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Reig, M., Valle, J. W. F., & Wilczek, F. (2018). SO(3) family symmetry and axions. Phys. Rev. D, 98(9), 095008–6pp.
Abstract: Motivated by the idea of comprehensive unification, we study a gauged SO(3) flavor extension of the extended Standard Model, including right-handed neutrinos and a Peccei-Quinn symmetry with simple charge assignments. The model accommodates the observed fermion masses and mixings and yields a characteristic, successful relation among them. The Peccei-Quinn symmetry is an essential ingredient.
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Caputo, A., & Reig, M. (2019). Cosmic implications of a low-scale solution to the axion domain wall problem. Phys. Rev. D, 100(6), 063530–10pp.
Abstract: The post-inflationary breaking of Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry can lead to the cosmic domain wall catastrophe. In this paper we show how to avoid domain walls by implementing the instanton interference effect with a new interaction which itself breaks PQ symmetry and confines at an energy scale smaller than Lambda(QCD). We give a general description of the mechanism and consider its cosmological implications and constraints within a minimal model. Contrary to other mechanisms, we do not require an inverse phase transition or fine-tuned bias terms. Incidentally, the mechanism leads to the introduction of new self-interacting dark matter candidates and the possibility of producing gravitational waves in the frequency range of SKA. Unless a fine-tuned hidden sector is introduced, the mechanism predicts a QCD axion in the mass range 1-15 meV.
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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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Pich, A., Platschorre, A., & Reig, M. (2023). Electroweak mass difference of mesons. Phys. Rev. D, 108(9), 094044–6pp.
Abstract: We consider electroweak gauge boson corrections to the masses of pseudoscalar mesons to next to leading order in alpha s and 1/NC. The pion mass shift induced by the Z boson is shown to be m pi +/- – m pi 0 = -0.00201(12) MeV. While being small compared to the electromagnetic mass shift, the prediction lies about a factor of similar to 4 above the precision of the current experimental measurement and a factor O(10) below the precision of current lattice calculations. This motivates future implementations of these electroweak gauge boson effects on the lattice. Finally, we consider beyond standard model contributions to the pion mass difference.
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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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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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