Neutrinos propagating in media (matter and electromagnetic fields) undergo flavor and helicity oscillations, where helicity transitions are instigated both by electromagnetic fields and matter currents. In addition, it has been shown that correlations between neutrinos and antineutrinos of opposite momentum can build up in anisotropic media. We re-derive the neutrino equations of motion in the mean-field approximation for homogeneous yet anisotropic media, confirming previous results except for a small correction in the Majorana case. Furthermore, we derive the mean-field Hamiltonian induced by neutrino electromagnetic interactions. We also provide a phenomenological discussion of pair correlations in comparison with helicity correlations.
Contributions to the quark flavor and spin observables from the intrinsic charm in the proton are discussed in the SU(4) quark meson fluctuation model. Our results suggest that the probability of finding the intrinsic charm in the proton is less than 1%. The intrinsic charm helicity is small and negative, $Δc \simeq -(0.003\sim 0.015)$. The fraction of the total quark helicity carried by the intrinsic charm is less than 2%, and $c_\up/c_\dw$=35/67.
Motivated by the recent hints of lepton flavor universality violation observed in semileptonic $B$ decays, we analyze how to test flavor and helicity structures of the corresponding amplitudes in view of future data. We show that the general assumption that such non-standard effects are controlled by a $U(2)_q \times U(2)_\ell$ flavor symmetry, minimally broken as in the Standard Model Yukawa sector, leads to stringent predictions on leptonic and semileptonic $B$ decays. Future measurements of $R_{D^{(*)}}$, $R_{K^{(*)}}$, ${\mathcal B}(\bar B_{c,u}\to \ell \bar ν)$, ${\mathcal B}(\bar B \to π…
We present an initiatory study of quark helicity flip generalized parton distributions (GPDs) in n_f=2 lattice QCD, based on clover-improved Wilson fermions for a large number of coupling constants and pion masses. Quark helicity flip GPDs yield essential information on the transverse spin structure of the nucleon. In this work, we show first results on their lowest moments and dipole masses and study the corresponding chiral and continuum extrapolations.
Neutrino flavor conversion studies based on astrophysical environments usually implement neutrino mixings, neutrino interactions with matter and neutrino self-interactions. In anisotropic media, the most general mean-field treatment includes neutrino mass contributions as well, that introduce a coupling between neutrinos and antineutrinos termed helicity or spin coherence. We discuss resonance conditions for helicity coherence for Dirac and Majorana neutrinos. We explore the role of these mean-field contributions on flavor evolution in the context of a binary neutron star merger remnant. We fi…
We extend our earlier results for the quark helicity evolution at small $x$ to derive the small-$x$ asymptotics of the flavor singlet and flavor non-singlet quark helicity TMDs and PDFs and of the $g_1$ structure function. In the flavor singlet case we re-derive the evolution equations obtained in our previous paper on the subject, performing additional cross-checks of our results. In the flavor non-singlet case we construct new small-$x$ evolution equations by employing the large-$N_c$ limit. All evolution equations resum double-logarithmic powers of $α_s \, \ln^2 (1/x)$ in the polarization-d…
We study the helicity distributions of light flavor quark-antiquark ($q \bar{q}$) pairs in the nucleon sea. The valence quarks are handled by adopting the light-cone SU(6) quark-spectator-diquark model and the sea $q \bar{q}$ pairs are treated from statistical consideration by introducing the helicity suppression factors $l_q(x)$ and $\bar l_q(x)$ to parametrize the helicity distributions of q-flavor sea quark and antiquark respectively, while $Δl_q(x)=l_q(x)-\bar l_q(x)$ represents a combined effect of helicity contribution due to sea $q \bar{q}$ pairs. From fitting the nucleon polarization a…
We propose a new measurement of the heavy flavor hadron double spin asymmetry in deep-inelastic scattering at a future Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) to constrain the polarized gluon distribution function inside the proton. Statistical projection on $D^0$ meson double spin asymmetry is calculated with an EIC central detector using an all-silicon tracker and vertexing subsystem. A first impact study was done by interpreting pseudo-data at next-to-leading order in QCD. The sensitivity of the experimental observable in constraining gluon helicity distribution in a wide range of parton momentum fract…
We present, for the first time, an \textit{ab initio} calculation of the individual up, down and strange quark helicity parton distribution functions for the proton. The calculation is performed within the twisted mass clover-improved fermion formulation of lattice QCD using one ensemble of dynamical up, down, strange and charm quarks with a pion mass of 260 MeV. The lattice matrix elements are non-perturbatively renormalized and the final results are presented in the $\overline{ \rm MS}$ scheme at a scale of 2 GeV. We give results on the $Δu^+(x)$ and $Δd^+(x)$, including disconnected quark l…
Neutrino flavor mixing is discussed in terms of two-component coupled left-handed flavor fields. This is to take into account the fact that the weak interaction couples only to left-handed fields. The flavor fields are written through a rotation matrix, as a linear combination of left-handed free fields. In order to obtain properly normalized wave functions directly from those free fields, states of mixed helicity have to be considered. Neutrino flavor oscillation amplitudes are also derived.
We present results on the quark unpolarized, helicity and transversity parton distributions functions of the nucleon. We use the quasi-parton distribution approach within the lattice QCD framework and perform the computation using an ensemble of twisted mass fermions with the strange and charm quark masses tuned to approximately their physical values and light quark masses giving pion mass of 260 MeV. We use hierarchical probing to evaluate the disconnected quark loops. We discuss identification of ground state dominance, the Fourier transform procedure and convergence with the momentum boost.…
[Review for "Chinese Science Bulletin" and CEPC+SPPC Proposal] Rare decays in flavor physics often suffer from Helicity suppress and Loop suppress. Helicity flip is a direct consequence of chiral $U(3)$ symmetry breaking and electroweak symmetry breaking. The identical feature is also shared by the mass generation of SM fermions. In this review, we use MSSM as an example to illustrate an explicit connection between bottom Yukawa coupling and rare decay process of $b\to sγ$. We take a symmetry approach to study the common symmetry breaking in supersymmetric correction to bottom quark mass gener…
Gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking is known to greatly suppress flavor changing neutral current effects. However, we show that gauge mediation in the context of leptogenesis implies potentially large lepton flavor violating signals. If the heavy right-handed neutrinos that participate in leptogenesis are lighter than the messenger scale of gauge mediation, they will induce flavor off-diagonal masses to the sleptons which in turn can induce large effects in mu to e gamma, tau to mu gamma, and mu-e conversion in nuclei. We demonstrate this result and compute numerically the lepton-flavor viol…
Lattice QCD Benchmark of Proton Helicity and Flavor-Dependent Unpolarized Transverse Momentum-Dependent Parton Distribution Functions at Physical Quark Masses
We study a renormalizable scalar singlet dark matter model based on $Z_4$ lepton flavor symmetry. A $μτ$-philic scalar doublet is introduced to explain the discrepancy between the experimental value and the theoretical prediction of the muon anomalous magnetic moment. At the same time, these flavored scalars play the role of a mediator which connects dark matter and standard model particles. The observed relic abundance of the dark matter is easily maintained while satisfying the current severe constraints on the dark matter from various experiments and observations thanks to the flavor off-di…
We present a framework where dark matter interacts with the Standard Model through a light, spin-0 mediator that couples chirally to pairs of different-flavor leptons. This flavor violating final state weakens bounds on new physics coupled to leptons from terrestrial experiments and cosmic-ray measurements. As an example, we apply this framework to construct a model for the Fermi-LAT excess of GeV $γ$-rays from the galactic center. We comment on the viability of this portal for self-interacting dark matter explanations of small scale structure anomalies and embeddings in flavor models. Models …
Higgs mediated flavor violating electromagnetic interactions, induced at the one--loop level by a nondiagonal $Hf_if_j$ vertex, with $f_i$ and $f_j$ charged leptons or quarks, are studied within the context of a completely general effective Yukawa sector that comprises $SU_L(2)\times U_Y(1)$--invariant operators of up to dimension--six. Exact formulae for the one--loop $γf_if_j$ and $γγf_if_j$ couplings are presented and their related processes used to study the phenomena of Higgs mediated lepton flavor violation. The experimental limit on the $μ\to eγ$ decay is used to derive a bound on the b…
We analyze a minimal flavored gauge mediation model in which the electroweak Higgs and messenger doublets are embedded in multiplets of a discrete non-Abelian symmetry. In this scenario, the minimal Higgs-messenger sector that is consistent with the 125 GeV Higgs mass has two vectorlike pairs of messenger fields. This scenario is obtained in a specific limit of the superpotential interactions of the Higgs-messenger fields and the matter fields. Due to the structure of the messenger-matter Yukawa couplings in this limit, sizable stop mixing and flavor-diagonal soft supersymmetry breaking parame…
The accurate prediction of the neutrino beam produced in muon decays and the absence of opposite helicity contamination for a particular neutrino flavor make a future neutrino factory the ideal place to look for the lepton flavor violating (LFV) decays of the kind $μ^+\ra e^+\nuebar\numu$ and lepton number violating (LNV) processes like $μ^-\ra e^-\nue\numu$. Excellent sensitivities can be achieved using a detector capable of muon and/or electron identification with charge discrimination. This would allow to set experimental limits that improve current ones by more than two orders of magnitude…
The appearance of a natural dark matter candidate, the neutralino, is among the principal successes of minimal supergravity (mSUGRA) and its descendents. In lieu of a suitable ultraviolet completion, however, theories of gravity-mediated supersymmetry breaking such as mSUGRA suffer from arbitrary degrees of flavor violation. Though theories of gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking are free from such prohibitive flavor violation, they typically lack natural neutralino dark matter candidates. Yet this conventional dichotomy breaks down when the hidden sector is strongly coupled; in models of gau…
We construct a numerical solution of the recently-derived large-$N_c \& N_f$ small-$x$ helicity evolution equations with the aim to establish the small-$x$ asymptotics of the quark helicity distribution beyond the large-$N_c$ limit explored previously in the same framework. (Here $N_c$ and $N_f$ are the numbers of quark colors and flavors.) While the large-$N_c$ helicity evolution involves gluons only, the large-$N_c \& N_f$ evolution includes contributions from quarks as well. We find that adding quarks to the evolution makes quark helicity distribution oscillate as a function of $x$. Our num…
The phenomenology of a new economical SUSY model that utilizes dynamical SUSY breaking and gauge-mediation (GM) for the generation of the sparticle spectrum and the hierarchy of fermion masses is discussed. Similarities between the communication of SUSY breaking through a messenger sector, and the generation of flavor using the Froggatt-Nielsen (FN) mechanism are exploited, leading to the identification of vector-like messenger fields with FN fields, and the messenger U(1) as a flavor symmetry. An immediate consequence is that the first and second generation scalars acquire flavor-dependent ma…
Generically, the asymmetric interactions in asymmetric dark matter (ADM) models lead to decaying DM. We show that, for ADM that carries nonzero baryon number, the continuous flavor symmetries that generate the flavor structure in the quark sector also imply a looser lower bound on the mass scale of the asymmetric mediators between the dark and visible sectors. The mediators for $B=2$ ADM that can produce a signal in the future indirect dark matter searches can thus also be searched for at the LHC. For two examples of the mediator models, with either the MFV or Froggatt-Nielsen flavor breaking …
The messengers of Gauge-Mediation Models can couple to standard-model matter fields through renormalizable superpotential couplings. These matter-messenger couplings generate generation-dependent sfermion masses and are therefore usually forbidden by discrete symmetries. However, the non-trivial structure of the standard-model Yukawa couplings hints at some underlying flavor theory, which would necessarily control the sizes of the matter-messenger couplings as well. Thus for example, if the doublet messenger and the Higgs have the same properties under the flavor theory, the resulting messenge…
Non-Standard neutral current Interactions (NSIs) of neutrinos with matter can alter the pattern of neutrino oscillation due to the coherent forward scattering of neutrinos on the medium. This effect makes long-baseline neutrino experiments such as NO$ν$A and DUNE a sensitive probe of beyond standard model (BSM) physics. We construct light mediator models that can give rise to both lepton flavor conserving as well as Lepton Flavor Violating (LFV) neutral current NSI. We outline the present phenomenological viability of these models and future prospects to test them. We predict a lower bound on …
The quantum theory of spin light (electromagnetic radiation emitted by a Dirac massive neutrino propagating in dense matter due to the weak interaction of a neutrino with background fermions) is developed. In contrast to the Cherenkov radiation, this effect does not disappear even if the medium refractive index is assumed to be equal to unity. The formulas for the transition rate and the total radiation power are obtained. It is found out that radiation of photons is possible only when the sign of the particle helicity is opposite to that of the effective potential describing the interaction o…
Loop quantum gravity theory incorporates a new scale length ${\cal L}$ which induces a Lorentz invariance breakdown. This scale can be either an universal constant or can be fixed by the momentum of particles (${\cal L}\sim p^{-1}$). Effects of the scale parameter ${\cal L}$ and helicity terms occurring in the dispersion relation of fermions are reviewed in the framework of spin-flip conversion of neutrino flavors.
We consider the Minimal Gauge Mediated Model (MGMM) with either fundamental or antisymmetric messenger multiplets and study consequences of messenger-matter mixing. We find that in these models, unlike MGMM without mixing, wide range of $\tanβ$ is allowed. It is shown that existing experimental limits on processes with lepton flavor violation, and on $K^0-\bar{K}^0$, $D^0-\bar{D}^0$ and $B^0-\bar{B}^0$ - mixing place significant constraints on relevant coupling constants and mixing parameters. On the other hand, the contributions of the messenger-matter mixing to the rates of $τ\to eγ$, $τ\to …
Analyses on possible systematics in some isovector nucleon observables in the RBC+UKQCD 2+1-flavor dynamical domain-wall fermion (DWF) lattice-QCD are presented. The vector charge, axial charge, quark momentum and helicity fractions, and transversity are discussed using mainly the Iwasaki\(\times\)DSDR ensemble at pion mass of 170 MeV. No autocorrelation issue is observed in the vector charge and quark momentum and helicity fractions. Blocked Jack-knife analyses expose significant growth of estimated error for the axial charge with increasing block sizes that are similar to or larger than the …
Flavor-specific scalar bosons exist in various Standard Model extensions and couple to a single generation of fermions via a global flavor symmetry breaking mechanism. Given this strategy, we propose a MeV flavor-specific scalar model in dimension-$5$ operator series, which explains the muon g-2 anomaly and proton radius puzzle by coupling with the muon and down-quark at the same time. The framework is consistent with the null result of high-intensity searches. Specifically, the supernova constraints for muon couplings become weakened by including the contribution of down-quark interaction. Th…
We investigate a simple 5D extension of the Minimal Supersymmetric (SUSY) Standard Model (SM) that is combined with the bulk matter Randall-Sundrum (RS) model, which gives a natural explanation the Yukawa coupling hierarchy. In this model, matter and gauge superfields reside in the 5D bulk while a SUSY breaking sector and the Higgs doublet superfields are localized on the infrared brane. The Yukawa coupling hierarchy in SM can be naturally explained through the wavefunction localization of the matter superfields. While sparticles obtain their flavor-blind soft SUSY breaking masses dominantly f…
The quantum theory of the ``spin light'' (electromagnetic radiation emitted by a massive neutrino propagating in dense matter due to the weak interaction of a neutrino with background fermions) is developed. In contrast to the Cherenkov radiation, this effect does not disappear even if the medium refractive index is assumed to be equal to unity. The formulas for the transition rate and the total radiation power are obtained. It is found out that radiation of photons is possible only when the sign of the particle helicity is opposite to that of the effective potential describing the interaction…
Recent observation shows that the Higgs mass is at around 125 GeV while the prediction of the minimal supersymmetric standard model is below 120 GeV for stop mass lighter than 2 TeV unless the top squark has a maximal mixing. We consider the right-handed neutrino supermultiplets as messengers in addition to the usual gauge mediation to obtain sizeable tri-linear soft parameters $A_t$ needed for the maximal stop mixing. Neutrino messengers can explain the observed Higgs mass for stop mass around 1 TeV. Neutrino assistance can also generate charged lepton flavor violation including $μ\to e γ$ as…
Starting with the relation between two kinds of neutrino field operators corresponding to definite flavor and mass states, we investigate if the usual evolution relations for neutrino oscillation in matter can be consistently derived, in the case of high energy neutrinos. A negative answer is obtained contrary to an earlier result [P. D. Mannheim, Phys. Rev. D {\bf 37} (1988) 1935]. The reason for such a difference relies essentially on the Bogolyubov transformation between two kinds of momentum-helicity creation- and annihilation-operators with definite flavors and masses, which was not taken…
In the standard model (SM), lepton flavor violating (LFV) Higgs decay is absent at renormalizable level and thus it is a good probe to new physics. In this article we study a type of new physics that could lead to large LFV Higgs decay, i.e., a lepton-flavored dark matter (DM) model which is specified by a Majorana DM and scalar lepton mediators. Different from other similar models with similar setup, we introduce both left-handed and right-handed scalar leptons. They allow large LFV Higgs decay and thus may explain the tentative Br$(h\raτμ)\sim1\%$ experimental results from the LHC. In partic…
We show that neutrino spin and spin-flavor transitions involve nonvanishing geometric phases. The geometric character of neutrino spin rotation is explored by studying the neutrino spin trajectory in the projective Hilbert space representation and its relation to the geometric phase. Analytical expressions are derived for noncyclic geometric phases. Several calculations are performed for different cases of rotating and nonrotating magnetic fields in the context of solar neutrinos and neutrinos produced inside neutron stars. Also the effects of adiabaticity, critical magnetic fields and cross b…
We study two-flavor neutrino oscillations in homogeneous neutrino gases in which neutrinos and anti-neutrinos are in nearly pure weak interaction states initially. We find that the monopole and dipole oscillation modes can trigger flavor instabilities in the opposite neutrino mass hierarchies in a nearly isotropic neutrino gas. For a class of simple neutrino systems we are able to identify the normal modes of neutrino oscillations in the linear regime. Our results provide new insights into the recently discovered multi-azimuthal angle (MAA) instability of neutrino oscillations in supernovae.
We show that the messenger-matter couplings of Flavored Gauge Mediation Models can generate substantial stop mixing, leading to Higgs masses around 126 GeV with colored superpartners below 2 TeV and even a TeV. These results are largely independent of the messenger scale. We study the spectra of a few examples with a single messenger pair coupling dominantly to the top, for different messenger scales. Flavor constraints in these models are obeyed by virtue of supersymmetric alignment: the same flavor symmetry that explains fermion masses dictates the structure of the matter-messenger couplings…
If massive neutrinos possess magnetic moments, a magnetic field can cause a spin flip. In the case of Dirac neutrinos the spin flip converts an active neutrino into a sterile one and vice versa. By contrast, if neutrinos are Majorana particles, a spin flip converts them to a neutrino of a different flavor. We examine the behavior of neutrinos in a random magnetic field as it occurs, for instance, in certain astronomical objects, such as an active galactic nucleus. Both Dirac and Majorana neutrinos behave ergodically: independently of their initial density matrix, they tend towards an equiparti…
It is an intriguing possibility that dark matter (DM) could have flavor quantum numbers like the quarks. We propose and investigate a class of UV-complete models of this kind, in which the dark matter is in a scalar triplet of an SU(3) flavor symmetry, and interacts with quarks via a colored flavor-singlet fermionic mediator. Such mediators could be discovered at the LHC if their masses are $\sim 1$ TeV. We constrain the DM-mediator couplings using relic abundance, direct detection, and flavor-changing neutral-current considerations. We find that, for reasonable values of its couplings, scalar…
We investigate toy models for spatial and temporal instabilities in collective neutrino oscillations induced by neutrino self-interactions, with special emphasis on inhomogeneous systems with densities following a profile. Simulations are based on a mathematica program that solves the Liouville equation with or without vacuum terms, refractive terms from a background medium, and neutrino-neutrino forward scattering, in one space dimension and in time. A discrete number of momentum modes are characterized by the neutrino velocity projection on the spatial direction. We also consider the effects…
We study the propagation of neutrinos from compact astrophysical objects with strong magnetic field, such as magnetars. Both neutrino spin rotation and oscillations in a realistic three-flavor model are taken into account. We solve the neutrino evolution equation in the magnetic field near the object and obtain the probabilities of all possible spin-flavor transitions. Assuming that neutrinos are produced in the interior of the star being in their left-handed state with electron flavor, we use these spin-flavor transition probabilities to estimate the fraction of neutrinos, which change their …
We investigate the impact of the nonzero neutrino splitting and elastic neutrino-nucleon collisions on fast neutrino oscillations. Our calculations confirm that a small neutrino mass splitting and the neutrino mass hierarchy have very little effect on fast oscillation waves. We also demonstrate explicitly that fast oscillations remain largely unaffected for the time/distance scales that are much smaller than the neutrino mean free path but are damped on larger scales. This damping originates from both the direct modification of the dispersion relation of the oscillation waves in the neutrino m…
Neutralino dark matter is well motivated, but also suffers from two shortcomings: it requires gravity-mediated supersymmetry breaking, which generically violates flavor constraints, and its thermal relic density Ωis typically too large. We propose a simple solution to both problems: neutralinos freezeout with Ω~10-100, but then decay to ~1 GeV gravitinos, which are simultaneously light enough to satisfy flavor constraints and heavy enough to be all of dark matter. This scenario is naturally realized in high-scale gauge-mediation models, ameliorates small scale structure problems, and implies t…
We study solutions of the equation which describes the evolution of a neutrino propagating in dense homogeneous medium in the framework of the quantum field theory. In the two-flavor model the explicit form of Green function is obtained, and as a consequence the dispersion law for a neutrino in matter is derived. It is shown that there exist both the solutions describing the stationary states and the solutions describing the spin-flavor coherent states of the neutrino. The stationary states may be different from the mass eigenstates, and the wave function of a state with a definite flavor shou…
