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At least 19 records

Neutrino masses, neutrino oscillations, and cosmological implications

Theoretical concepts and motivations for considering neutrinos having finite masses are discussed and the experimental situation on searches for neutrino masses and oscillations is summarized. The solar neutrino problem, reactor, deep mine and accelerator data, tri decay experiments and double beta-decay data are considered and cosmological implications and astrophysical data relating to neutrino masses are reviewed. The neutrino oscillation solution to the solar neutrino problem, the missing mass problem in galaxy halos and galaxy cluster galaxy formation and clustering, and radiative neutrino decay and the cosmic ultraviolet background radiation are examined.

Stecker, F. W.↗

The modified correlation mass method for detecting neutrino mass from astrophysical neutrino bursts

A modified correlation mass method for calculating the value of a possible neutrino mass from neutrino bursts of astrophysical origin is proposed which can more sensitively detect small neutrino masses than previous methods. Application of the method to the neutrinos detected from SN 1987 A yields a value of 3.6 + or - 0.3 eV for the neutrino mass energy with a confidence level of 97 percent. Assuming a neutrino mass of 3.6 eV, and transforming all of the detected neutrino events back to the point of emission, it is shown that bursts are composed of a short initial pulse (which lasts for about 0.1 sec and contains 30-40 percent of the total neutrinos) and an extended emission lasting for about 10 sec.

Chan, Kwing L.↗

General approach to neutrino mass mechanisms with sterile neutrinos

We present a mathematical framework for constructing the most general neutrino mass matrices that yield the observed spectrum of light active neutrino masses in conjunction with arbitrarily many heavy sterile neutrinos, without the need to assume a hierarchy between Dirac and Majorana mass terms. The seesaw mechanism is a byproduct of the formalism, along with many other possibilities for generating tiny neutrino masses. We comment on phenomenological applications of this approach, in particular deriving a mechanism to address the long-standing ( g − 2 ) μ anomaly in the context of the left-right symmetric model. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Astrophysics and cosmology closing in on neutrino masses

Massive neutrinos are expected in most grand unified theories that attempt to unify the strong and electroweak interactions. So far, heroic laboratory experiments have yielded only upper bounds on the masses of the elusive neutrinos. These bounds, however, are not very restrictive and cannot even exclude the possibility that the dark matter in the universe consists of neutrinos. The astrophysical and cosmological bounds on the masses of the muon and tau neutrinos, m(nu sub mu) and m(nu sub tau), which already are much more restrictive than the laboratory bounds, and the laboratory bound on the mass of the electron neutrino, m(nu sub e) can be improved significantly by future astrophysical and cosmological observations that perhaps will pin down the neutrino masses. Indeed, the recent results from the solar neutrino experiments combined with the seesaw mechanism for generating neutrino masses suggest that m(nu sub e) of about 10 to the -8th electron volts, m(nu sub mu) of about 0.001 electron volts, and m(nu sub tau) of about 10 electron volts, which can be tested in the near future by solar neutrino and accelerator experiments.

Dar, Arnon↗

Non-standard interactions in radiative neutrino mass models

Models of radiative Majorana neutrino masses require new scalars and/or fermions to induce lepton-number-violating interactions. We show that these new particles also generate observable neutrino non-standard interactions (NSI) with matter. We classify radiative models as type-I or II, with type-I models containing at least one Standard Model (SM) particle inside the loop diagram generating neutrino mass, and type-II models having no SM particle inside the loop. While type-II radiative models do not generate NSI at tree-level, popular models which fall under the type-I category are shown, somewhat surprisingly, to generate observable NSI at tree-level, while being consistent with direct and indirect constraints from colliders, electroweak precision data and charged-lepton flavor violation (cLFV). We survey such models where neutrino masses arise at one, two and three loops. In the prototypical Zee model which generates neutrino masses via one-loop diagrams involving charged scalars, we find that diagonal NSI can be as large as (8%, 3.8%, 9.3%) for (ε$_{ee}$, ε$_{μμ}$, ε$_{ττ}$), while off-diagonal NSI can be at most (10$^{–3}$%, 0.56%, 0.34%) for (ε$_{eμ}$, ε$_{eτ}$, ε$_{μτ}$). In one-loop neutrino mass models using leptoquarks (LQs), (ε$_{μμ}$, ε$_{ττ}$) can be as large as (21.6%, 51.7%), while ε$_{ee}$ and (ε$_{eμ}$, ε$_{eτ}$, ε$_{μτ}$) can at most be 0.6%. Other two- and three-loop LQ models are found to give NSI of similar strength. The most stringent constraints on the diagonal NSI are found to come from neutrino oscillation and scattering experiments, while the off-diagonal NSI are mostly constrained by low-energy processes, such as atomic parity violation and cLFV. We also comment on the future sensitivity of these radiative models in long-baseline neutrino experiments, such as DUNE. While our analysis is focused on radiative neutrino mass models, it essentially covers all NSI possibilities with heavy mediators.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Probing neutrino mass models through resonances at neutrino telescopes

We study the detection prospects of relatively light charged scalars in radiative Majorana neutrino mass models, such as the Zee model and its variants using scalar leptoquarks, at current and future neutrino telescopes. In particular, we show that these scalar mediators can give rise to Glashow-like resonance features in the ultrahigh energy (UHE) neutrino event spectrum at the IceCube neutrino observatory and its high-energy upgrade IceCube-Gen2. The same scalars can also give rise to observable nonstandard neutrino interactions (NSIs), and we show that the UHE neutrinos provide a complementary probe of NSI. We also discuss an interesting possibility of producing such resonances by incoming sterile neutrino components in the case where neutrinos are pseudo-Dirac particles.

Physics↗

Cosmological preference for a negative neutrino mass

The most precise determination of the sum of neutrino masses from cosmological data, derived from analysis of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and baryon acoustic acoustic oscillations (BAO) from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), favors a value below the minimum inferred from neutrino flavor oscillation experiments. We explore which data is most responsible of this puzzling aspect of the current constraints on neutrino mass and whether it is related to other anomalies in cosmology. We demonstrate conclusively that the preference for negative neutrino masses is a consequence of larger than expected lensing of the CMB in both the two- and four-point lensing statistics. Furthermore, we show that this preference is robust to changes in likelihoods of the BAO and CMB optical depth analyses given the available data. We then show that this excess clustering is not easily explained by changes to the expansion history and is likely distinct from the preference for for dynamical dark energy in DESI BAO data. Finally, we discuss how future data may impact these results, including an analysis of Planck CMB with mock DESI 5-year data. Here, we conclude that the negative neutrino mass preference is likely to persist even as more cosmological data is collected in the near future.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Unified framework for B -anomalies, muon g – 2 and neutrino masses

We present a model of radiative neutrino masses which also resolves anomalies reported in B -meson decays, \( {R}_{D^{\left(\ast \right)}} \) and \( {R}_{K^{\left(\ast \right)}} \) , as well as in muon g – 2 measurement, Δ a μ . Neutrino masses arise in the model through loop diagrams involving TeV-scale leptoquark (LQ) scalars R 2 and S 3 . Fits to neutrino oscillation parameters are obtained satisfying all flavor constraints which also explain the anomalies in \( {R}_{D^{\left(\ast \right)}} \) , \( {R}_{K^{\left(\ast \right)}} \) and Δ a μ within 1 σ . An isospin-3/2 Higgs quadruplet plays a crucial role in generating neutrino masses; we point out that the doubly-charged scalar contained therein can be produced in the decays of the S 3 LQ, which enhances its reach to 1.1 (6.2) TeV at \( \sqrt{s} \) = 14 TeV high-luminosity LHC ( \( \sqrt{s} \) = 100 TeV FCC-hh). We also present flavor-dependent upper limits on the Yukawa couplings of the LQs to the first two family fermions, arising from non-resonant dilepton ( pp → ℓ + ℓ – ) processes mediated by t -channel LQ exchange, which for 1 TeV LQ mass, are found to be in the range (0 . 15 – 0 . 36). These limits preclude any explanation of \( {R}_{D^{\left(\ast \right)}} \) through LQ-mediated B -meson decays involving ν e or ν μ in the final state. We also find that the same Yukawa couplings responsible for the chirally-enhanced contribution to Δ a μ give rise to new contributions to the SM Higgs decays to muon and tau pairs, with the modifications to the corresponding branching ratios being at (2–6)% level, which could be tested at future hadron colliders, such as HL-LHC and FCC-hh.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

The Near Term Race for the Neutrino Mass Ordering

The muon neutrino disappearance experiments T2K and NOvA, measure a different combination of Delta m^2_31 and Delta m^2_32 then the electron neutrino disappearance experiments Daya Bay and JUNO. This can be used to determine the neutrino mass ordering, one of the outstanding questions of the neutrino sector. In this talk I will explain why this happens and what is the current state and future prospects for the mass ordering determination using this method.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Neutrino mass and mass ordering: no conclusive evidence for normal ordering

The extraction of the neutrino mass ordering is one of the major challenges in particle physics and cosmology, not only for its implications for a fundamental theory of mass generation in nature, but also for its decisive role in the scale of future neutrinoless double beta decay experimental searches. It has been recently claimed that current oscillation, beta decay and cosmological limits on the different observables describing the neutrino mass parameter space provide robust decisive Bayesian evidence in favor of the normal ordering of the neutrino mass spectrum. We further investigate these strong claims using a rich and wide phenomenology, with different sampling techniques of the neutrino parameter space. Contrary to the findings of Jimenez et al., no decisive evidence for the normal mass ordering is found. Neutrino mass ordering analyses must rely on priors and parameterizations that are ordering-agnostic: robust results should be regarded as those in which the preference for the normal neutrino mass ordering is driven exclusively by the data, while we find a difference of up to a factor of 33 in the Bayes factors among the different priors and parameterizations exploited here. An ordering-agnostic prior would be represented by the case of parameterizations sampling over the two mass splittings and a mass scale, or those sampling over the individual neutrino masses via normal prior distributions only. In this regard, we show that the current significance in favor of the normal mass ordering should be taken as 2.7σ (i.e. moderate evidence), mostly driven by neutrino oscillation data. Let us stress that, while current data favor NO only mildly, we do not exclude the possibility that this may change in the future. Eventually, upcoming oscillation and cosmological data may (or may not) lead to a more significant exclusion of IO.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Impact of recent updates to neutrino oscillation parameters on the effective Majorana neutrino mass in 0 ν β β decay

We investigate how recent updates to neutrino oscillation parameters and the sum of neutrino masses influence the sensitivity of neutrinoless double-beta ( 0 ν β β ) decay experiments. Incorporating the latest cosmological constraints on the sum of neutrino masses and laboratory measurements on oscillations, we determine the sum of neutrino masses for both the normal hierarchy (NH) and the inverted hierarchy (IH). Our analysis reveals a narrow range for the sum of neutrino masses, approximately 0.06 eV / c 2 for NH and 0.102 eV / c 2 for IH. Utilizing these constraints, we calculate the effective Majorana masses for both NH and IH scenarios, establishing the corresponding allowed regions. Importantly, we find that the minimum neutrino mass is nonzero, as constrained by the current oscillation parameters. Additionally, we estimate the half-life of 0 ν β β decay using these effective Majorana masses for both NH and IH. Our results suggest that upcoming ton-scale experiments will comprehensively explore the IH scenario, while 100-ton-scale experiments will effectively probe the parameter space for the NH scenario, provided the background index can achieve 1 event/kton-year in the region of interest. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗

Research in Theoretical Particle Physics: Neutrino Masses and The Origin of CP-Violation

The main goal of this project was to investigate the theories of neutrino masses at the low scale and the origin of CP-violation in physics beyond the Standard Model. The origin of neutrino masses is one of the most pressing issues in particle physics. In this proposal, we investigated the theories for neutrino masses based on local total lepton number. In these theories anomaly cancellation predicts the existence of extra fermions with lepton number, and one of them is a good dark matter (DM) candidate. The cosmological constraints on the DM relic density implies that the lepton number symmetry breaking scale must be below the multi-TeV scale. Therefore, one can hope to test the origin of neutrino masses in current or future experiments. We investigated in great detail the anomaly cancellation in these gauge theories, study the different mechanisms for neutrino masses, study the predictions for direct and indirect dark matter experiments. Since these theories predict new sources of CP violation, we investigated the predictions for the electric dipole moments (EDM). The Higgs decays and the different signatures at the Large Hadron Collider were investigated in great detail. Finally, we studied the possible baryogenesis mechanisms in these theories in agreement with the EDM, DM and collider constraints. The origin of CP violation in the Standard Model is unknown. In this proposal, we investigated the simplest mechanisms for spontaneous CP-violation to explain the CP-violation in the CKM matrix and the value of the QCD vacuum angle. We discussed the Nelson-Barr mechanism in gauge theories predicting vector-like quarks from anomaly cancellation such as theories for local baryon number. We discussed the Bento-Branco-Parada mechanism in gauge theories to explain the CP-Violation in the CKM matrix. We will investigate models with two Higgs doublets in the context of the minimal theory for quark-lepton unification. We will show the non-decoupling effects in the Higgs sector, the main constraints coming from flavour violating processes when the Yukawa couplings are related by the gauge symmetry in theories for quark-lepton unification. We will investigate the predictions for electric dipole moments in these theories. The possibility to have successful baryogenesis was investigated. Finally, we investigated the relation between CP-violation in the quark and leptonic sectors. The future results from these studies could help us to understand two main issues in physics beyond the Standard Model: The Origin of Neutrino Masses and CP-violation.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Toward distinguishing Dirac from Majorana neutrino mass with gravitational waves

We propose a new method toward distinguishing the Dirac versus Majorana nature of neutrino masses from the spectrum of gravitational waves (GWs) associated with neutrino mass genesis. Motivated by the principle of generating small neutrino masses without tiny Yukawa couplings, we assume generic seesaw mechanisms for both Majorana and Dirac neutrino masses. For Majorana neutrinos, we further assume a spontaneously broken gauged U ( 1 ) B − L symmetry, independently of the type of Majorana seesaw mechanism, which gives a cosmic string induced GW signal flat over a wide range of frequencies. For Dirac neutrinos, we assume the spontaneous breaking of a Z 2 symmetry, the minimal symmetry choice associated with all Dirac seesaw mechanisms, which is softly broken, generating a peaked GW spectrum from the annihilation of the resulting domain walls. In fact, the GW spectra for all types of Dirac seesaws with such a broken Z 2 symmetry are identical, subject to a mild caveat. As an illustrative example, we study the simplest respective type-I seesaw mechanisms, and show that the striking difference in the shapes of the GW spectra can help differentiate between these Dirac and Majorana seesaws, complementing results of neutrinoless double beta decay experiments. We also discuss detailed implications of the recent NANOGrav data for Majorana and Dirac seesaw models. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Astronomy & Astrophysics↗

New Theories for Neutrino Masses and Dark Matter

The main goal of the project is to investigate new theories for neutrino masses and dark matter, and understand their testability in different experiments. The PI proposed several mechanisms for neutrino masses in the context of B-L theories, left-right symmetric theories, supersymmetric theories and grand unified theories. The PI would like to investigate new ways to understand the origin of neutrino masses where the seesaw scale is in the multi-TeV region. One can have a multi-TeV seesaw scale in scenarios where the same symmetry relevant for neutrino masses defines the dark matter relic density, or in the minimal supersymmetric theory based on local B-L. In these theories one can have new ways to understand the testability of the origin of neutrino masses at colliders and low energy experiments. In these theories one predicts the possibility to observe lepton number violating signatures at the LHC, one can predict large contributions to lepton number violating processes such as mu to e conversion, neutrinoless double beta decay experiments and others. The nature of the dark matter in the Universe is one of the most important problems in cosmology. Two of the most popular candidates are the Axions and the Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). The PI would like to investigate the implications of a new electroweak theta term similar to the QCD vacuum angle but in the SU(2) gauge sector of the SM which is physical if the baryon and lepton numbers are broken symmetries. We will investigate the implications of having a new electroweak theta term dark matter portal, the implications for baryogenesis and understand the constraints coming from different experiments such as the searches for electric dipole moments and axion experiments. The implications of having the electroweak theta term in theories with different sources of baryon and lepton number violation will be investigated. WIMPs are perhaps the most appealing candidates for many reasons. The PI would like to investigate the properties of WIMPs in different gauge theories, study the implications of the cosmological bounds on the WIMPs relic density for the symmetry breaking scale in models for new physics. The PI would like to investigate in great detail the predictions for gamma lines, neutrino lines and other striking signatures which can be present in these theories. These studies can have a profound impact in the testability of different theories for physics beyond the Standard Model.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Improved cosmological constraints on the neutrino mass and lifetime

We present cosmological constraints on the sum of neutrino masses as a function of the neutrino lifetime, in a framework in which neutrinos decay into dark radiation after becoming non-relativistic. We find that in this regime the cosmic microwave background (CMB), baryonic acoustic oscillations (BAO) and (uncalibrated) luminosity distance to supernovae from the Pantheon catalog constrain the sum of neutrino masses Σm$_{ν}$ to obey Σm$_{ν}$< 0.42 eV at (95% C.L.). While the bound has improved significantly as compared to the limits on the same scenario from Planck 2015, it still represents a significant relaxation of the constraints as compared to the stable neutrino case. We show that most of the improvement can be traced to the more precise measurements of low-ℓ polarization data in Planck 2018, which leads to tighter constraints on τ$_{reio}$ (and thereby on A$_{s}$), breaking the degeneracy arising from the effect of (large) neutrino masses on the amplitude of the CMB power spectrum.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Cosmological neutrino mass: a frequentist overview in light of DESI

We derive constraints on the neutrino mass using a variety of recent cosmological datasets, including DESI BAO, the full-shape analysis of the DESI matter power spectrum and the one-dimensional power spectrum of the Lyman-α forest (P1D) from eBOSS quasars as well as the cosmic microwave background (CMB). The constraints are obtained in the frequentist formalism by constructing profile likelihoods and applying the Feldman-Cousins prescription to compute confidence intervals. This method avoids potential prior and volume effects that may arise in a comparable Bayesian analysis. Parabolic fits to the profiles allow one to distinguish changes in the upper limits from variations in the constraining power σ of the different data combinations. We find that all profiles in the ΛCDM model are cut off by the ∑m ν ≥ 0 bound, meaning that the corresponding parabolas reach their minimum in the unphysical sector. The most stringent 95% C.L. upper limit is obtained by the combination of DESI DR2 BAO, Planck PR4 and CMB lensing at 53 meV, below the minimum of 59 meV set by the normal ordering. The corresponding constraining power σ is 43 meV, which highlights the importance of the cut-off by negative values in the determination of the upper limit. Extending ΛCDM to non-zero curvature and w 0 w a CDM relaxes the constraints past 59 meV again, but only w 0 w a CDM exhibits profiles with a minimum at a positive value. Additionally, we extend the formalism to constrain the lightest neutrino mass. For DESI DR2 BAO, Planck PR4 and CMB lensing, we find confidence limits at 20 and 19 meV for normal and inverted ordering, respectively. Using a combination of DESI DR1 full-shape, BBN and eBOSS Lyman-α P1D, we successfully constrain the neutrino mass independently of the CMB. This combination yields m l ≤ 97 and 98 meV in the normal and inverted orderings, and total neutrino mass ∑m ν ≤ 285 meV (95% C.L.). The addition of DESI full-shape or Lyman-α P1D to CMB and DESI BAO results in small but noticeable improvement of the constraining power of the data. Lyman-α free-streaming measurements especially improve the constraint. Since they are based on eBOSS data, this sets a promising precedent for upcoming DESI data.

Frequentist statistics↗