Motivated by the recent Xenon1T result, we study a leptophilic flavour-dependent anomaly-free axion-like particle (ALP) and its effects on charged-lepton flavour violation (CLFV). We present two representative models. The first one considers that the ALP origins from the flavon that generates the charged-lepton masses. The second model assumes a larger flavour symmetry such that more general mixings in the charged-lepton are possible, while maintaining flavour-dependent ALP couplings. We find that a keV ALP explaining the Xenon1T result is still viable for lepton flavour violation and stellar cooling astrophysical limits. On the other hand, if the Xenon1T result is confirmed, future CLFV measurements can be complementary to probe such a possibility.
I review the physics case for flavour violating axions. In particular, I argue that relaxing the assumption of the universality of the Peccei-Quinn current opens up new pathways, including: the relaxation of the Supernova bound on the axion mass, a possible connection with the Standard Model flavour puzzle and the experimental opportunity of discovering the axion via flavoured axion searches.
We present a comprehensive discussion of the phenomenology of flavourful axions, including both standard Peccei-Quinn (PQ) axions, associated with the solution to the strong $CP$ problem, and non-standard axion-like particles (ALPs). We give the flavourful axion-fermion and axion-photon couplings and calculate the branching ratios of heavy meson ($K$, $D$, $B$) decays involving a flavourful axion. We also calculate the mixing between axions and heavy mesons $ K^0 $, $ D^0 $, $ B^0 $ and $ B_s^0 $, which affects the meson oscillation probability and mass difference. Mixing also contributes to m…
New neutral heavy gauge bosons ($Z^\prime$) are predicted within many extensions of the Standard Model. While in case they couple to quarks the LHC bounds are very stringent, leptophilic $Z^\prime$ bosons (even with sizable couplings) can be much lighter and therefore lead to interesting quantum effects in precision observables (like $(g-2)_μ$) and generate flavour violating decays of charged leptons. In particular, $\ell\to\ell^\primeν\barν$ decays, anomalous magnetic moments of charged leptons, $\ell\to\ell^\primeγ$ and $\ell\to3\ell^\prime$ decays place stringent limits on leptophilic $Z^\p…
The solution to the Strong CP problem is analysed within the Minimal Flavour Violation (MFV) context. An Abelian factor of the complete flavour symmetry of the fermionic kinetic terms may play the role of the Peccei-Quinn symmetry in traditional axion models. Its spontaneous breaking, due to the addition of a complex scalar field to the Standard Model scalar spectrum, generates the MFV axion, which may redefine away the QCD theta parameter. It differs from the traditional QCD axion for its couplings that are governed by the fermion charges under the axial Abelian symmetry. It is also distinct …
A local flavour symmetry acting on the quarks of the Standard Model can automatically give rise to an accidental global $U(1)$ which remains preserved from sources of explicit breaking up to a large operator dimension, while it gets spontaneously broken together with the flavour symmetry. Such non-fundamental symmetries are often endowed with a mixed QCD anomaly, so that the strong CP problem is automatically solved via the axion mechanism. We illustrate the general features required to realise this scenario, and we discuss a simple construction based on the flavour group $SU(3)\times SU(2) \t…
We consider a 5D extension of the DFSZ axion model that addresses both the axion quality and fermion mass hierarchy problems, and predicts flavour-dependent, off-diagonal axion-fermion couplings. The axion is part of a 5D complex scalar field charged under a U(1)$_{PQ}$ symmetry that is spontaneously broken in the bulk, and is insensitive to explicit PQ breaking on the UV boundary. Bulk Standard Model fermions interact with two Higgs doublets that can be localized on the UV boundary or propagate in the bulk to explain the fermion masses and mixings. When the Higgs doublets are localized on the…
We investigate the possibility of using neutrino trident production to probe leptophilic charged scalars at future high intensity neutrino experiments. We show that under specific assumptions, this production process can provide competitive sensitivity for generic charged scalars as compared to common existing bounds. We also investigate how the recently proposed mixed-flavour production - where the two oppositely charged leptons in the final state need not be muon flavoured - can give a 20-50% increase in sensitivity for certain configurations of new physics couplings as compared to tradition…
We show how an accidental $U(1)$ Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry can arise from a discrete $A_4$ family symmetry combined with a discrete flavour symmetry $ \mathbb{Z}_3 \times \mathbb{Z}_5^2 $, in a realistic Pati-Salam unified theory of flavour. Imposing only these discrete flavour symmetries, the axion solution to the strong $ CP $ problem is protected from PQ-breaking operators to the required degree. A QCD axion arises from a linear combination of $ A_4 $ triplet flavons, which are also responsible for fermion flavour structures due to their vacuum alignments. We find that the requirement of a…
We propose a minimal model in which the flavour anomaly in the $b \to s μ^+ μ^-$ transition is connected to the breaking of Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry. The flavour anomaly is explained from new physics contribution by introducing one generation of heavy quark and heavy lepton which are vector-like under the standard model (SM) gauge group but charged under a local $U(1)_X$ group. They mix with the SM quarks and leptons, inducing flavour-changing $Z^\prime$ couplings, which generates the $b \to s μ^+μ^-$ anomaly at tree level. On the other hand the new fermions are chiral under the global Pecce…
We discuss how LHC di-muon data collected to study $B_q \to μμ$ can be used to constrain light particles with flavour-violating couplings to $b$-quarks. Focussing on the case of a flavoured QCD axion, $a$, we compute the decay rates for $B_q \to μμa$ and the SM background process $B_q \to μμγ$ near the kinematic endpoint. These rates depend on non-perturbative $B_q \to γ^{(*)}$ form factors with on- or off-shell photons. The off-shell form factors -- relevant for generic searches for beyond-the-SM particles -- are discussed in full generality and computed with QCD sum rules for the first time.…
We explore a common symmetrical origin for two long standing problems in particle physics: the strong CP and the fermion mass hierarchy problems. The Peccei--Quinn mechanism solves the former one with an anomalous global $U(1)_{\rm PQ}$ symmetry. Here we investigate how this $U(1)_{\rm PQ}$ could at the same time explain the fermion mass hierarchy. We work in the context of a four-Higgs-doublet model which explains all quark and charged fermion masses with natural, i.e.\ order $1$, Yukawa couplings. Moreover, the axion of the model constitutes a viable dark matter candidate and neutrino masses…
An accidental U(1) Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry automatically arises in a class of SO(10) unified theories upon gauging the SU(3)$_{f}$ flavour group. The PQ symmetry is protected by the $\mathbb{Z}_4 \times \mathbb{Z}_3$ center of $\text{SO(10)} \times \text{SU(3)}_f$ up to effective operators of canonical dimension six. However, high-scale contributions to the axion potential posing a PQ quality problem arise only at $d=9$. In the pre-inflationary PQ breaking scenario the axion mass window is predicted to be $m_a \in [7 \times 10^{-8}, 10^{-3}]$ eV, where the lower end is bounded by the seesaw…
Recently, the MiniBooNE experiment at Fermilab has updated the results with increased data and reported an excess of $560.6 \pm 119.6$ electronlike events ($4.7σ$) in the neutrino operation mode. In this paper, we propose a scenario to account for the excess where a Dirac-type sterile neutrino, produced by a charged kaon decay through the neutrino mixing, decays into a leptophilic axionlike particle ($\ell$ALP) and a muon neutrino. The electron-positron pairs produced from the $\ell$ALP decays can be interpreted as electronlike events provided that their opening angle is sufficiently small. In…
We investigate to what extent a generic, generation-dependent $U(1)$ symmetry acting on the quark Yukawa operators can reduce the number of free parameters by forcing some entries in the Yukawa matrices to vanish. The maximal reduction compatible with CP violation yields nine real parameters and one phase, which matches the number of physical observables, implying that such models have no free parameters. We derive a set of results: (i) the only possible structures have the form $M_4 \oplus M_5$, where the subscripts indicate the number of real parameters in the Yukawa matrices, (ii) there are…
We study the consequences of the existence and breaking of a Peccei--Quinn symmetry within the context of a dynamical model of electroweak symmetry breaking based on broken gauged flavour symmetries. We perform an estimate of the axion mass by including flavour instanton effects and show that, for low cut--offs, the axion is sufficiently massive to prevent it from being phenomenologically unacceptable. We conclude with an examination of the strong CP problem and show that our axion cannot solve the problem, though we indicate ways in which the model can be extended so that the strong CP proble…
The apparent tensions emerging from the comparison of experimental data of the anomalous magnetic moments of the muon and electron to the Standard Model predictions ($Δa_{μ,e}$) could be interpreted as a potential signal of New Physics. Models encompassing a light vector boson have been known to offer a satisfactory explanation to $Δa_μ$, albeit subject to stringent experimental constraints. Here we explore a minimal extension of the Standard Model via a leptophilic vector boson $Z^\prime$, under the hypothesis of strictly flavour-violating couplings of the latter to leptons. The most constrai…
We propose a unified model of scalar particles that addresses the flavour hierarchies, solves the strong CP problem, delivers a dark matter candidate, and provides the trigger for electroweak symmetry breaking. Besides furnishing a unification of the recently proposed axiflavon with a Goldstone-Higgs sector, the scenario can also be seen as adding a model of flavour (and strong CP conservation along with axion dark matter) to elementary Goldstone-Higgs setups. In particular, we derive bounds on the axion decay constant from the need to generate a SM-like Higgs potential at low energies, which …
In this talk, a unified model of scalar particles that addresses the flavour hierarchies, solves the strong CP problem, delivers a dark matter candidate, and radiatively triggers electroweak symmetry breaking is discussed. The recently proposed axiflavon is embedded together with an (elementary) Goldstone Higgs-sector in a single multiplet (and thereby also a model of flavour and strong CP conservation for the latter is provided). Bounds on the axion decay constant follow from requiring a SM-like Higgs potential at low energies and are confronted with constraints from flavour physics and astro…
We study charged lepton flavor violation associated with a light leptophilic axion-like particle (ALP), $X$, at the $B$-factory experiment Belle II. We focus on production of the ALP in the tau decays $τ\to X l$ with $l=e,μ$, followed by its decay via $X\to l^- l^+$. The ALP can be either promptly decaying or long-lived. We perform Monte-Carlo simulations, recasting a prompt search at Belle for lepton-flavor-violating $τ$ decays, and propose a displaced-vertex (DV) search. For both types of searches, we derive the Belle~II sensitivity reaches in both the product of branching fractions and the …
We propose a class of axion models with generation dependent Peccei-Quinn charges for the known fermions that allow to suppress the axion couplings to nucleons and electrons. Astrophysical limits are thus relaxed, allowing for axion masses up to ${\cal O}(0.1)$ eV. The axion-photon coupling remains instead sizeable, so that next generation helioscopes will be able to probe this scenario. Astrophobia unavoidably implies flavor violating axion couplings, so that experimental limits on flavour-violating processes can provide complementary probes. The astrophobic axion can be a viable dark matter …
In the context of a simplified leptophilic Dark Matter (DM) scenario where the mediator is a new charged fermion carrying leptonic quantum number and the DM candidate is either scalar or vector, the complementarity of different bounds is analysed. In this framework, the extra lepton and DM are odd under a $\mathbb Z_2$ symmetry, hence the leptonic mediator can only interact with the DM state and Standard Model (SM) leptons of various flavours. We show that there is the possibility to characterise the DM spin (scalar or vector), as well as the nature of the mediator, through a combined analysis…
We study a generic leptophilic $U(1)_X$ extension of the standard model with a light gauge boson. The $U(1)_X$ charge assignments for the leptons are guided by lepton universality violating (LUV) observables in semileptonic $b \to s\ell\ell$ decays, muon anomalous magnetic moment and the origin of leptonic masses and mixing. Anomaly cancellation conditions require the addition of new chiral fermions in the model, one of which acts as a dark matter (DM) candidate when it is stabilised by an additional $\mathcal{Z}_2$ symmetry. From our analysis, we show two different possible models with simila…
We propose a gauged two-Higgs-doublet model (2HDM) featuring an anomalous Peccei-Quinn symmetry, $U(1)_{PQ}$. Dangerous tree-level flavour-changing neutral currents, common in 2HDMs, are forbidden by the extra gauge symmetry, $U(1)_X$. In our construction, the solutions to the important issues of neutrino masses, dark matter and the strong CP problem are interrelated. Neutrino masses are generated via a Dirac seesaw mechanism and are suppressed by the ratio of the $U(1)_X$ and the $U(1)_{PQ}$ breaking scales. Naturally small neutrino masses suggest that the breaking of $U(1)_X$ occurs at a rel…
Right-handed neutrinos with MeV to GeV mass are very promising candidates for dark matter (DM). Not only can they solve the missing satellite puzzle, the cusp-core problem of inner DM density profiles, and the too-big-to fail problem, {\it i.e.} that the unobserved satellites are too big to not have visible stars, but they can also account for the Standard Model (SM) neutrino masses at one loop. We perform a comprehensive study of the right-handed neutrino parameter space and impose the correct observed relic density and SM neutrino mass differences and mixings. We find that the DM masses are …
We study the decay of the SM Higgs boson to a massive charm quark pair at the next-to-next-to-leading order QCD and next-to-leading order electroweak. At the second order of QCD coupling, we consider the exact calculation of flavour-singlet contributions where the Higgs boson couples to the internal top and bottom quark. Helpful information on the running mass effects related to Yukawa coupling may be obtained by analyzing this process. High precision production for $h\to c\bar{c}$ within the SM makes it possible to search for new physics that may induce relatively large interactions related t…
The Froggatt-Nielsen mechanism is a well-motivated framework for generating the fermion mass hierarchy. This mechanism introduces flavons, complex scalars which are singlet under the Standard Model gauge symmetry and charged under a new global family symmetry. We make use of a leptophilic flavon to produce the charged lepton Yukawa matrix. The real part of the flavon mixes with the Higgs boson and introduces lepton flavour violating interactions which are bounded by experiment. The imaginary part of the flavon, $η$, is a long-lived light particle, whose abundance is restricted by cosmological …
We propose a search for long lived axion-like particles (ALPs) in exotic top decays. Flavour-violating ALPs appear as low energy effective theories for various new physics scenarios such as t-channel dark sectors or Froggatt-Nielsen models. In this case the top quark may decay to an ALP and an up- or charm-quark. For masses in the few GeV range, the ALP is long lived across most of the viable parameter space, suggesting a dedicated search. We propose to search for these long lived ALPs in $t\bar{t}$ events, using one top quark as a trigger. We focus on ALPs decaying in the hadronic calorimeter…
Motivated by the SU(2)$_{\rm CMB}$ modification of the cosmological model $Λ$CDM, we consider isolated fuzzy-dark-matter lumps, made of ultralight axion particles whose masses arise due to distinct SU(2) Yang-Mills scales and the Planck mass $M_P$. In contrast to SU(2)$_{\rm CMB}$, these Yang-Mills theories are in confining phases (zero temperature) throughout most of the Universe's history and associate with the three lepton flavours of the Standard Model of particle physics. As the Universe expands, axionic fuzzy dark matter comprises a three-component fluid which undergoes certain depercola…
The recent tension between local and early measurements of the Hubble constant can be explained in a particle physics context. A mechanism is presented where this tension is alleviated due to the presence of a Majoron, arising from the spontaneous breaking of Lepton Number. The lightness of the active neutrinos is consistently explained. Moreover, this mechanism is shown to be embeddable in the Minimal (Lepton) Flavour Violating context, providing a correct description of fermion masses and mixings, and protecting the flavour sector from large deviations from the Standard Model predictions. A …
Recently, an anomalous excess was found in the electronic recoil data collected at the XENON1T experiment. The excess may be explained by an axion-like particle (ALP) with mass of a few keV and a coupling to electron of $g_{ae} \sim 10^{-13}$, if the ALP constitutes all or some fraction of local dark matter (DM). In order to satisfy the X-ray constraint, the ALP coupling to photons must be significantly suppressed compared to that to electrons. This strongly suggests that the ALP has no anomalous couplings to photons, i.e., there is no U(1)$_{\rm PQ}$-U(1)$_{\rm em}$-U(1)$_{\rm em}$ anomaly. W…
ALP production in Lepton Flavour Violating meson, tau and gauge boson decays
Instituto de Física Corpuscular, Universidad de Valencia and CSIC（瓦伦西亚大学与西班牙国家研究委员会联合粒子物理研究所）；School of Physics, Nankai University（南开大学物理学院）；PRISMA ++ Cluster of Excellence & Mainz Institute for Theoretical Physics Johannes Gutenberg University（约翰内斯·古腾堡美因茨大学美因茨理论物理研究所）；Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati（意大利国家核物理研究院弗拉斯卡蒂国家实验室）
Axion-like particles (ALPs) are ubiquitous in models of new physics explaining some of the most pressing puzzles of the Standard Model. However, until relatively recently, little attention has been paid to its interplay with flavour. In this work, we study in detail the phenomenology of ALPs that exclusively interact with up-type quarks at the tree-level, which arise in some well-motivated ultra-violet completions such as QCD-like dark sectors or Froggatt-Nielsen type models of flavour. Our study is performed in the low-energy effective theory to highlight the key features of these scenarios i…
