Examining a right-handed quark mixing matrix with bb-tags at the LHC

Encouraged by a hint in a search for right-handed $W$ bosons at the LHC, we investigate whether the unitarity of a right-handed quark mixing matrix and the equality of the left- and right-handed quark mixing matrices could be tested at the LHC. We propose a particular test, involving counting the numbers of $b$-tags in the final state, and simulate the test at the event level with Monte-Carlo tools for the forthcoming $\sqrt{s}=13$ TeV LHC run. We find that testing unitarity with 20/fb will be challenging; our test successfully rejects unitarity if the right-handed quark mixing matrix is non-unitary, but only in particular cases. On the other hand, our test may provide the first opportunity to test the unitarity of a right-handed quark mixing matrix and with 3000/fb severely constrains possible departures from unitarity in the latter. We refine our previous work, testing the equality of quark mixing matrices, with full collider simulation. With 20/fb, we are sensitive to mixing angles as small as $30^\circ$, and with 3000/fb, angles as small as $7.5^\circ$, confirming our preliminary analysis. We briefly investigate testing the unitarity of the SM CKM matrix with a similar method by studying semileptonic $t\bar t$ production, concluding that systematics make it particularly difficult.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures, matches version to appear in Nuclear Physics

SO(10)-inspired solution to the problem of the initial conditions in leptogenesis

We show that, within SO(10)-inspired leptogenesis, there exists a solution, with definite constraints on low energy neutrino parameters, able simultaneously to reproduce the observed baryon asymmetry and to satisfy the conditions for the independence of the final asymmetry of the initial conditions (strong thermal leptogenesis). We find that the wash-out of a pre-existing asymmetry as large as O(0.1) requires: i) reactor mixing angle in the range \theta_13 = (2 - 20) degrees, in agreement with the experimental result \theta_13 = (8 - 10) degrees; ii) atmospheric mixing angle in the range \theta_23 = (16 - 41) degrees, compatible only with current lowest experimentally allowed values; iii) Dirac phase in the range \delta \simeq -\pi/2 - \pi/5, with the bulk of the solutions around \delta \simeq -\pi/5 and such that sign(J_CP)= - sign(\eta_B); iv) neutrino masses m_i normally ordered; v) lightest neutrino mass in the range m_1 \simeq (15 - 25) meV, corresponding to \sum_i m_i \simeq (85 - 105) meV; vi) neutrinoless double beta decay (0\nu\beta\beta) effective neutrino mass m_ee \simeq 0.8 m_1. All together this set of predictive constraints characterises the solution quite distinctively, representing a difficultly forgeable, fully testable, signature. In particular, the condition m_ee \simeq 0.8 m_1 \simeq 15 meV can be tested by cosmological observations and (ultimately) by 0\nu\beta\beta experiments. We also discuss different aspects such as theoretical uncertainties, stability under variation of the involved parameters, form of the orthogonal and RH neutrino mixing matrices.Comment: 44 pages, 8 figures; v3: typos corrected, matches NPB versio

Phase transition and gravitational wave phenomenology of scalar conformal extensions of the Standard Model

Thermal corrections in classically conformal models typically induce a strong first-order electroweak phase transition, thereby resulting in a stochastic gravitational wave background that could be detectable at gravitational wave observatories. After reviewing the basics of classically conformal scenarios, in this paper we investigate the phase transition dynamics in a thermal environment and the related gravitational wave phenomenology within the framework of scalar conformal extensions of the Standard Model. We find that minimal extensions involving only one additional scalar field struggle to reproduce the correct phase transition dynamics once thermal corrections are accounted for. Next-to-minimal models, instead, yield the desired electroweak symmetry breaking and typically result in a very strong gravitational wave signal.Comment: 9 pages and 7 figures. Minor changes to match the published versio