Beltran, R., Cepedello, R., & Hirsch, M. (2023). Tree-level UV completions for NRSMEFT d=6 and d=7 operators. J. High Energy Phys., 08(8), 31pp.
Abstract: We study ultra-violet completions for operators in standard model effective field theory extended with right-handed neutrinos (NRSMEFT). Using a diagrammatic method, we generate systematically lists of possible tree-level completions involving scalars, fermions or vectors for all operators at d = 6 and d = 7, which contain at least one right-handed neutrino. We compare our lists of possible UV models to the ones found for pure SMEFT. We also discuss how the observation of LNV processes via NRSMEFT operators at the LHC can be related to Majorana neutrino masses of the standard model neutrinos.
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Fischer, O., Pattnaik, B., & Zurita, J. (2023). Testing Heavy Neutral Leptons in Cosmic Ray Beam Dump experiments. J. High Energy Phys., 07(7), 193–24pp.
Abstract: In this work, we discuss the possibility to test Heavy Neutral Leptons (HNLs) using “Cosmic Ray Beam Dump” experiments. In analogy with terrestrial beam dump experiments, where a beam first hits a target and is then absorbed by a shield, we consider high-energy incident cosmic rays impinging on the Earth's atmosphere and then the Earth's surface. We focus here on HNL production from atmospherically produced kaon, pion and D-meson decays, and discuss the possible explanation of the appearing Cherenkov showers observed by the SHALON Cherenkov telescope and the ultra-high energy events detected by the neutrino experiment ANITA. We show that these observations can not be explained with a long-lived HNL, as the relevant parameter space is excluded by existing constraints. Then we propose two new experimental setups that are inspired by these experiments, namely a Cherenkov telescope pointing at a sub-horizontal angle and shielded by the mountain cliff at Mount Thor, and a geostationary satellite that observes part of the Sahara desert. We show that the Cherenkov telescope at Mount Thor can probe currently untested HNL parameter space for masses below the kaon mass. We also show that the geostationary satellite experiment can significantly increase the HNL parameter space coverage in the whole mass range from 10 MeV up to 2 GeV and test neutrino mixing |U-& alpha;4|(2) down to 10(-11) for masses around 300 MeV.
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Coito, L., Faubel, C., Herrero-Garcia, J., Santamaria, A., & Titov, A. (2022). Sterile neutrino portals to Majorana dark matter: effective operators and UV completions. J. High Energy Phys., 08(8), 085–36pp.
Abstract: Stringent constraints on the interactions of dark matter with the Standard Model suggest that dark matter does not take part in gauge interactions. In this regard, the possibility of communicating between the visible and dark sectors via gauge singlets seems rather natural. We consider a framework where the dark matter talks to the Standard Model through its coupling to sterile neutrinos, which generate active neutrino masses. We focus on the case of Majorana dark matter, with its relic abundance set by thermal freeze-out through annihilations into sterile neutrinos. We use an effective field theory approach to study the possible sterile neutrino portals to dark matter. We find that both lepton-number-conserving and lepton-number-violating operators are possible, yielding an interesting connection with the Dirac/Majorana character of active neutrinos. In a second step, we open the different operators and outline the possible renormalisable models. We analyse the phenomenology of the most promising ones, including a particular case in which the Majorana mass of the sterile neutrinos is generated radiatively.
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Beltran, R., Cottin, G., Hirsch, M., Titov, A., & Wang, Z. S. (2023). Reinterpretation of searches for long-lived particles from meson decays. J. High Energy Phys., 05(5), 031–31pp.
Abstract: Many models beyond the Standard Model predict light and feebly interacting particles that are often long-lived. These long-lived particles (LLPs) in many cases can be produced from meson decays. In this work, we propose a simple and quick reinterpretation method for models predicting LLPs produced from meson decays. With the method, we are not required to run Monte-Carlo simulation, implement detector geometries and efficiencies, or apply experimental cuts in an event analysis, as typically done in recasting and reinterpretation works. The main ingredients our method requires are only the theoretical input, allowing for computation of the production and decay rates of the LLPs. There are two conditions for the method to work: firstly, the LLPs in the models considered should be produced from a set of mesons with similar mass and lifetime (or the same meson) and second, the LLPs should, in general, have a lab-frame decay length much larger than the distance between the interaction point and the detector. As an example, we use this method to reinterpret exclusion bounds on heavy neutral leptons (HNLs) in the minimal “3+1” scenario, into those for HNLs in the general effective-field-theory framework as well as for axion-like particles. We are able to reproduce existing results, and obtain new bounds via reinterpretation of past experimental results, in particular, from CHARM and Belle.
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Sandner, S., Hernandez, P., Lopez-Pavon, J., & Rius, N. (2023). Predicting the baryon asymmetry with degenerate right-handed neutrinos. J. High Energy Phys., 11(11), 153–37pp.
Abstract: We consider the generation of a baryon asymmetry in an extension of the Standard Model with two singlet Majorana fermions that are degenerate above the electroweak phase transition. The model can explain neutrino masses as well as the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry, for masses of the heavy singlets below the electroweak scale. The only physical CP violating phases in the model are those in the PMNS mixing matrix, i.e. the Dirac phase and a Majorana phase that enter light neutrino observables. We present an accurate analytic approximation for the baryon asymmetry in terms of CP flavour invariants, and derive the correlations with neutrino observables. We demonstrate that the measurement of CP violation in neutrino oscillations as well as the mixings of the heavy neutral leptons with the electron, muon and tau flavours suffice to pin down the matter-antimatter asymmetry from laboratory measurements.
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