmetry breaking terms can however lead to a decoupling regime: the possibility that this regime might be unnatural, since it requires some fine-tuning, is also analyzed.