We propose an extension of the standard model with a $U(1)_{\rm B-L}$ global symmetry that accommodates radiative neutrino masses along with dark matter and leptogenesis. The observed matter antimatter asymmetry of the universe is generated through the leptogenesis route keeping the $U(1)_{\rm B-L}$ symmetry intact. The $B-L$ global symmetry is then softly broken, providing the sub-eV neutrino masses. The model then incorporates a MeV scale sterile neutrino like dark matter.
We analyze leptogenesis in gauge extensions of the Standard Model with keV sterile neutrino dark matter. We find that both the observed dark matter abundance and the correct baryon asymmetry of the Universe can simultaneously emerge in these models. Both the dark matter abundance and the leptogenesis are controlled by the out of equilibrium decays of the same heavy right handed neutrino.
We consider the minimal extended seesaw model which can accommodate an eV scale sterile neutrino. The scenario also includes three heavy right handed neutrinos in addition to the light sterile neutrino. In this model, the active-sterile mixing act as non-unitary parameters. If the values of these mixing angles are of $\mathcal{O}(0.1)$, the model introduces deviation of the PMNS matrix from unitarity to this order. We find that the oscillation data from various experiments imposes an upper bound on the lightest heavy neutrino mass scale as $\sim 10^{11}$ GeV in the context of this model. We st…
Extensions of the Standard Model (SM) with sterile neutrinos are well motivated from the observed oscillations of the light neutrinos and they have shown to successfully explain the Baryon Asymmetry of the Universe (BAU) through, for instance, the so-called ARS leptogenesis. Sterile neutrinos can be added in minimal ways to the SM, but many theories exist where sterile neutrinos are not the only new fields. Such theories often include scalar bosons, which brings about the possibility of further interactions between the sterile neutrinos and the SM. In this paper we consider an extension of the…
We studied models of leptogenesis where three right-handed Majorana neutrinos are involved and the minimal-extended seesaw mechanism including an additional singlet field produces four light neutrinos. This study shows that the type of mass ordering and heavy Majorana scales can be determined by inputting the simplest orthogonal matrix into the Casas-Ibarra(CI) representation of seesaw. The CP asymmetry produced from the decays of heavy neutrinos and the dilution mass are predicted in terms of the mass and mixing elements of the fourth neutrino. Upon the choice of CI matrix, the existence of a…
We consider a simple extension of the Standard Model to consistently explain the observation of a peak in the galactic X-ray spectrum at 3.55 keV and the light neutrino masses along with the baryon asymmetry of the universe. The baryon asymmetry is generated through leptogenesis, the lepton asymmetry being generated by the decay of a heavy neutrino with TeV mass scale. The extra singlet fermion introduced in the model can be identified as a dark matter candidate of mass 7.1 keV. It decays with a lifetime much larger than the age of the universe, producing a final state photon. The Yukawa inter…
We show that novel paths to dark matter generation and baryogenesis are open when the Standard Model is extended with three sterile neutrinos $N_i$ and a charged scalar $δ^+$. Specifically, we propose a new production mechanism for the dark matter particle --a multi-keV sterile neutrino, $N_1$-- that does not depend on the active-sterile mixing angle and does not rely on a large primordial lepton asymmetry. Instead, $N_1$ is produced, via freeze-in, by the decays of $δ^+$ while it is in equilibrium in the early Universe. In addition, we demonstrate that, thanks to the couplings between the hea…
Sterile neutrinos at the GeV scale can resolve several outstanding problems of the Standard Model (SM), such as the source of neutrino masses and the origin of the baryon asymmetry through freeze-in leptogenesis, but they can be challenging to detect experimentally due to their small couplings to SM particles. In extensions of the SM with new interactions of the sterile neutrinos, they can be produced copiously at accelerators and colliders. We systematically investigate the impact of such novel interactions on the asymmetry from freeze-in leptogenesis. We find that the interactions tend to br…
For leptogenesis with heavy sterile neutrinos above the electroweak scale, asymmetries produced at early times (in the relativistic regime) are relevant, if they are protected from washout. This can occur for weak washout or when the asymmetry is partly protected by being transferred to spectator fields. We thus study the relevance of relativistic effects for leptogenesis in a minimal seesaw model with two sterile neutrinos in the strongly hierarchical limit. Starting from first principles, we derive a set of momentum-averaged fluid equations to calculate the final $B-L$ asymmetry as a functio…
We demonstrate that the extension of the Zee-Babu model can generate not only the small neutrino masses but also the baryon number asymmetry in the universe. In particular, we show that the scale of the singlet scalar responsible for the leptogenesis can be of order 1 TeV, that can be tested at the LHC and ILC. We also considered the possible minimal extension of this model to generate the dark matter.
Lepton flavour asymmetries generated at the onset of the oscillations of sterile neutrinos with masses above the electroweak scale can be large enough to partly survive washout and to explain the baryon asymmetry of the Universe. This opens up new regions of parameter space, where Leptogenesis is viable within the type-I seesaw framework. In particular, we find it possible that the sterile neutrinos masses are substantially below 10^9 GeV, while not being degenerate. However, the required reheat temperature that is determined by the begin of the oscillations lies some orders of magnitude above…
It has been proposed that in a part of the parameter space of the Standard Model completed by three generations of keV...GeV right-handed neutrinos, neutrino masses, dark matter, and baryon asymmetry can be accounted for simultaneously. Here we numerically solve the evolution equations describing the cosmology of this scenario in a 1+2 flavour situation at temperatures $T \le 5$ GeV, taking as initial conditions maximal lepton asymmetries produced dynamically at higher temperatures, and accounting for late entropy and lepton asymmetry production as the heavy flavours fall out of equilibrium an…
Dominant Thermal Resonant Mechanism for Low-Scale Leptogenesis
The University of Osaka(大阪大学);Marietta Blau Institute for Particle Physics, Austrian Academy of Sciences(奥地利科学院玛丽埃塔·布劳粒子物理研究所);University of Manchester(曼彻斯特大学)
In a minimal model of leptogenesis, the observed baryon asymmetry is realized after high-scale reheating into the lightest sterile neutrino. We consider constraints on this scenario from the stability of the Higgs vacuum during pre-heating. Depending on the reheat temperature, the lightest sterile neutrino may be in or out of thermal equilibrium at production. Demanding stability of the Higgs vacuum during pre-heating, we find strong constraints which primarily impact the parameter space of thermal leptogenesis.
We explore the possibility of having a successful leptogenesis through oscillations between new sterile fermion states added to the Standard Model field content in a well motivated framework, naturally giving rise to the required mass splitting between the sterile states through a small total lepton number violation. We propose a framework with only two sterile states forming a pseudo-Dirac state, in which their mass difference as well as the smallness of the neutrino masses are due to two sources of lepton number violation with $ΔL=2$, corresponding to an Inverse Seesaw framework extended by …
Left-Right symmetric theories solve the strong CP problem and explain the small Higgs quartic coupling at high energy scales via the Higgs Parity mechanism, which forces the Higgs quartic coupling to vanish at the Left-Right symmetry breaking scale. They also predict three right-handed neutrinos; one may be stable and provide dark matter, and another may decay and explain the baryon asymmetry of the universe through leptogenesis. For the dark matter abundance to arise from freeze-out, the required range of the Left-Right symmetry breaking scale is $10^{10}$-$10^{13}$ GeV, in remarkable agreeme…
We study $S_{4}$ flavor symmetric inverse seesaw model which has the possibility of simultaneously addressing neutrino phenomenology, dark matter (DM) and baryon asymmetry of the universe (BAU) through leptogenesis. The model is the extension of the standard model by the addition of two right handed neutrinos and three sterile fermions leading to a keV scale sterile neutrino dark matter and two pairs of quasi-Dirac states. The CP violating decay of the lightest quasi- Dirac pair present in the model generates lepton asymmetry which then converts to baryon asymmetry of the universe. Thus this m…
For Leptogenesis based on the type-I seesaw mechanism, we present a systematic calculation of lepton-number violating and purely flavoured asymmetries within nonequilibrium Quantum Field Theory. We show that sterile neutrinos with non-degenerate masses in the GeV range can explain the baryon asymmetry of the Universe via flavoured Leptogenesis. This is possible due to the interplay of thermal and flavour effects. Our approach clarifies the relation between Leptogenesis from the oscillations of sterile neutrinos and the more commonly studied scenarios from decays and inverse decays. We explain …
We analyze a scenario in which the lightest heavy neutrino $N_1$ is a dark matter candidate and the second- heaviest neutrino $N_2$ decays producing a lepton number. If $N_1$ were in thermal equilibrium, its energy density today would be much larger than that of the observed dark matter, so we consider energy injection by the decay of $N_2$. In this paper, we show the parameters of this scenario that give the correct abundances of dark matter and baryonic matter and also induce the observed neutrino masses. This model can explain a possible sterile neutrino dark matter signal of $M_1$=7 keV in…
In a class of Type-II seesaw dominated $SO(10)$ models proposed recently with heavy neutrinos, extra $Z'$ boson, and resonant leptogenesis, at first we show that the lightest first generation sterile neutrino that mediates dominant contributions to neutrinoless double beta decay also generates the displaced vertex leading to verifiable like-sign di-electron as well as di-muon production events outside the LHC detectors having suppressed standard model back-ground and missing energy. Resonant leptogenesis in this case is implemented by a pair of quasi-degenerate sterile neutrinos of the second …
Leptogenesis is studied within the seesaw neutrino mass model in a regime where all sterile neutrinos have prompt rather than delayed decays. It is shown that during neutrino thermal production lepton asymmetries are generated in both active lepton and sterile neutrino sectors. The large B-L asymmetry is slowly pumped into the chemically decoupled right-handed quarks and leptons and baryon number sector which later protect B-L from fast L violating processes. The dependence of the final baryon asymmetry on couplings and masses is totally different from the decay scenario. B does not vanish in …
We consider a variant of seesaw mechanism by introducing extra singlet neutrinos, with which we show how the low scale leptogenesis is realized without imposing the tiny mass splitting between two heavy Majorana neutrinos required in the resonant leptogenesis. Thus, we can avoid the so-called gravitino problem when our scenario is supersymmetrized. We show that an introduction of the new singlet fermion leads to a new contribution which can enhance the lepton asymmetry for certain range of parameter space. We also examine how both the light neutrino mass spectrum and relatively light sterile n…
We show that existing laboratory experiments have the potential to unveil the origin of matter by probing leptogenesis in the type-I seesaw model with three right-handed neutrinos and Majorana masses in the GeV range. The baryon asymmetry is generated by CP-violating flavour oscillations during the production of the right-handed neutrinos. In contrast to the case with only two right-handed neutrinos, no degeneracy in the Majorana masses is required. The right-handed neutrinos can be found in meson decays at BELLE II and LHCb.
We consider the possibility of simultaneously addressing the baryon asymmetry of the Universe, the dark matter problem and the neutrino mass generation in minimal extensions of the Standard Model via sterile fermions with (small) total lepton number violation. Within the framework of Inverse and Linear Seesaw models, the small lepton number violating parameters set the mass scale of the active neutrinos, the efficiency of leptogenesis through a small mass splitting between pairs of sterile fermions as well as the mass scale of a sterile neutrino dark matter candidate. We provide an improved pa…
We discuss the connection between observable CP violation in the lepton sector, the properties of heavy neutrinos and the baryon asymmetry of the universe in the minimal seesaw model. A measurement of the Dirac phase $δ$ would allow to make testable predictions for the couplings of the heavy neutrinos to individual Standard Model lepton flavours. If any heavy neutral leptons are experimentally discovered in the future, this provides a powerful test for the mechanism of neutrino mass generation and baryogenesis.
We have explored an extended seesaw model accommodating a keV sterile neutrino adopting $U(1)_{B-L}$ symmetry. This model provides a natural platform for achieving resonant leptogenesis to account for the observed baryon asymmetry of the Universe. The required lepton asymmetry is sourced by the CP violating decay of the lightest heavy right handed neutrino to Standard Model leptons and Higgs. The presence of the light sterile neutrino in the model brings out an enhancement in the final lepton asymmetry through an additional self-energy contribution. Adopting a proper treatment for all the wash…
We review the viability of the sterile neutrino hypothesis in accounting for three observational problems of the Standard Model of particle physics: neutrino masses and lepton mixing, dark matter and the baryon asymmetry of the Universe. We present two alternative scenarios for the implementation of the sterile fermion hypothesis: the $ν$MSM and the Inverse Seesaw.
We consider the implications of a shared production mechanism between the baryon asymmetry of the universe and the relic abundance of dark matter, that does not result in matching asymmetries. We present a simple model within a two sector leptogenesis framework, in which right handed sterile neutrinos decay out of equilibrium to both the Standard Model and the dark sector, generating an asymmetry in one and populating the other. This realization naturally accommodates light dark matter in the keV mass scale and above. Interactions in the dark sector may or may not cause the sector to thermaliz…
Leptogenesis is a class of scenarios in which the cosmic baryon asymmetry originates from an initial lepton asymmetry generated in the decays of heavy sterile neutrinos in the early Universe. We explain why leptogenesis is an appealing mechanism for baryogenesis. We review its motivations, the basic ingredients, and describe subclasses of effects, like those of lepton flavours, spectator processes, scatterings, finite temperature corrections, the role of the heavier sterile neutrinos and quantum corrections. We then address leptogenesis in supersymmetric scenarios, as well as some other popula…
The temperature of sphaleron freeze-out, $T\approx 130$ GeV, sets a scale for mechanisms for generating lepton asymmetries and converting them to baryon asymmetry (leptogenesis). For Majorana masses $M \gg πT$, leptogenesis takes place in the non-relativistic regime, while for $M \ll πT$, the dynamics is ultrarelativistic. The intermediate case $M \sim πT$ is the most cumbersome, as no effective theory methods are available. We review the definitions of and provide integral representations for all rate coefficients and mass corrections of $\mathcal{O}(h_ν^2)$ in this regime, such that the expr…
This thesis address theoretical and phenomenological aspects of active and sterile mixing pattern within minimal extended seesaw frameworks. It consists of six chapters, where chapters one and six are dedicated to introduction and conclusion chapters, respectively. In chapter two, we study active-sterile phenomenology with a single generation of sterile neutrino ($m_S\sim \mathcal{O}$(eV)) along with the three active neutrinos. Three independent cases for sterile mass matrices are studied in both normal and inverted hierarchy mass ordering. Chapter three is an extension of the previous chapter…
We show that the effective decay asymmetry for resonant Leptogenesis in the strong washout regime with two sterile neutrinos and a single active flavour can in wide regions of parameter space be approximated by its late-time limit $\varepsilon=X\sin(2φ)/(X^2+\sin^2φ)$, where $X=8πΔ/(|Y_1|^2+|Y_2|^2)$, $Δ=4(M_1-M_2)/(M_1+M_2)$, $φ=\arg(Y_2/Y_1)$, and $M_{1,2}$, $Y_{1,2}$ are the masses and Yukawa couplings of the sterile neutrinos. This approximation in particular extends to parametric regions where $|Y_{1,2}|^2\gg Δ$, {\it i.e.} where the width dominates the mass splitting. We generalise the f…
We revisit the production of leptonic asymmetries in minimal extensions of the Standard Model that can explain neutrino masses, involving extra singlets with Majorana masses in the GeV scale. We study the quantum kinetic equations both analytically, via a perturbative expansion up to third order in the mixing angles, and numerically. The analytical solution allows us to identify the relevant CP invariants, and simplifies the exploration of the parameter space. We find that sizeable lepton asymmetries are compatible with non-degenerate neutrino masses and measurable active-sterile mixings.
The standard model Higgs quartic coupling vanishes at $(10^{9}-10^{13})$ GeV. We study $SU(2)_L \times SU(2)_R \times U(1)_{B-L}$ theories that incorporate the Higgs Parity mechanism, where this becomes the scale of Left-Right symmetry breaking, $v_R$. Furthermore, these theories solve the strong CP problem and predict three right-handed neutrinos. We introduce cosmologies where $SU(2)_R \times U(1)_{B-L}$ gauge interactions produce right-handed neutrinos via the freeze-out or freeze-in mechanisms. In both cases, we find the parameter space where the lightest right-handed neutrino is dark matt…
In this paper, we will apply the Goldstone equivalence gauge to calculate the $1 \leftrightarrow 2$ processes of a sterile neutrino in the thermal plasma below the standard model (SM) critical temperature $T_c \approx 160 \text{ GeV}$. The sterile neutrino's mass is around the electroweak scale $50 \text{ GeV} \leq m_N \leq 200 \text{ GeV}$, and the acquired thermal averaged effective width $\barΓ_{\text{tot}}$ is continuous around the cross-over. We will also apply our results to perform a preliminary calculation of the leptogenesis.
We present a general description of the problems encountered when attempting to build a simple model of leptogenesis and hence of baryogenesis at an energy scale as low as 1-10 TeV. We consider three possible lepton asymmetry enhancement mechanisms in the out-of-equilibrium decay scenario, emphasizing the three body decay mechanism as most natural. A new model based on the three body decays of right-handed neutrinos is proposed. It naturally allows both leptogenesis and neutrino mass generation at low scale. Also discussed is the possibility of inducing leptogenesis at low scale in existing ne…
In this talk, I review the potential connection of neutrinos to the Physics of the Early Universe, in particular the rôle of (sterile) neutrinos to leptogenesis/baryogenesis and the dark sector of the Universe. The possibility of CPT Violation among active neutrinos at early times and its role in leptogenesis/baryogenesis without sterile neutrinos is also touched upon.
We for the first time map the range of active-sterile neutrino mixing angles in which leptogenesis is possible in the type I seesaw model with three heavy neutrinos with Majorana masses between 50 MeV and 100 TeV, covering the entire experimentally accessible mass range. Our study includes both,the asymmetry generation during freeze-in (ARS mechanism) and freeze-out (resonant leptotenesis) of the heavy neutrinos. The range of mixings for which leptogenesis is feasible is considerably larger than in the minimal model with only two heavy neutrinos and extends all the way up to the current experi…
Starting from operator equations of motion and making arguments based on a separation of time scales, a set of equations is derived which govern the non-equilibrium time evolution of a GeV-scale sterile neutrino density matrix and active lepton number densities at temperatures T > 130 GeV. The density matrix possesses generation and helicity indices; we demonstrate how helicity permits for a classification of various sources for leptogenesis. The coefficients parametrizing the equations are determined to leading order in Standard Model couplings, accounting for the LPM resummation of 1+n <-> 2…
We consider neutrino Minimal extension of the Standard Model ($ν$MSM), which by introducing only three sterile neutrinos in sub electroweak region can explain active neutrino oscillations (via seesaw type I mechanism), baryon asymmetry of the Universe (leptogenesis via oscillations) and dark matter phenomena (with keV-scale sterile neutrino forming dark matter). We estimate sterile neutrino virtual contributions to various lepton flavor and lepton number violating processes. The contributions are too small, giving no chance for indirect searches to compete with direct measurements in exploring…
The existence of baryon asymmetry and dark matter in the Universe may be related to CP-violating reactions of three heavy neutral leptons (HNLs) with masses well below the Fermi scale. The dynamical description of the lepton asymmetry generation, which is the key ingredient of baryogenesis and of dark matter production, is quite complicated due to the presence of many different relaxation time scales and the necessity to include quantum-mechanical coherent effects in HNL oscillations. We derive kinetic equations accounting for fermion number violating effects missed so far and identify one of …
Knowledge of the mechanism of neutrino mass generation would help understand a lot more about Lepton Number Violation (LNV), the cosmological evolution of the Universe, or the evolu tion of astronomical objects. Here we propose a verifiable and viable extension of the Standard model for neutrino mass generation, with a low-scale seesaw mechanism via LNV condensation in the sector of sterile neutrinos. To prove the concept, we analyze a simplified model of just one single family of elementary particles and check it against a set of phenomenological constraints coming from electroweak symmetry b…
We study a model of neutrino within the framework of the minimal extended seesaw (MES), which plays an important role in active and sterile neutrino phenomenology in (3+1) scheme. The $A_4$ flavor symmetry is augmented by an additional $Z_4\times Z_3$ symmetry to constraint the Yukawa Lagrangian of the model. We use non-trivial Dirac mass matrix, with broken $μ-τ$ symmetry, as the origin of leptonic mixing. Interestingly, such a structure of mixing naturally leads to the non-zero reactor mixing angle $θ_{13}$. Non-degenerate mass structure for right-handed neutrino $M_R$ is considered so that …
We analyse the feasibility of low-scale leptogenesis where the inverse seesaw (ISS) and linear seesaw (LSS) terms are not simultaneously present. In order to generate the necessary mass splittings, we adopt a Minimal Lepton Flavour Violation (MLFV) hypothesis where a sterile neutrino mass degeneracy is broken by flavour effects. We find that resonant leptogenesis is feasible in both scenarios. However, because of a flavour alignment issue, MLFV-ISS leptogenesis succeeds only with a highly tuned choice of Majorana masses. For MLFV-LSS, on the other hand, a large portion of parameter space is ab…
We explore the possibility of a single generation of $keV$ scale sterile neutrino ($m_S$) as a dark matter candidate within the minimal extended seesaw (MES) framework and it's influence in neutrinoless double beta decay ($0νββ$) study. Three hierarchical right-handed neutrinos were considered to explain neutrino mass. We also address baryogenesis via the mechanism of thermal leptogenesis considering the decay of the lightest RH neutrino to a lepton and Higgs doublet. A generic model based on $A_4\times Z_4\times Z_3$ flavor symmetry is constructed to explain both normal and inverted hierarchy…
We study the prediction of maximal zeros of the Dirac mass matrix on neutrino phenomenology and baryon asymmetry of the universe (BAU) within the framework of an inverse seesaw ISS $(2,3)$. We try to find the origin of the allowed two zero textures of the Dirac mass matrix from $S_{4}$ flavor symmetry. ISS $(2,3)$ model contains two pairs of quasi-Dirac particles and one sterile state in the keV scale along with three active neutrinos. The decays of the quasi-Dirac pairs create lepton asymmetry that can be converted to baryon asymmetry of the universe by the sphaleron process. Thus, BAU can be…
A simple unifying mass matrix is presented for the three active and one sterile neutrinos $ν_e$, $ν_μ$, $ν_τ$ and $ν_s$, using an extension of the radiative mechanism proposed some time ago by Zee. The total neutrino-oscillation data are explained by the scheme $ν_e \leftrightarrow ν_s$ (solar), $ν_μ\leftrightarrow ν_τ$ (atmospheric) and $ν_e \leftrightarrow ν_μ$ (LSND). We obtain the interesting approximate relationship $(Δm^2)_{atm} \simeq 2[(Δm^2)_{solar} (Δm^2)_{LSND}]^{1/2}$ which is well satisfied by the data.