Barenboim, G., & Nierste, U. (2021). Modified majoron model for cosmological anomalies. Phys. Rev. D, 104(2), 023013–6pp.
Abstract: The vacuum expectation value v(s) of a Higgs triplet field Delta carrying two units of lepton number L induces neutrino masses alpha v(s). The neutral component of Delta gives rise to two Higgs particles, a pseudoscalar A and a scalar S. The most general renormalizable Higgs potential V for Delta and the Standard-Model Higgs doublet Phi does not permit the possibility that the mass of either A or S is small, of order v(s), while the other mass is heavy enough to forbid the decay Z -> AS to comply with LEP 1 data. We present a model with additional dimension-6 terms in V, in which this feature is absent and either A or S can be chosen light. Subsequently we propose the model as a remedy to cosmological anomalies, namely the tension between observed and predicted tensor-to-scalar mode ratios in the cosmic microwave background and the different values of the Hubble constant measured at different cosmological scales. Furthermore, if Delta dominantly couples to the third-generation doublet L-tau = (v(tau), tau), the deficit of v(tau) events at IceCube can be explained. The singly and doubly charged triplet Higgs bosons are lighter than 280 GeV and 400 GeV, respectively, and could be found at the LHC.
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DUNE Collaboration(Abi, B. et al), Antonova, M., Barenboim, G., Cervera-Villanueva, A., De Romeri, V., Fernandez Menendez, P., et al. (2020). Neutrino interaction classification with a convolutional neural network in the DUNE far detector. Phys. Rev. D, 102(9), 092003–20pp.
Abstract: The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment is a next-generation neutrino oscillation experiment that aims to measure CP-violation in the neutrino sector as part of a wider physics program. A deep learning approach based on a convolutional neural network has been developed to provide highly efficient and pure selections of electron neutrino and muon neutrino charged-current interactions. The electron neutrino (antineutrino) selection efficiency peaks at 90% (94%) and exceeds 85% (90%) for reconstructed neutrino energies between 2-5 GeV. The muon neutrino (antineutrino) event selection is found to have a maximum efficiency of 96% (97%) and exceeds 90% (95%) efficiency for reconstructed neutrino energies above 2 GeV. When considering all electron neutrino and antineutrino interactions as signal, a selection purity of 90% is achieved. These event selections are critical to maximize the sensitivity of the experiment to CP-violating effects.
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Barenboim, G., Denton, P. B., & Oldengott, I. M. (2019). Constraints on inflation with an extended neutrino sector. Phys. Rev. D, 99(8), 083515–9pp.
Abstract: Constraints on inflationary models typically assume only the standard models of cosmology and particle physics. By extending the neutrino sector to include a new interaction with a light scalar mediator (m(phi) similar to MeV), it is possible to relax these constraints, in particular via opening up regions of the parameter space of the spectral index n(s). These new interactions can be probed at IceCube via interactions of astrophysical neutrinos with the cosmic neutrino background for nearly all of the relevant parameter space.
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Barenboim, G., Kinney, W. H., & Morse, M. J. P. (2018). Phantom Dirac-Born-Infeld dark energy. Phys. Rev. D, 98(8), 083531–11pp.
Abstract: Motivated by the apparent discrepancy between cosmic microwave background measurements of the Hubble constant and measurements from Type-la supernovae, we construct a model for dark energy with equation of state w = p/rho < -1, violating the null energy condition. Naive canonical models of so-called “phantom” dark energy require a negative scalar kinetic term, resulting in a Hamiltonian unbounded from below and associated vacuum instability. We construct a scalar field model for dark energy with w < -1, which nonetheless has a Hamiltonian bounded from below in the comoving reference frame, i.e., in the rest frame of the fluid. We demonstrate that the solution is a cosmological attractor, and find that early-time cosmological boundary conditions consist of a “frozen” scalar field, which relaxes to the attractor solution once the dark energy component dominates the cosmological energy density. We consider the model in an arbitrary choice of gauge, and find that, unlike the case of comoving gauge, the fluid Hamiltonian is in fact unbounded from below in the reference frame of a highly boosted observer, corresponding to a nonlinear gradient instability. We discuss this in the context of general NEC-violating perfect fluids, for which this instability is a general property.
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Barenboim, G., Kinney, W. H., & Park, W. I. (2017). Resurrection of large lepton number asymmetries from neutrino flavor oscillations. Phys. Rev. D, 95(4), 043506–6pp.
Abstract: We numerically solve the evolution equations of neutrino three-flavor density matrices, and show that, even if neutrino oscillations mix neutrino flavors, large lepton number asymmetries are still allowed in certain limits by big bang nucleosynthesis.
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