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Escrihuela, F. J., Flores, L. J., Miranda, O. G., & Rendon, J. (2021). Global constraints on neutral-current generalized neutrino interactions. J. High Energy Phys., 07(7), 061–26pp.
Abstract: We study generalized neutrino interactions (GNI) for several neutrino processes, including neutrinos from electron-positron collisions, neutrino-electron scattering, and neutrino deep inelastic scattering. We constrain scalar, pseudoscalar, and tensor new physics effective couplings, based on the standard model effective field theory at low energies. We have performed a global analysis for the different effective couplings. We also present the different individual constraints for each effective parameter (scalar, pseudoscalar, and tensor). Being a global analysis, we show robust results for the restrictions on the different GNI parameters and improve some of these bounds.
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Cosme, C., Dutra, M., Godfrey, S., & Gray, T. (2021). Testing freeze-in with axial and vector Z ' bosons. J. High Energy Phys., 09(9), 056–27pp.
Abstract: The freeze-in production of Feebly Interacting Massive Particle (FIMP) dark matter in the early universe is an appealing alternative to the well-known – and constrained – Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) paradigm. Although challenging, the phenomenology of FIMP dark matter has been receiving growing attention and is possible in a few scenarios. In this work, we contribute to this endeavor by considering a Z ' portal to fermionic dark matter, with the Z ' having both vector and axial couplings and a mass ranging from MeV up to PeV. We evaluate the bounds on both freeze-in and freeze-out from direct detection, atomic parity violation, leptonic anomalous magnetic moments, neutrino-electron scattering, collider, and beam dump experiments. We show that FIMPs can already be tested by most of these experiments in a complementary way, whereas WIMPs are especially viable in the Z ' low mass regime, in addition to the Z ' resonance region. We also discuss the role of the axial couplings of Z ' in our results. We therefore hope to motivate specific realizations of this model in the context of FIMPs, as well as searches for these elusive dark matter candidates.
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Arguelles, C. A., Kelly, K. J., & Muñoz, V. M. (2021). Millicharged particles from the heavens: single- and multiple-scattering signatures. J. High Energy Phys., 11(11), 099–34pp.
Abstract: For nearly a century, studying cosmic-ray air showers has driven progress in our understanding of elementary particle physics. In this work, we revisit the production of millicharged particles in these atmospheric showers and provide new constraints for XENON1T and Super-Kamiokande and new sensitivity estimates of current and future detectors, such as JUNO. We discuss distinct search strategies, specifically studies of single-energy-deposition events, where one electron in the detector receives a relatively large energy transfer, as well as multiple-scattering events consisting of (at least) two relatively small energy depositions. We demonstrate that these atmospheric search strategies especially the multiple-scattering signature – provide significant room for improvement beyond existing searches, in a way that is complementary to anthropogenic, beam-based searches for MeV-GeV millicharged particles. Finally, we also discuss the implementation of a Monte Carlo simulation for millicharged particle detection in large-volume neutrino detectors, such as IceCube.
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Reig, M. (2021). The stochastic axiverse. J. High Energy Phys., 09(9), 207–40pp.
Abstract: In addition to spectacular signatures such as black hole superradiance and the rotation of CMB polarization, the plenitude of axions appearing in the string axiverse may have potentially dangerous implications. An example is the cosmological overproduction of relic axions and moduli by the misalignment mechanism, more pronounced in regions where the signals mentioned above may be observable, that is for large axion decay constant. In this work, we study the minimal requirements to soften this problem and show that the fundamental requirement is a long period of low-scale inflation. However, in this case, if the inflationary Hubble scale is lower than around O(100) eV, no relic DM axion is produced in the early Universe. Cosmological production of some axions may be activated, via the misalignment mechanism, if their potential minimum changes between inflation and today. As a particular example, we study in detail how the maximal-misalignment mechanism dilutes the effect of dangerous axions and allows the production of axion DM in a controlled way. In this case, the potential of the axion that realises the mechanism shifts by a factor increment theta = pi between the inflationary epoch and today, and the axion starts to oscillate from the top of its potential. We also show that axions with masses m(a) similar to O(1 – 100) H-0 realising the maximal-misalignment mechanism generically behave as dark energy with a decay constant that can take values well below the Planck scale, avoiding problems associated to super-Planckian scales. Finally, we briefly study the basic phenomenological implications of the mechanism and comment on the compatibility of this type of maximally-misaligned quintessence with the swampland criteria.
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Arbelaez, C., Dib, C., Monsalvez-Pozo, K., & Schmidt, I. (2021). Quasi-Dirac neutrinos in the linear seesaw model. J. High Energy Phys., 07(7), 154–22pp.
Abstract: We implement a minimal linear seesaw model (LSM) for addressing the Quasi-Dirac (QD) behaviour of heavy neutrinos, focusing on the mass regime of M-N less than or similar to M-W. Here we show that for relatively low neutrino masses, covering the few GeV range, the same-sign to opposite-sign dilepton ratio, R-ll, can be anywhere between 0 and 1, thus signaling a Quasi-Dirac regime. Particular values of R-ll are controlled by the width of the QD neutrino and its mass splitting, the latter being equal to the light-neutrino mass m(nu) in the LSM scenario. The current upper bound on m(nu 1) together with the projected sensitivities of current and future |U-N l|(2) experimental measurements, set stringent constraints on our low-scale QD mass regime. Some experimental prospects of testing the model by LHC displaced vertex searches are also discussed.
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