Boucenna, M. S., Morisi, S., Shafi, Q., & Valle, J. W. F. (2014). Inflation and majoron dark matter in the neutrino seesaw mechanism. Phys. Rev. D, 90(5), 055023–6pp.
Abstract: We propose that inflation and dark matter have a common origin, connected to the neutrino mass generation scheme. As a model we consider spontaneous breaking of global lepton number within the seesaw mechanism. We show that it provides an acceptable inflationary scenario consistent with the recent cosmic microwave background B-mode observation by the BICEP2 experiment. The scheme may also account for the baryon asymmetry of the Universe through leptogenesis for reasonable parameter choices.
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Forero, D. V., Tortola, M., & Valle, J. W. F. (2014). Neutrino oscillations refitted. Phys. Rev. D, 90(9), 093006–10pp.
Abstract: Here, we update our previous global fit of neutrino oscillations by including the recent results that have appeared since the Neutrino 2012 conference. These include the measurements of reactor antineutrino disappearance reported by Daya Bay and RENO, together with latest T2K and MINOS data including both disappearance and appearance channels. We also include the revised results from the third solar phase of Super-Kamiokande, SK-III, as well as new solar results from the fourth phase of Super-Kamiokande, SK-IV. We find that the preferred global determination of the atmospheric angle theta(23) is consistent with maximal mixing. We also determine the impact of the new data upon all the other neutrino oscillation parameters with an emphasis on the increasing sensitivity to the CP phase, thanks to the interplay between accelerator and reactor data. In the Appendix, we present the updated results obtained after the inclusion of new reactor data presented at the Neutrino 2014 conference. We discuss their impact on the global neutrino analysis.
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Boucenna, S. M., Fonseca, R. M., Gonzalez-Canales, F., & Valle, J. W. F. (2015). Small neutrino masses and gauge coupling unification. Phys. Rev. D, 91(3), 031702–5pp.
Abstract: The physics responsible for gauge coupling unification may also induce small neutrino masses. We propose a novel gauge-mediated radiative seesaw mechanism for calculable neutrino masses. These arise from quantum corrections mediated by new SU(3)(C) circle times SU(3)(L) circle times U(1)(X) (3-3-1) gauge bosons and the physics driving gauge coupling unification. Gauge couplings unify for a 3-3-1 scale in the TeV range, making the model directly testable at the LHC.
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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.
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Kosmas, T. S., Miranda, O. G., Papoulias, D. K., Tortola, M., & Valle, J. W. F. (2015). Probing neutrino magnetic moments at the Spallation Neutron Source facility. Phys. Rev. D, 92(1), 013011–12pp.
Abstract: Majorana neutrino electromagnetic properties are studied through neutral current coherent neutrinonucleus scattering. We focus on the potential of the recently planned COHERENT experiment at the Spallation Neutron Source to probe muon-neutrino magnetic moments. The resulting sensitivities are determined on the basis of chi(2) analysis employing realistic nuclear structure calculations in the context of the quasiparticle random phase approximation. We find that they can improve existing limits by half an order of magnitude. In addition, we show that these facilities allow for standard model precision tests in the low energy regime, with a competitive determination of the weak mixing angle. Finally, they also offer the capability to probe other electromagnetic neutrino properties, such as the neutrino charge radius. We illustrate our results for various choices of experimental setup and target material.
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