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Reig, M., Valle, J. W. F., & Vaquera-Araujo, C. A. (2017). Unifying left-right symmetry and 331 electroweak theories. Phys. Lett. B, 766, 35–40.
Abstract: We propose a realistic theory based on the SU(3) c. SU(3) L. SU(3) R. U(1) Xgauge group which requires the number of families to match the number of colors. In the simplest realization neutrino masses arise from the canonical seesaw mechanism and their smallness correlates with the observed V-A nature of the weak force. Depending on the symmetry breaking path to the Standard Model one recovers either a left-right symmetric theory or one based on the SU(3) c. SU(3) L. U(1) symmetry as the “next” step towards new physics.
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Reig, M., Valle, J. W. F., Vaquera-Araujo, C. A., & Wilczek, F. (2017). A model of comprehensive unification. Phys. Lett. B, 774, 667–670.
Abstract: Comprehensive – that is, gauge and family – unification using spinors has many attractive features, but it has been challenged to explain chirality. Here, by combining an orbifold construction with more traditional ideas, we address that difficulty. Our candidate model features three chiral families and leads to an acceptable result for quantitative unification of couplings. A potential target for accelerator and astronomical searches emerges.
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Reig, M., & Srivastava, R. (2019). Spontaneous proton decay and the origin of Peccei-Quinn symmetry. Phys. Lett. B, 790, 134–139.
Abstract: We propose a new interpretation of Peccei-Quinn symmetry within the Standard Model, identifying it with the axial B+L symmetry i.e. U (1)(PQ) equivalent to U (1)(gamma 5)(B+L). This new interpretation retains all the attractive features of Peccei-Quinn solution to strong CP problem but in addition also leads to several other new and interesting consequences. Owing to the identification U (1)(PQ) equivalent to U (1)(gamma 5)(B+L) the axion also behaves like Majoron inducing small seesaw masses for neutrinos after spontaneous symmetry breaking. Another novel feature of this identification is the phenomenon of spontaneous (and also chiral) proton decay with its decay rate associated with the axion decay constant. Low energy processes which can be used to test this interpretation are pointed out.
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Reig, M., Restrepo, D., Valle, J. W. F., & Zapata, O. (2019). Bound-state dark matter with Majorana neutrinos. Phys. Lett. B, 790, 303–307.
Abstract: We propose a simple scenario in which dark matter (DM) emerges as a stable neutral hadronic thermal relic, its stability following from an exact U(1)(D) symmetry. Neutrinos pick up radiatively induced Majorana masses from the exchange of colored DM constituents. There is a common origin for both dark matter and neutrino mass, with a lower bound for neutrinoless double beta decay. Direct DM searches at nuclear recoil experiments will test the proposal, which may also lead to other phenomenological signals at future hadron collider and lepton flavor violation experiments.
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Hati, C., Patra, S., Reig, M., Valle, J. W. F., & Vaquera-Araujo, C. A. (2017). Towards gauge coupling unification in left-right symmetric SU(3)(c) x SU(3)(L) x SU(3)(R) x U(1)(X) theories. Phys. Rev. D, 96(1), 015004–9pp.
Abstract: We consider the possibility of gauge coupling unification within the simplest realizations of the SU(3)(c) x SU(3)(L) x SU(3)(R) xU(1)(X) gauge theory. We present a first exploration of the renormalization group equations governing the “bottom-up” evolution of the gauge couplings in a generic model with free normalization for the generators. Interestingly, we find that for a SU(3)(c) x SU(3)(L) x SU(3)(R) x U(1)(X) symmetry breaking scale M-X as low as a few TeV one can achieve unification in the presence of leptonic octets. We briefly comment on possible grand unified theory frameworks which can embed the SU(3)(c) x SU(3)(L) x SU(3)(R) xU(1)(X) model as well as possible implications, such as lepton flavor violating physics at the LHC.
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Huang, J. W., Madden, A., Racco, D., & Reig, M. (2020). Maximal axion misalignment from a minimal model. J. High Energy Phys., 10(10), 143–39pp.
Abstract: The QCD axion is one of the best motivated dark matter candidates. The misalignment mechanism is well known to produce an abundance of the QCD axion consistent with dark matter for an axion decay constant of order 10(12) GeV. For a smaller decay constant, the QCD axion, with Peccei-Quinn symmetry broken during inflation, makes up only a fraction of dark matter unless the axion field starts oscillating very close to the top of its potential, in a scenario called “large-misalignment”. In this scenario, QCD axion dark matter with a small axion decay constant is partially comprised of very dense structures. We present a simple dynamical model realising the large-misalignment mechanism. During inflation, the axion classically rolls down its potential approaching its minimum. After inflation, the Universe reheats to a high temperature and a modulus (real scalar field) changes the sign of its minimum dynamically, which changes the sign of the mass of a vector-like fermion charged under QCD. As a result, the minimum of the axion potential during inflation becomes the maximum of the potential after the Universe has cooled through the QCD phase transition and the axion starts oscillating. In this model, we can produce QCD axion dark matter with a decay constant as low as 6 x 10(9) GeV and an axion mass up to 1 meV. We also summarise the phenomenological implications of this mechanism for dark matter experiments and colliders.
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Reig, M., Restrepo, D., Valle, J. W. F., & Zapata, O. (2018). Bound-state dark matter and Dirac neutrino masses. Phys. Rev. D, 97(11), 115032–5pp.
Abstract: We propose a simple theory for the idea that cosmological dark matter (DM) may be present today mainly in the form of stable neutral hadronic thermal relics. In our model, neutrino masses arise radiatively from the exchange of colored DM constituents, giving a common origin for both dark matter and neutrino mass. The exact conservation of B – L symmetry ensures dark matter stability and the Dirac nature of neutrinos. The theory can be falsified by dark matter nuclear recoil direct detection experiments, leading also to possible signals at a next generation hadron collider.
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Fuentes-Martin, J., Reig, M., & Vicente, A. (2019). Strong CP problem with low-energy emergent QCD: The 4321 case. Phys. Rev. D, 100(11), 115028–7pp.
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.
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Lazarides, G., Reig, M., Shafi, Q., Srivastava, R., & Valle, J. W. F. (2019). Spontaneous Breaking of Lepton Number and the Cosmological Domain Wall Problem. Phys. Rev. Lett., 122(15), 151301–5pp.
Abstract: We show that if global lepton number symmetry is spontaneously broken in a postinflation epoch, then it can lead to the formation of cosmological domain walls. This happens in the well-known “Majoron paradigm” for neutrino mass generation. We propose some realistic examples that allow spontaneous lepton number breaking to be safe from such domain walls.
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Peinado, E., Reig, M., Srivastava, R., & Valle, J. W. F. (2020). Dirac neutrinos from Peccei-Quinn symmetry: A fresh look at the axion. Mod. Phys. Lett. A, 35(21), 2050176–9pp.
Abstract: We show that a very simple solution to the strong CP problem naturally leads to Dirac neutrinos. Small effective neutrino masses emerge from a type-I Dirac seesaw mechanism. Neutrino mass limits probe the axion parameters in regions currently inaccessible to conventional searches.
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