We show that discovery of baryon number violation in two processes with at least one obeying the selection rule Δ(B-L) = \pm 2 can determine the Majorana character of neutrinos. Thus observing p \to e^+ π^0 and n \to e^- π^0 decays, or p \to e^+ π^0 and n-nbar oscillations, or n \to e^- π^+ and n-nbar oscillations would establish that neutrinos are Majorana particles. We discuss this in a model-independent effective operator approach.
In this invited talk I discuss two recent applications of charmonium (Psi) decays to N Nbar m final states, where N is a nucleon and m is a light meson. There are several motivations for studying these decays: 1) They are useful for the study of N* spectroscopy; 2) they can be used to estimate cross sections for the associated charmonium production processes p pbar to Psi m, which PANDA plans to exploit in searches for charmonium hybrid exotics; and 3) they may allow the direct experimental measurement of NNm (meson-nucleon) strong couplings, which provide crucial input information for meson e…
In this paper we consider a sequential "meson emission" mechanism for charmonium decays of the type Psi -> N Nbar m, where Psi is a generic charmonium state, N is a nucleon and m is a light meson. This decay mechanism, which may not be dominant in general, assumes that an NNbar pair is created during charmonium annihilation, and the light meson m is emitted from the outgoing nucleon or antinucleon line. A straightforward generalization of this model can incorporate intermediate N* resonances. We derive Dalitz plot event densities for the cases Psi = eta_c, J/psi, chi_c0, chi_c1} and psi' and m…
We present a coupled system of integral equations for the pi pi --> Nbar N and Kbar K --> Nbar N S-waves derived from Roy-Steiner equations for pion-nucleon scattering. We discuss the solution of the corresponding two-channel Muskhelishvili-Omnes problem and apply the results to a dispersive analysis of the scalar form factor of the nucleon fully including Kbar K intermediate states. In particular, we determine the corrections Delta_sigma and Delta_D, which are needed for the extraction of the pion-nucleon sigma term from pi N scattering, and show that the difference Delta_D - Delta_sigma=(-1.…
Non-relativistic dark matter scattering with nucleons is constrained by direct detection experiments. We use the XENON constraints on the spin-independent and spin-dependent cross section for dark matter scattering with nucleons to constrain a hypothetical Majorana fermionic dark matter particle's couplings to the Higgs boson and Z boson. In the procedure we illustrate the change in the dark matter nucleon cross section as one goes from non-relativistic, coherent scattering to relativistic, incoherent scattering. While the Z invisible decay width excludes directly couplings of dark matter to o…
We compute the cross section for the electromagnetic annihilation into charged leptons, and the electromagnetic scattering off nucleons, of spin-3/2 self-conjugate (Majorana) particles using the general form of the electromagnetic vertex function that was obtained previously for such particles. In addition to the restrictions imposed by common principles such as electromagnetic gauge invariance and hermiticity, the vertex function incorporates the restriction due to the Majorana condition as well as the particular properties related to the spinors in the Rarita-Schwinger representation, and is…
We propose and investigate a novel, minimal, and experimentally testable framework for baryogenesis, dubbed dexiogenesis, using baryon number violating effective interactions of right-handed Majorana neutrinos responsible for the seesaw mechanism. The distinct LHC signature of our framework is same-sign top quark final states, possibly originating from displaced vertices. The region of parameters relevant for LHC phenomenology can also yield concomitant signals in nucleon decay experiments. We provide a simple ultraviolet origin for our effective operators, by adding a color-triplet scalar, wh…
We construct a scotogenic Majorana neutrino mass model in a gauged $U(1)_X$ extension of the standard model, where the mass of the gauge boson and the unbroken gauge symmetry, which leads to a stable dark matter (DM), can be achieved through the Stueckelberg mechanism. It is found that the simplest version of the extended model consists of the two inert-Higgs doublets and one vector-like singlet fermion. In addition to the Majorana neutrino mass, we study the lepton flavor violation (LFV) processes, such as $\ell_i \to \ell_j γ$, $\ell_i \to 3 \ell_j$, $μ-e$ conversion rate in nucleus, and muo…
The Lagrangian of the seesaw mechanism is C violating but the same Lagrangian when re-written in terms of Majorana neutrinos is manifestly C invariant. To resolve this puzzling feature, a relativistic analogue of Bogoliubov transformation, which preserves CP but explicitly breaks C and P separately, was introduced together with the notions of a Bogoliubov quasiparticle and an analogue of the energy gap in BCS theory. The idea of Majorana neutrino as Bogoliubov quasiparticle was then suggested. In this paper, we study the vacuum structure of the Bogoliubov quasiparticle which becomes heavy by a…
Heavy stable fourth generation Majorana neutrinos contribute to a small fraction of the relic density of dark matter (DM) in the Universe. Due to its relatively strong coupling to the standard model particles, it can be probed by the current direct and indirect DM detection experiments even it is a subdominant component of the halo DM. We show that the current Xenon100 data constrain the mass of the stable Majorana neutrino to be greater than the mass of the top quark. The effective spin-independent cross section for the neutrino elastic scattering off nucleon is predicted to be $\sim 1.5\time…
Heavy fourth generation Majorana neutrino can be stable and contribute to a small fraction of the relic density of dark matter (DM) in the Universe. Due to its strong coupling to the standard model particles, it can be probed by the current direct detection experiments even it is a subdominant component of the whole halo DM. Assuming that it contributes to the same fraction of the local halo DM density as that of the DM relic density, we show that the current Xenon100 data constrain the mass of the stable Majorana neutrino to be greater than the mass of the top quark. In the mass range between…
We develop a new approach for calculating the spin-independent 2-neutrino exchange potential (2-NEP) between non-relativistic fermions which places emphasis on the neutrino vacuum state, an area of theoretical interest in recent years. The 2-NEP is a natural probe of fundamental issues of neutrino physics such as neutrino masses, flavor mixing, the number of neutrino flavors, neutrino nature (Dirac or Majorana), $CP$-violation, and the neutrino vacuum state. We explore the dependence of the 2-NEP on the mixing of neutrino mass states assuming normal and inverted mass ordering for nucleon-nucle…
We employ the simplest possible models of scalar-fermion interactions that are consistent with the gauge symmetries of the Standard Model and permit no proton decay to analyze the connections possible among processes that break baryon number by two units. In this context we show how the observation of $n$-${\bar n}$ oscillations and of a pattern of particular nucleon-antinucleon conversion processes --- all accessible through e-d scattering --- namely, selecting from $e^- p \to e^+ {\bar p}$, $e^- p \to {\bar n} {\bar ν}$, $e^- n \to {\bar p} {\bar ν}$, and $e^- n \to e^- {\bar n} $ would reve…
Dark matter that participates in baryon-number violating interactions can annihilate with baryons if the dark matter particle is not protected under discrete symmetries. In this paper we investigate the dark matter - baryon annihilation in color-triplet extensions of the Standard Model, in which a fermionic dark matter can be kinematically stable within a small mass range near the proton mass. We demonstrate that the DM's annihilation with nucleons can be probed to stringent limits at large-volume water Cherenkov detectors like the Super-Kamionkonde experiment, with the mediator scale $m_Φ$ co…
We propose an SO(10) \times SO(10)' model to simultaneously realize a seesaw for Dirac neutrino masses and a leptogenesis for ordinary and dark matter-antimatter asymmetries. A (16\times \overline{16}')_H scalar crossing the SO(10) and SO(10)' sectors plays an essential role in this seesaw-leptogenesis scenario. As a result of lepton number conservation, the lightest dark nucleon as the dark matter particle should have a determined mass around 15 GeV to explain the comparable fractions of ordinary and dark matter in the present universe. The (16\times \overline{16}')_H scalar also mediates a U…
We present the first chiral effective theory derivation of the neutrinoless double beta-decay $nn\rightarrow pp$ potential induced by light Majorana neutrino exchange. The effective-field-theory framework has allowed us to identify and parameterize short- and long-range contributions previously missed in the literature. These contributions can not be absorbed into parameterizations of the single nucleon form factors. Starting from the quark and gluon level, we perform the matching onto chiral effective field theory and subsequently onto the nuclear potential. To derive the nuclear potential me…
When a neutron star cools to below the critical temperature for the onset of superfluidity, nucleon pair breaking and formation (PBF) processes become the dominant mechanism for neutrino emission, while the modified URCA and the nuclear bremsstrahlung processes are suppressed. The PBF processes in neutron stars have also been used to set upper limits on the properties of axions, which are comparable to those set by supernova SN 1987A. We apply this constraint on Weinberg's Higgs portal model, in which the dark radiation particles (the Goldstone bosons) and the dark matter candidate (a Majorana…
We study the electric dipole moments (EDMs) of fermions in the standard model supplemented with right-handed neutrinos and its extension including neutrino seesaw mechanism under the framework of minimal flavor violation (MFV). In the quark sector, we find that the current experimental bound on the neutron EDM does not yield a significant restriction on the scale of MFV. In addition, we consider how MFV may affect the contribution of the strong theta-term to the neutron EDM. For the leptons, the existing EDM data also do not lead to strict limits if neutrinos are Dirac particles. On the other …
We present the first ab initio calculations of neutrinoless double beta decay matrix elements in $A=6$-$12$ nuclei using Variational Monte Carlo wave functions obtained from the Argonne $v_{18}$ two-nucleon potential and Illinois-7 three-nucleon interaction. We study both light Majorana neutrino exchange and potentials arising from a large class of multi-TeV mechanisms of lepton number violation. Our results provide benchmarks to be used in testing many-body methods that can be extended to the heavy nuclei of experimental interest. In light nuclei we have also studied the impact of two-body sh…
The angular correlation of the electrons emitted in the neutrinoless double beta decay ($0\nu2β$) is presented using a general Lorentz invariant effective Lagrangian for the leptonic and hadronic charged weak currents. We show that the coefficient $K$ in the angular correlation $dΓ/d\cos θ\propto (1-K\cos θ)$ is essentially independent of the nuclear matrix element models and present its numerical values for the five nuclei of interest ($^{76}{Ge}$, $^{82}{Se}$, $^{100}{Mo}$, $^{130}{Te}$, and $^{136}{Xe}$), assuming that the $0\nu2β$-decays in these nuclei are induced solely by a light Majora…
If grand unification is real, searches for baryon-number violation should be included on the list of observables that may reveal information regarding the origin of neutrino masses. Making use of an effective-operator approach and assuming that nature is SU(5) invariant at very short distances, we estimate the consequences of different scenarios that lead to light Majorana neutrinos for low-energy phenomena that violate baryon number minus lepton number (B-L) by two (or more) units, including neutron-antineutron oscillations and B-L violating nucleon decays. We find that, among all possible ef…
Two-neutrino double-beta decay of certain nuclear isotopes is one of the rarest Standard Model processes observed in nature. Its neutrinoless counterpart is an exotic lepton-number nonconserving process that is widely searched for to determine if the neutrinos are Majorana fermions. In order to connect the rate of these processes to the Standard Model and beyond the Standard Model interactions, it is essential that the corresponding nuclear matrix elements are constrained reliably from theory. Lattice quantum chromodynamics (LQCD) and low-energy effective field theories (EFTs) are expected to …
We analyze neutrinoless double beta decay ($0νββ$) within the framework of the Standard Model Effective Field Theory. Apart from the dimension-five Weinberg operator, the first contributions appear at dimension seven. We classify the operators and evolve them to the electroweak scale, where we match them to effective dimension-six, -seven, and -nine operators. In the next step, after renormalization group evolution to the QCD scale, we construct the chiral Lagrangian arising from these operators. We develop a power-counting scheme and derive the two-nucleon $0νββ$ currents up to leading order …
It is well known that neutrinoless double decay is going to play a crucial role in settling the neutrino properties, which cannot be extracted from the neutrino oscillation data. It is, in particular, expected to settle the absolute scale of neutrino mass and determine whether the neutrinos are Majorana particles, i.e. they coincide with their own antiparticles. In order to extract the average neutrino mass from the data one must be able to estimate the contribution all possible high mass intermediate particles. The latter, which occur in practically all extensions of the standard model, can, …
In this paper, axion models supplemented by leptoquarks and diquarks are systematically analyzed. Turning on some couplings to and among these latter states permits to unify the Peccei-Quinn symmetry with baryon (B) and lepton (L) numbers, such that the axion becomes associated to the spontaneous breaking of the three $U(1)$ symmetries. All possible four- and six-fermion patterns of B and L violation are discussed, including those inducing proton decay, with $ΔB = 1$ and $ΔL = \pm 1, \pm 3$, neutron-antineutron oscillations with $ΔB = 2$, and Majorana neutrino masses with $ΔL = 2$. Scenarios i…
One possible low energy process due to beyond the Standard Model (BSM) physics is the neutron-antineutron transition, where baryon number changes by two units. In addition to providing a source of baryon number violation in the early universe, interactions of this kind are natural in grand unified theories (GUTs) with Majorana neutrinos that violate lepton number. Bounds on these oscillations can greatly restrict a variety of GUTs, while a non-zero signal would be a "smoking gun" for new physics; however, to make a reliable prediction, the six-quark nucleon-antinucleon matrix elements must fir…
Department of Physics E. Pancini, Università di Napoli Federico II（那不勒斯费德里科二世大学E. Pancini物理系）；INFN Sezione di Napoli（意大利国家核物理研究所那不勒斯分部）；Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology, Durham University（杜伦大学粒子物理现象学研究所）
We present a method to determine the leading-order (LO) contact term contributing to the $nn \to pp e^-e^-$ amplitude through the exchange of light Majorana neutrinos. Our approach is based on the representation of the amplitude as the momentum integral of a known kernel (proportional to the neutrino propagator) times the generalized forward Compton scattering amplitude $n(p_1) n(p_2) W^+ (k) \to p(p_1^\prime) p(p_2^\prime) W^- (k)$, in analogy to the Cottingham formula for the electromagnetic contribution to hadron masses. We construct model-independent representations of the integrand in the…
In this paper, we study the viability of having a fermion Dark Matter particle below the TeV mass scale in connection to the neutrino mass generation mechanism. The simplest realization is achieved within the scotogenic model where neutrino masses are generated at the 1-loop level. Hence, we consider the case where the dark matter particle is the lightest $\mathbb{Z}_2$-odd Majorana fermion running in the neutrino mass loop. We assume that lepton number is broken dynamically due to a lepton number carrier scalar singlet which acquires a non-zero vacuum expectation value. In the present scenari…
In this work we study a predictive model based on a partially unified theory possessing the gauge symmetry of the Pati-Salam group, $SU(2)_L\times SU(2)_R\times SU(4)_C$ supplemented by a global Peccei-Quinn symmetry, $U(1)_{PQ}$. A comprehensive analysis of the Higgs potential is carried out in a minimal set-up. The assumed Peccei-Quinn symmetry along with solving the strong CP problem, can provide axion as the dark matter candidate. This minimal set-up with limited number of Yukawa parameters can successfully incorporate the hierarchies in the charged fermion masses and mixings. The automati…
The extension of Majorana neutrino mass mechanism of the neutrinoless double-beta decay ($0νββ$) with the inclusion of right-handed leptonic and hadronic currents is revisited. While only the exchange of light neutrinos is assumed, the $s_{1/2}$ and $p_{1/2}$-states of emitted electrons as well as recoil corrections to the nucleon currents are taken into account. Within the standard approximations the decay rate is factorized into a sum of products of kinematical phase-space factors, nuclear matrix elements and the fundamental parameters that characterize the lepton number violation. Unlike in…
Observation of neutrinoless double beta decay, a lepton number violating process that has been proposed to clarify the nature of neutrino masses, has spawned an enormous world-wide experimental effort. Relating nuclear decay rates to high-energy, beyond the Standard Model (BSM) physics requires detailed knowledge of non-perturbative QCD effects. Using lattice QCD, we compute the necessary matrix elements of short-range operators, which arise due to heavy BSM mediators, that contribute to this decay via the leading order $π^- \to π^+$ exchange diagrams. Utilizing our result and taking advantage…
It was recently pointed out that direct detection signals from at least three different targets may be used to determine whether the Dark Matter (DM) particle is different from its antiparticle. In this work, we examine in detail the feasibility of this test under different conditions, motivated by proposals for future detectors. Specifically, we perform likelihood fits to mock data under the hypotheses that the DM particle is identical to or different from its antiparticle, and determine the significance with which the former can be rejected in favor of the latter. In our analysis, we conside…
We investigate neutrinoless double beta decay ($0νββ$) in the presence of sterile neutrinos with Majorana mass terms. These gauge-singlet fields are allowed to interact with Standard-Model (SM) fields via renormalizable Yukawa couplings as well as higher-dimensional gauge-invariant operators up to dimension seven in the Standard Model Effective Field Theory extended with sterile neutrinos. At the GeV scale, we use Chiral effective field theory involving sterile neutrinos to connect the operators at the level of quarks and gluons to hadronic interactions involving pions and nucleons. This allow…
