Non-resonant leptogenesis in seesaw models with an almost conserved B-L

We review the motivations and some results on leptogenesis in seesaw models with an almost conserved lepton number. The paper is based on a talk given at the 5th International Symposium on Symmetries in Subatomic Physics, SSP2012.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure. Published in the proceedings of the 5th International Symposium on Symmetries in Subatomic Physics, SSP201

MiniBooNE and LSND data: non-standard neutrino interactions in a (3+1) scheme versus (3+2) oscillations

The recently observed event excess in MiniBooNE anti-neutrino data is in agreement with the LSND evidence for electron anti-neutrino appearance. We propose an explanation of these data in terms of a (3+1) scheme with a sterile neutrino including non-standard neutrino interactions (NSI) at neutrino production and detection. The interference between oscillations and NSI provides a source for CP violation which we use to reconcile different results from neutrino and anti-neutrino data. Our best fit results imply NSI at the level of a few percent relative to the standard weak interaction, in agreement with current bounds. We compare the quality of the NSI fit to the one obtained within the (3+1) and (3+2) pure oscillation frameworks. We also briefly comment on using NSI (in an effective two-flavour framework) to address a possible difference in neutrino and anti-neutrino results from the MINOS experiment.Comment: 28 pages, 9 figures, discussion improved, new appendix added, conclusions unchange

Non-standard interactions versus non-unitary lepton flavor mixing at a neutrino factory

The impact of heavy mediators on neutrino oscillations is typically described by non-standard four-fermion interactions (NSIs) or non-unitarity (NU). We focus on leptonic dimension-six effective operators which do not produce charged lepton flavor violation. These operators lead to particular correlations among neutrino production, propagation, and detection non-standard effects. We point out that these NSIs and NU phenomenologically lead, in fact, to very similar effects for a neutrino factory, for completely different fundamental reasons. We discuss how the parameters and probabilities are related in this case, and compare the sensitivities. We demonstrate that the NSIs and NU can, in principle, be distinguished for large enough effects at the example of non-standard effects in the $\mu$-$\tau$-sector, which basically corresponds to differentiating between scalars and fermions as heavy mediators as leading order effect. However, we find that a near detector at superbeams could provide very synergistic information, since the correlation between source and matter NSIs is broken for hadronic neutrino production, while NU is a fundamental effect present at any experiment.Comment: 32 pages, 5 figures. Final version published in JHEP. v3: Typo in Eq. (27) correcte

Neutrino Masses at LHC: Minimal Lepton Flavour Violation in Type-III See-saw

We study the signatures of minimal lepton flavour violation in a simple Type-III see - saw model in which the flavour scale is given by the new fermion triplet mass and it can be naturally light enough to be produced at the LHC. In this model the flavour structure of the lepton number conserving couplings of the triplet fermions to the Standard Model leptons can be reconstructed from the neutrino mass matrix and the smallness of the neutrino mass is associated with a tiny violation of total lepton number. Characteristic signatures of this model include suppressed lepton number violation decays of the triplet fermions, absence of displaced vertices in their decays and predictable lepton flavour composition of the states produced in their decays. We study the observability of these signals in the processes pp\rightarrow 3\ell + 2j +\Sla{E_T} and $pp\rightarrow 2\ell + 4j$ with $\ell =e$ or $\mu$ taking into account the present low energy data on neutrino physics and the corresponding Standard Model backgrounds. Our results indicate that the new fermionic states can be observed for masses up to 500 GeV depending on the CP violating Majorana phase for an integrated luminosity of 30 fb$^{-1}$. Moreover, the flavour of the final state leptons in the above processes can shed light on the neutrino mass ordering.Comment: 31 pages, 11 Figures, matches published versio

Minimal models with light sterile neutrinos

We study the constraints imposed by neutrino oscillation experiments on the minimal extensions of the Standard Model (SM) with $n_R$ gauge singlet fermions ("right-handed neutrinos"), that can account for neutrino masses. We consider the most general coupling to SM fields of the new fields, in particular those that break lepton number and we do not assume any a priori hierarchy in the mass parameters. We proceed to analyze these models starting from the lowest level of complexity, defined by the number of extra fermionic degrees of freedom. The simplest choice that has enough free parameters in principle (i.e. two mass differences and two angles) to explain the confirmed solar and atmospheric oscillations corresponds to $n_R=1$. This minimal choice is shown to be excluded by data. The next-to-minimal choice corresponds to $n_R=2$. We perform a systematic study of the full parameter space in the limit of degenerate Majorana masses by requiring that at least two neutrino mass differences correspond to those established by solar and atmospheric oscillations. We identify several types of spectra that can fit long-baseline reactor and accelerator neutrino oscillation data, but fail in explaining solar and/or atmospheric data. The only two solutions that survive are the expected seesaw and quasi-Dirac regions, for which we set lower and upper bounds respectively on the Majorana mass scale. Solar data from neutral current measurements provide essential information to constrain the quasi-Dirac region. The possibility to accommodate the LSND/MiniBoone and reactor anomalies, and the implications for neutrinoless double-beta decay and tritium beta decay are briefly discussed.Comment: 32 pages, 15 figures. Misprints and a small error corrected, references added. Conclusions unchange

Two experiments for the price of one? -- The role of the second oscillation maximum in long baseline neutrino experiments

We investigate the quantitative impact that data from the second oscillation maximum has on the performance of wide band beam neutrino oscillation experiments. We present results for the physics sensitivities to standard three flavor oscillation, as well as results for the sensitivity to non-standard interactions. The quantitative study is performed using an experimental setup similar to the Fermilab to DUSEL Long Baseline Neutrino Experiment (LBNE). We find that, with the single exception of sensitivity to the mass hierarchy, the second maximum plays only a marginal role due to the experimental difficulties to obtain a statistically significant and sufficiently background-free event sample at low energies. This conclusion is valid for both water Cherenkov and liquid argon detectors. Moreover, we confirm that non-standard neutrino interactions are very hard to distinguish experimentally from standard three-flavor effects and can lead to a considerable loss of sensitivity to \theta_{13}, the mass hierarchy and CP violation.Comment: RevTex 4.1, 23 pages, 10 figures; v2: Typos corrected, very minor clarifications; matches published version; v3: Fixed a typo in the first equation in sec. III

Non-unitary Leptonic Mixing and Leptogenesis

We investigate the relation between non-unitarity of the leptonic mixing matrix and leptogenesis. We discuss how all parameters of the canonical type-I seesaw mechanism can, in principle, be reconstructed from the neutrino mass matrix and the deviation of the effective low-energy leptonic mixing matrix from unitary. When the mass M' of the lightest right-handed neutrino is much lighter than the masses of the others, we show that its decay asymmetries within flavour-dependent leptogenesis can be expressed in terms of two contributions, one depending on the unique dimension five (d=5) operator generating neutrino masses and one depending on the dimension six (d=6) operator associated with non-unitarity. In low-energy seesaw scenarios where small lepton number violation explains the smallness of neutrino masses, the lepton number conserving d=6 operator contribution generically dominates over the d=5 operator contribution which results in a strong enhancement of the flavour-dependent decay asymmetries without any resonance effects. To calculate the produced final baryon asymmetry, the flavour equilibration effects directly related to non-unitarity have to be taken into account. In a simple realization of this non-unitarity driven leptogenesis, the lower bound on M' is found to be about 10^8 GeV at the onset of the strong washout regime, more than one order of magnitude below the bound in "standard" thermal leptogenesis.Comment: 19 pages, REVTeX4, 2 eps and 2 axodraw figure

New physics searches at near detectors of neutrino oscillation experiments

We systematically investigate the prospects of testing new physics with tau sensitive near detectors at neutrino oscillation facilities. For neutrino beams from pion decay, from the decay of radiative ions, as well as from the decays of muons in a storage ring at a neutrino factory, we discuss which effective operators can lead to new physics effects. Furthermore, we discuss the present bounds on such operators set by other experimental data currently available. For operators with two leptons and two quarks we present the first complete analysis including all relevant operators simultaneously and performing a Markov Chain Monte Carlo fit to the data. We find that these effects can induce tau neutrino appearance probabilities as large as O(10^{-4}), which are within reach of forthcoming experiments. We highlight to which kind of new physics a tau sensitive near detector would be most sensitive.Comment: 20 pages, 2 figures, REVTeX

New Constraints (and Motivations) for Abelian Gauge Bosons in the MeV-TeV Mass Range

We survey the phenomenological constraints on abelian gauge bosons having masses in the MeV to multi-GeV mass range (using precision electroweak measurements, neutrino-electron and neutrino-nucleon scattering, electron and muon anomalous magnetic moments, upsilon decay, beam dump experiments, atomic parity violation, low-energy neutron scattering and primordial nucleosynthesis). We compute their implications for the three parameters that in general describe the low-energy properties of such bosons: their mass and their two possible types of dimensionless couplings (direct couplings to ordinary fermions and kinetic mixing with Standard Model hypercharge). We argue that gauge bosons with very small couplings to ordinary fermions in this mass range are natural in string compactifications and are likely to be generic in theories for which the gravity scale is systematically smaller than the Planck mass - such as in extra-dimensional models - because of the necessity to suppress proton decay. Furthermore, because its couplings are weak, in the low-energy theory relevant to experiments at and below TeV scales the charge gauged by the new boson can appear to be broken, both by classical effects and by anomalies. In particular, if the new gauge charge appears to be anomalous, anomaly cancellation does not also require the introduction of new light fermions in the low-energy theory. Furthermore, the charge can appear to be conserved in the low-energy theory, despite the corresponding gauge boson having a mass. Our results reduce to those of other authors in the special cases where there is no kinetic mixing or there is no direct coupling to ordinary fermions, such as for recently proposed dark-matter scenarios.Comment: 49 pages + appendix, 21 figures. This is the final version which appears in JHE