Aranda, A., Bonilla, C., Morisi, S., Peinado, E., & Valle, J. W. F. (2014). Dirac neutrinos from flavor symmetry. Phys. Rev. D, 89(3), 033001–5pp.
Abstract: We present a model where Majorana neutrino mass terms are forbidden by the flavor symmetry group Delta(27). Neutrinos are Dirac fermions and their masses arise in the same way as those of the charged fermions, due to very small Yukawa couplings. The model fits current neutrino oscillation data and correlates the octant of the atmospheric angle theta(23) with the magnitude of the lightest neutrino mass, with maximal mixing excluded for any neutrino mass hierarchy.
|
Bonilla, C., Morisi, S., Peinado, E., & Valle, J. W. F. (2015). Relating quarks and leptons with the T-7 flavour group. Phys. Lett. B, 742, 99–106.
Abstract: In this letter we present a model for quarks and leptons based on T-7 as flavour symmetry, predicting a canonical mass relation between charged leptons and down-type quarks proposed earlier. Neutrino masses are generated through a Type-I seesaw mechanism, with predicted correlations between the atmospheric mixing angle and neutrino masses. Compatibility with oscillation results leads to lower bounds for the lightest neutrino mass as well as for the neutrinoless double beta decay rates, even for normal neutrino mass hierarchy.
|
Bonilla, C., Romao, J. C., & Valle, J. W. F. (2015). Neutrino mass and invisible Higgs decays at the LHC. Phys. Rev. D, 91(11), 113015–7pp.
Abstract: The discovery of the Higgs boson suggests that neutrinos also get their mass from spontaneous symmetry breaking. In the simplest ungauged lepton-number scheme, the Standard Model Higgs now has two other partners: a massive CP-even scalar, and the massless Nambu-Goldstone boson, called the Majoron. For weak-scale breaking of lepton number the invisible decays of the CP-even Higgs bosons to the Majoron lead to potentially copious sources of events with large missing energy. Using LHC results, we study how the constraints on invisible decays of the Higgs boson restrict the relevant parameters, substantially extending those previously derived from LEP and potentially shedding light on the scale of spontaneous lepton-number violation.
|
Bonilla, C., Fonseca, R. M., & Valle, J. W. F. (2015). Consistency of the triplet seesaw model revisited. Phys. Rev. D, 92(7), 075028–7pp.
Abstract: Adding a scalar triplet to the Standard Model is one of the simplest ways of giving mass to neutrinos, providing at the same time a mechanism to stabilize the theory's vacuum. In this paper, we revisit these aspects of the type-II seesaw model pointing out that the bounded-from-below conditions for the scalar potential in use in the literature are not correct. We discuss some scenarios where the correction can be significant and sketch the typical scalar boson profile expected by consistency.
|
Bonilla, C., Romao, J. C., & Valle, J. W. F. (2016). Electroweak breaking and neutrino mass: `invisible' Higgs decays at the LHC (type II seesaw). New J. Phys., 18, 033033–21pp.
Abstract: Neutrino mass generation through the Higgs mechanism not only suggests the need to reconsider the physics of electroweak symmetry breaking from a new perspective, but also provides a new theoretically consistent and experimentally viable paradigm. We illustrate this by describing the main features of the electroweak symmetry breaking sector of the simplest type-II seesaw model with spontaneous breaking of lepton number. After reviewing the relevant `theoretical' and astrophysical restrictions on the Higgs sector, we perform an analysis of the sensitivities of Higgs Boson searches at the ongoing ATLAS and CMS experiments at the LHC, including not only the new contributions to the decay channels present in the standard model (SM) but also genuinely non-SM Higgs Boson decays, such as `invisible' Higgs Boson decays to majorons. We find sensitivities that are likely to be reached at the upcoming run of the experiments.
|
Bonilla, C., Fonseca, R. M., & Valle, J. W. F. (2016). Vacuum stability with spontaneous violation of lepton number. Phys. Lett. B, 756, 345–349.
Abstract: The vacuum of the Standard Model is known to be unstable for the measured values of the top and Higgs masses. Here we show how vacuum stability can be achieved naturally if lepton number is violated spontaneously at the TeV scale. More precise Higgs measurements in the next LHC run should provide a crucial test of our symmetry breaking scenario. In addition, these schemes typically lead to enhanced rates for processes involving lepton flavor violation.
|
Bonilla, C., Nebot, M., Valle, J. W. F., & Srivastava, R. (2016). Flavor physics scenario for the 750 GeV diphoton anomaly. Phys. Rev. D, 93(7), 073009–5pp.
Abstract: A simple variant of a realistic flavor symmetry scheme for fermion masses and mixings provides a possible interpretation of the diphoton anomaly as an electroweak singlet “flavon.” The existence of TeV scale vectorlike T-quarks required to provide adequate values for Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) parameters can also naturally account for the diphoton anomaly. Correlations between V-ub and V-cb with the vectorlike T-quark mass can be predicted. Should the diphoton anomaly survive in a future run, our proposed interpretation can also be tested in upcoming B and LHC studies.
|
Bonilla, C., Sokolowska, D., Darvishi, N., Diaz-Cruz, J. L., & Krawczyk, M. (2016). IDMS: inert dark matter model with a complex singlet. J. Phys. G, 43(6), 065001–39pp.
Abstract: We study an extension of the inert doublet model (IDM) that includes an extra complex singlet of the scalars fields, which we call the IDMS. In this model there are three Higgs particles, among them a SM-like Higgs particle, and the lightest neutral scalar, from the inert sector, remains a viable dark matter (DM) candidate. We assume a non-zero complex vacuum expectation value for the singlet, so that the visible sector can introduce extra sources of CP violation. We construct the scalar potential of IDMS, assuming an exact Z(2) symmetry, with the new singlet being Z(2)-even, as well as a softly broken U(1) symmetry, which allows a reduced number of free parameters in the potential. In this paper we explore the foundations of the model, in particular the masses and interactions of scalar particles for a few benchmark scenarios. Constraints from collider physics, in particular from the Higgs signal observed at the Large Hadron Collider with M-h approximate to 125 GeV, as well as constraints from the DM experiments, such as relic density measurements and direct detection limits, are included in the analysis. We observe significant differences with respect to the IDM in relic density values from additional annihilation channels, interference and resonance effects due to the extended Higgs sector.
|
Bonilla, C., & Valle, J. W. F. (2016). Naturally light neutrinos in Diracon model. Phys. Lett. B, 762, 162–165.
Abstract: We propose a simple model for Dirac neutrinos where the smallness of neutrino mass follows from a parameter kappa whose absence enhances the symmetry of the theory. Symmetry breaking is performed in a two-doublet Higgs sector supplemented by a gauge singlet scalar, realizing an accidental global U(1) symmetry. Its spontaneous breaking at the few TeV scale leads to a physical Nambu -Goldstone – boson the Diracon, denoted D – which is restricted by astrophysics and induces invisible Higgs decays such as h -> DD. The scheme provides a rich, yet very simple scenario for symmetry breaking studies at colliders such as the LHC.
|
Bonilla, C., Ma, E., Peinado, E., & Valle, J. W. F. (2016). Two-loop Dirac neutrino mass and WIMP dark matter. Phys. Lett. B, 762, 214–218.
Abstract: We propose a “scotogenic” mechanism relating small neutrino mass and cosmological dark matter. Neutrinos are Dirac fermions with masses arising only in two-loop order through the sector responsible for dark matter. Two triality symmetries ensure both dark matter stability and strict lepton number conservation at higher orders. A global spontaneously broken U(1) symmetry leads to a physical Diraconthat induces invisible Higgs decays which add up to the Higgs to dark matter mode. This enhances sensitivities to spin-independent WIMP dark matter search below m(h)/2.
|