|
|
Cottin, G., Helo, J. C., Hirsch, M., Pena, C., Wang, C. S. A., & Xie, S. (2023). Long-lived heavy neutral leptons with a displaced shower signature at CMS. J. High Energy Phys., 02(2), 011–16pp.
Abstract: We study the LHC discovery potential in the search for heavy neutral leptons (HNL) with a new signature: a displaced shower in the CMS muon detector, giving rise to a large cluster of hits forming a displaced shower. A new Delphes module is used to model the CMS detector response for such displaced decays. We reinterpret a dedicated CMS search for neutral long-lived particles decaying in the CMS muon endcap detectors for the minimal HNL scenario. We demonstrate that this new strategy is particularly sensitive to active-sterile mixings with tau leptons, due to hadronic tau decays. HNL masses between similar to 1-6 GeV can be accessed for mixings as low as vertical bar V-tau N vertical bar(2) similar to 10(-7), probing unique regions of parameter space in the tau sector.
|
|
|
|
Arbelaez, C., Helo, J. C., & Hirsch, M. (2019). Long-lived heavy particles in neutrino mass models. Phys. Rev. D, 100(5), 055001–15pp.
Abstract: All extensions of the standard model that generate Majorana neutrino masses at the electroweak scale introduce some heavy mediators, either fermions and/or scalars, weakly coupled to leptons. Here, by “heavy,” we mean implicitly the mass range between a few 100 GeV up to, say, roughly 2 TeV, such that these particles can be searched for at the LHC. We study decay widths of these mediators for several different tree-level neutrino mass models. The models we consider range from the simplest d = 5 seesaw up to d = 11 neutrino mass models. For each of the models, we identify the most interesting parts of the parameter space, where the heavy mediator fields are particularly long lived and can decay with experimentally measurable decay lengths. One has to distinguish two different scenarios, depending on whether fermions or scalars are the lighter of the heavy particles. For fermions, we find that the decay lengths correlate with the inverse of the overall neutrino mass scale. Thus, since no lower limit on the lightest neutrino mass exists, nearly arbitrarily long decay lengths can be obtained for the case in which fermions are the lighter of the heavy particles. For charged scalars, on the other hand, there exists a maximum value for the decay length in these models. This maximum value depends on the model and on the electric charge of the scalar under consideration but can at most be of the order of a few millimeters. Interestingly, independent of the model, this maximum occurs always in a region of parameter space, where leptonic and gauge boson final states have similar branching ratios, i.e., where the observation of lepton number-violating final states from scalar decays is possible.
|
|
|
|
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.
|
|
|
|
Helo, J. C., Hirsch, M., & Ota, T. (2016). Long-range contributions to double beta decay revisited. J. High Energy Phys., 06(6), 006–32pp.
Abstract: We discuss the systematic decomposition of all dimension-7 (d = 7) lepton number violating operators. These d = 7 operators produce momentum enhanced contributions to the long-range part of the 0 nu beta beta decay amplitude and thus are severely constrained by existing half-live limits. In our list of possible models one can find contributions to the long-range amplitude discussed previously in the literature, such as the left-right symmetric model or scalar leptoquarks, as well as some new models not considered before. The d = 7 operators generate Majorana neutrino mass terms either at tree-level, 1-loop or 2-loop level. We systematically compare constraints derived from the mass mechanism to those derived from the long-range 0 nu beta beta decay amplitude and classify our list of models accordingly. We also study one particular example decomposition, which produces neutrino masses at 2-loop level, can fit oscillation data and yields a large contribution to the long-range 0 nu beta beta decay amplitude, in some detail.
|
|
|
|
Cepedello, R., Hirsch, M., & Helo, J. C. (2017). Loop neutrino masses from d=7 operator. J. High Energy Phys., 07(7), 079–21pp.
Abstract: We discuss the generation of small neutrino masses from d = 71 -loop diagrams. We first systematically analyze all possible d = 7 1 -loop topologies. There is a total of 48 topologies, but only 8 of these can lead to “genuine” d = 7 neutrino masses. Here, we define genuine models to be models in which neither d = 5 nor d = 7 tree -level masses nor a d = 5 1 -loop mass appear, such that the d = 7 1 -loop is the leading order contribution to the neutrino masses. All genuine models can then be organized w.r.t. their particle content. We find there is only one diagram with no representation larger than triplet, while there are 22 diagrams with quadruplets. We briefly discuss three minimal example models of this kind.
|
|
|
|
Cepedello, R., Esser, F., Hirsch, M., & Sanz, V. (2022). Mapping the SMEFT to discoverable models. J. High Energy Phys., 09(9), 229–34pp.
Abstract: The matching of specific new physics scenarios onto the SMEFT framework is a well-understood procedure. The inverse problem, the matching of the SMEFT to UV scenarios, is more difficult and requires the development of new methods to perform a systematic exploration of models. In this paper we use a diagrammatic technique to construct in an automated way a complete set of possible UV models (given certain, well specified assumptions) that can produce specific groups of SMEFT operators, and illustrate its use by generating models with no tree-level contributions to four-fermion (4F) operators. Those scenarios, which only contribute to 4F at one-loop order, can contain relatively light particles that could be discovered at the LHC in direct searches. For this class of models, we find an interesting interplay between indirect SMEFT and direct searches. We discuss some examples on how this interplay would look like when combining low-energy observables with the SMEFT Higgs-fermion analyses and searches for resonance at the LHC.
|
|
|
|
Cordero-Carrion, I., Hirsch, M., & Vicente, A. (2019). Master Majorana neutrino mass parametrization. Phys. Rev. D, 99(7), 075019–6pp.
Abstract: After introducing a master formula for the Majorana neutrino mass matrix, we present a master parametrization for the Yukawa matrices automatically in agreement with neutrino oscillation data. This parametrization can be used for any model that induces Majorana neutrino masses. The application of the master parametrization is also illustrated in an example model, with special focus on its lepton flavor violating phenomenology.
|
|
|
|
Cepedello, R., Hirsch, M., Rocha-Moran, P., & Vicente, A. (2020). Minimal 3-loop neutrino mass models and charged lepton flavor violation. J. High Energy Phys., 08(8), 067–37pp.
Abstract: We study charged lepton flavor violation for the three most popular 3-loop Majorana neutrino mass models. We call these models “minimal” since their particle content correspond to the minimal sets for which genuine 3-loop models can be constructed. In all the three minimal models the neutrino mass matrix is proportional to some powers of Standard Model lepton masses, providing additional suppression factors on top of the expected loop suppression. To correctly explain neutrino masses, therefore large Yukawa couplings are needed in these models. We calculate charged lepton flavor violating observables and find that the three minimal models survive the current constraints only in very narrow regions of their parameter spaces.
|
|
|
|
Hirsch, M., Kernreiter, T., Romao, J. C., & del Moral, A. V. (2010). Minimal supersymmetric inverse seesaw: neutrino masses, lepton flavour violation and LHC phenomenology. J. High Energy Phys., 01(1), 103–21pp.
Abstract: We study neutrino masses in the framework of the supersymmetric inverse seesaw model. Different from the non-supersymmetric version a minimal realization with just one pair of singlets is sufficient to explain all neutrino data. We compute the neutrino mass matrix up to 1-loop order and show how neutrino data can be described in terms of the model parameters. We then calculate rates for lepton flavour violating (LFV) processes, such as μ-> e gamma and chargino decays to singlet scalar neutrinos. The latter decays are potentially observable at the LHC and show a characteristic decay pattern dictated by the same parameters which generate the observed large neutrino angles.
|
|
|
|
Helo, J. C., Kovalenko, S. G., Hirsch, M., & Pas, H. (2013). Neutrinoless double beta decay and lepton number violation at the LHC. Phys. Rev. D, 88(1), 011901–5pp.
Abstract: We compare the discovery potential of the LHC for lepton number violating (LNV) signals with the sensitivity of current and future double beta decay experiments, assuming 0 nu beta beta decay is dominated by heavy particle exchange. We consider charged scalar, leptoquark and diquark mechanisms of 0 nu beta beta decay, covering the 0 nu beta beta decay operators with both, the smallest and largest, possible rates. We demonstrate, if 0 nu beta beta decay were found with a half-life below 10(26)-10(27) years a positive signal should show up at the LHC, except for some particular cases of the leptoquark mechanism, and vice versa, if the LHC does not find any hints for LNV, a “short-range” explanation for a finite 0 nu beta beta decay half-life will be ruled out in most cases. We argue, if a positive LNV signal were found at the LHC, it is possible to identify the dominant contribution to 0 nu beta beta. Two different kinds of observables which could provide such “model discriminating” power are discussed: different invariant mass peaks and the charge asymmetry.
|
|
