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Deppisch, F. F., Harz, J., & Hirsch, M. (2014). Falsifying High-Scale Leptogenesis at the LHC. Phys. Rev. Lett., 112(22), 221601–5pp.
Abstract: Measuring a nonzero value for the cross section of any lepton number violating (LNV) process would put a strong lower limit on the washout factor for the effective lepton number density in the early Universe at times close to the electroweak phase transition and thus would lead to important constraints on any high-scale model for the generation of the observed baryon asymmetry based on LNV. In particular, for leptogenesis (LG) models with masses of the right-handed neutrinos heavier than the mass scale observed at the LHC, the implied large washout factors would lead to a violation of the out-of-equilibrium condition and exponentially suppress the net lepton number produced in such LG models. We thus demonstrate that the observation of LNV processes at the LHC results in the falsification of high-scale LG models. However, no conclusions about the viability of LG models can be drawn from the nonobservation of LNV processes.
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Cepedello, R., Deppisch, F. F., Gonzalez, L., Hati, C., & Hirsch, M. (2019). Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay with Nonstandard Majoron Emission. Phys. Rev. Lett., 122(18), 181801–6pp.
Abstract: We present a novel mode of neutrinoless double-beta decay with emission of a light Majoron-like scalar particle phi. We assume it couples via an effective seven-dimensional operator with a (V + A) lepton current and (V +/- A) quark currents leading to a long-range contribution that is unsuppressed by the light neutrino mass. We calculate the total double-beta decay rate and determine the fully differential shape for this mode. We find that future double-beta decay searches are sensitive to scales of the order Lambda(NP) approximate to 1 TeV for the effective operator and a light scalar m(phi) < 0.2 MeV, based on ordinary double-beta decay Majoron searches. The angular and energy distributions can deviate considerably from that of two-neutrino double-beta decay, which is the main background. We point out possible ultraviolet completions where such an effective operator can emerge.
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Deppisch, F. F., Hirsch, M., & Pas, H. (2012). Neutrinoless double-beta decay and physics beyond the standard model. J. Phys. G, 39(12), 124007–23pp.
Abstract: Neutrinoless double-beta decay is the most powerful tool to probe not only for Majorana neutrino masses but for lepton number violating physics in general. We discuss relations between lepton number violation, double-beta decay and neutrino mass, review a general Lorentz-invariant parametrization of the double-beta decay rate, highlight a number of different new physics models showing how different mechanisms can trigger double-beta decay and, finally, discuss possibilities of discriminating and testing these models and mechanisms in complementary experiments.
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Curtin, D. et al, & Hirsch, M. (2019). Long-lived particles at the energy frontier: the MATHUSLA physics case. Rep. Prog. Phys., 82(11), 116201–133pp.
Abstract: We examine the theoretical motivations for long-lived particle (LLP) signals at the LHC in a comprehensive survey of standard model (SM) extensions. LLPs are a common prediction of a wide range of theories that address unsolved fundamental mysteries such as naturalness, dark matter, baryogenesis and neutrino masses, and represent a natural and generic possibility for physics beyond the SM (BSM). In most cases the LLP lifetime can be treated as a free parameter from the μm scale up to the Big Bang Nucleosynthesis limit of similar to 10(7) m. Neutral LLPs with lifetimes above similar to 100 m are particularly difficult to probe, as the sensitivity of the LHC main detectors is limited by challenging backgrounds, triggers, and small acceptances. MATHUSLA is a proposal for a minimally instrumented, large-volume surface detector near ATLAS or CMS. It would search for neutral LLPs produced in HL-LHC collisions by reconstructing displaced vertices (DVs) in a low-background environment, extending the sensitivity of the main detectors by orders of magnitude in the long-lifetime regime. We study the LLP physics opportunities afforded by a MATHUSLA-like detector at the HL-LHC, assuming backgrounds can be rejected as expected. We develop a model-independent approach to describe the sensitivity of MATHUSLA to BSM LLP signals, and compare it to DV and missing energy searches at ATLAS or CMS. We then explore the BSM motivations for LLPs in considerable detail, presenting a large number of new sensitivity studies. While our discussion is especially oriented towards the long-lifetime regime at MATHUSLA, this survey underlines the importance of a varied LLP search program at the LHC in general. By synthesizing these results into a general discussion of the top-down and bottom-up motivations for LLP searches, it is our aim to demonstrate the exceptional strength and breadth of the physics case for the construction of the MATHUSLA detector.
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Hirsch, M., Morisi, S., Peinado, E., & Valle, J. W. F. (2010). Discrete dark matter. Phys. Rev. D, 82(11), 116003–5pp.
Abstract: We propose a new motivation for the stability of dark matter (DM). We suggest that the same non-Abelian discrete flavor symmetry which accounts for the observed pattern of neutrino oscillations, spontaneously breaks to a Z(2) subgroup which renders DM stable. The simplest scheme leads to a scalar doublet DM potentially detectable in nuclear recoil experiments, inverse neutrino mass hierarchy, hence a neutrinoless double beta decay rate accessible to upcoming searches, while theta(13) = 0 gives no CP violation in neutrino oscillations.
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