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Srivastava, R., Ternes, C. A., Tortola, M., & Valle, J. W. F. (2018). Testing a lepton quarticity flavor theory of neutrino oscillations with the DUNE experiment. Phys. Lett. B, 778, 459–463.
Abstract: Oscillation studies play a central role in elucidating at least some aspects of the flavor problem. Here we examine the status of the predictions of a lepton quarticity flavor theory of neutrino oscillations against the existing global sample of oscillation data. By performing quantitative simulations we also determine the potential of the upcoming DUNE experiment in narrowing down the currently ill-measured oscillation parameters theta(23) and delta(CP). We present the expected improved sensitivity on these parameters for different assumptions.
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Centelles Chulia, S., Srivastava, R., & Valle, J. W. F. (2018). Seesaw roadmap to neutrino mass and dark matter. Phys. Lett. B, 781, 122–128.
Abstract: We describe the many pathways to generate Majorana and Dirac neutrino mass through generalized dimension-5 operators a la Weinberg. The presence of new scalars beyond the Standard Model Higgs doublet implies new possible field contractions, which are required in the case of Dirac neutrinos. We also notice that, in the Dirac neutrino case, the extra symmetries needed to ensure the Dirac nature of neutrinos can also be made responsible for stability of dark matter.
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Hirsch, M., Srivastava, R., & Valle, J. W. F. (2018). Can one ever prove that neutrinos are Dirac particles? Phys. Lett. B, 781, 302–305.
Abstract: According to the “Black Box” theorem the experimental confirmation of neutrinoless double beta decay (0 nu 2 beta) would imply that at least one of the neutrinos is a Majorana particle. However, a null 0 nu 2 beta signal cannot decide the nature of neutrinos, as it can be suppressed even for Majorana neutrinos. In this letter we argue that if the null 0 nu 2 beta decay signal is accompanied by a 0 nu 2 beta quadruple beta decay signal, then at least one neutrino should be a Dirac particle. This argument holds irrespective of the underlying processes leading to such decays.
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Rojas, N., Srivastava, R., & Valle, J. W. F. (2019). Simplest scoto-seesaw mechanism. Phys. Lett. B, 789, 132–136.
Abstract: By combining the simplest (3,1) version of the seesaw mechanism containing a single heavy “right-handed” neutrino with the minimal scotogenic approach to dark matter, we propose a theory for neutrino oscillations. The “atmospheric” mass scale arises at tree level from the seesaw, while the “solar” oscillation scale emerges radiatively, through a loop involving the “dark sector” exchange. Such simple setup gives a clear interpretation of the neutrino oscillation lengths, has a viable WIMP dark matter candidate, and implies a lower bound on the neutrinoless double beta decay rate.
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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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Chen, P., Ding, G. J., Srivastava, R., & Valle, J. W. F. (2019). Predicting neutrino oscillations with “bi-large” lepton mixing matrices. Phys. Lett. B, 792, 461–464.
Abstract: We propose two schemes for the lepton mixing matrix U = (U1U nu)-U-dagger, where U = U-1 refers to the charged sector, and U-v denotes the neutrino diagonalization matrix. We assume U-nu to be CP conserving and its three angles to be connected with the Cabibbo angle in a simple manner. CP violation arises solely from the U-1, assumed to have the CKM form, U-1 similar or equal to V-CKM, suggested by unification. Oscillation parameters depend on a single parameter, leading to narrow ranges for the “solar” and “accelerator” angles theta(12) and theta(23), as well as for the CP phase, predicted as delta(CP) similar to +/- 1.3 pi.
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Ding, G. J., Nath, N., Srivastava, R., & Valle, J. W. F. (2019). Status and prospects of 'bi-large' leptonic mixing. Phys. Lett. B, 796, 162–167.
Abstract: Bi-large patterns for the leptonic mixing matrix are confronted with current neutrino oscillation data. We analyse the status of these patterns and determine, through realistic simulations, the potential of the upcoming long-baseline experiment DUNE in testing bi-large ansatze and discriminating amongst them.
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Kang, S. K., Popov, O., Srivastava, R., Valle, J. W. F., & Vaquera-Araujo, C. A. (2019). Scotogenic dark matter stability from gauged matter parity. Phys. Lett. B, 798, 135013–10pp.
Abstract: We explore the idea that dark matter stability results from the presence of a matter-parity symmetry, arising naturally as a consequence of the spontaneous breaking of an extended SU(3) circle times SU(3)(L) circle times U(1)(X) circle times U(1)(N) electroweak gauge symmetry with fully gauged B-L. Using this framework we construct a theory for scotogenic dark matter and analyze its main features.
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Leite, J., Popov, O., Srivastava, R., & Valle, J. W. F. (2020). A theory for scotogenic dark matter stabilised by residual gauge symmetry. Phys. Lett. B, 802, 135254–10pp.
Abstract: Dark matter stability can result from a residual matter-parity symmetry, following naturally from the spontaneous breaking of the gauge symmetry. Here we explore this idea in the context of the SU(3)(c) circle times SU(3)L circle times U(1)(x) circle times U(1)(N) electroweak extension of the standard model. The key feature of our new scotogenic dark matter theory is the use of a triplet scalar boson with anti-symmetric Yukawa couplings. This naturally implies that one of the light neutrinos is massless and, as a result, there is a lower bound for the O nu beta beta decay rate.
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Addazi, A., Marciano, A., Morais, A. P., Pasechnik, R., Srivastava, R., & Valle, J. W. F. (2020). Gravitational footprints of massive neutrinos and lepton number breaking. Phys. Lett. B, 807, 135577–8pp.
Abstract: We investigate the production of primordial Gravitational Waves (GWs) arising from First Order Phase Transitions (FOPTs) associated to neutrino mass generation in the context of type-I and inverse seesaw schemes. We examine both “high-scale” as well as “low-scale” variants, with either explicit or spontaneously broken lepton number symmetry U(1)(L), in the neutrino sector. In the latter case, a pseudo-Goldstone majoron-like boson may provide a candidate for cosmological dark matter. We find that schemes with softly-broken U(1)(L), and with single Higgs-doublet scalar sector lead to either no FOPTs or too weak FOPTs, precluding the detestability of GWs in present or near future measurements. Nevertheless, we found that, in the majoron-like seesaw scheme with spontaneously broken U(1)(L), at finite temperatures, one can have strong FOPTs and non-trivial primordial GW spectra which can fall well within the frequency and amplitude sensitivity of upcoming experiments, including LISA, BBO and u-DECIGO. However, GWs observability clashes with invisible Higgs decay constraints from the LHC. A simple and consistent fix is to assume the majoron-like mass to lie above the Higgs-decay kinematical threshold. We also found that the majoron-like variant of the low-scale seesaw mechanism implies a different GW spectrum than the one expected in the high-scale seesaw. This feature will be testable in future experiments. Our analysis shows that GWs can provide a new and complementary portal to test the neutrino mass generation mechanism.
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