On the Chern-Simons topological term at finite temperature

The parity-violating topological term in the effective action for 2+1 massive fermions is computed at finite temperature in the presence of a constant background field strength tensor. Gauge invariance of the finite-temperature effective action is also discussed.Comment: 8 pages, standard LaTe

Abelian realization of phenomenological two-zero neutrino textures

In an attempt at explaining the observed neutrino mass-squared differences and leptonic mixing, lepton mass matrices with zero textures have been widely studied. In the weak basis where the charged lepton mass matrix is diagonal, various neutrino mass matrices with two zeros have been shown to be consistent with the current experimental data. Using the canonical and Smith normal form methods, we construct the minimal Abelian symmetry realizations of these phenomenological two-zero neutrino textures. The implementation of these symmetries in the context of the seesaw mechanism for Majorana neutrino masses is also discussed.Comment: 11 pages; references added, version to appear in Nuclear Physics

Maximally restrictive leptonic texture zeros in two-Higgs-doublet models

The implementation of maximally restrictive texture zeros in the leptonic sector is investigated in the context of two-Higgs-doublet models with Majorana neutrinos. After analyzing all maximally restrictive pairs of leptonic mass matrices with zero entries, we conclude that there are only four texture combinations that are compatible with observations at 3 sigma confidence level and can be implemented through Abelian symmetries in a two-Higgs-doublet model. The compatibility of these textures with current constraints on lepton-flavor-violating processes is also studied. The ultraviolet completion of these models is discussed in the framework of the seesaw mechanism for neutrino masses.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, 5 tables; comments and references added, final version to appear in J. Phys.

Minimal string-scale unification of gauge couplings

We look for the minimal particle content which is necessary to add to the standard model in order to have a complete unification of gauge couplings and gravity at the weakly coupled heterotic string scale. Using the current precision electroweak data, we find that the presence of a vector-like fermion at an intermediate scale and a non-standard hypercharge normalization are in general sufficient to achieve this goal at two-loop level. If one requires the extra matter scale to be below the TeV scale, then it is found that the addition of three vector-like fermion doublets with a mass around 700 GeV yields a perfect string-scale unification, provided that the affine levels are kY=13/3, k2=1 and k3=2, as in the SU(5) X SU(5) string-GUT. Furthermore, if supersymmetry is broken at the unification scale, the Higgs mass is predicted in the range 125 GeV - 170 GeV, depending on the precise values of the top quark mass and tan(beta) parameter.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, references updated and comments added, final version to appear in Phys. Lett.

Equivalence of the sine-Gordon and massive Thirring models at finite temperature

Using the path-integral approach, the quantum massive Thirring and sine-Gordon models are proven to be equivalent at finite temperature. This result is an extension of Coleman's proof of the equivalence between both theories at zero temperature. The usual identifications among the parameters of these models also remain valid at $T \neq 0$.Comment: 9 pages, standard LaTe

A new bridge between leptonic CP violation and leptogenesis

Flavor effects due to lepton interactions in the early Universe may have played an important role in the generation of the cosmological baryon asymmetry through leptogenesis. If the only source of high-energy CP violation comes from the left-handed leptonic sector, then it is possible to establish a bridge between flavored leptogenesis and low-energy leptonic CP violation. We explore this connection taking into account our present knowledge about low-energy neutrino parameters and the matter-antimatter asymmetry observed in the Universe. In this framework, we find that leptogenesis favors a hierarchical light neutrino mass spectrum, while for quasi-degenerate and inverted hierarchical neutrino masses there is a very narrow allowed window. The absolute neutrino mass scale turns out to be m < 0.1 eV.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

Neutrino masses and mixing in A4 models with three Higgs doublets

We study neutrino masses and mixing in the context of flavor models with A4 symmetry, three scalar doublets in the triplet representation, and three lepton families. We show that there is no representation assignment that yields a dimension-five mass operator consistent with experiment. We then consider a type-I seesaw with three heavy right-handed neutrinos, explaining in detail why it fails, and showing with a numerical example that agreement with the present neutrino oscillation data can be recovered with the inclusion of dimension-three heavy neutrino mass terms that break softly the A4 symmetry.Comment: 10 pages, RevTex, 3 figures. v2: much expanded section on softly broken A4; refs adde

Radiatively Induced Lorentz and CPT Violation in Schwinger Constant Field Approximation

The Schwinger proper-time method is an effective calculation method, explicitly gauge invariant and nonperturbative. We make use of this method to investigate the radiatively induced Lorentz and CPT-violating effects in quantum electrodynamics when an axial vector interaction term is introduced in the fermionic sector. The induced Lorentz and CPT-violating Chern-Simons term coincides with the one obtained using a covariant derivative expansion but differs from the result usually obtained in other regularization schemes. A possible ambiguity in the approach is also discussed.Comment: 11 pages, REVTeX, typos and a few equations corrected, a comment added to the conclusions, acknowledgments adde

Spinning Relativistic Particle in an External Electromagnetic Field

The Hamiltonian formulation of the motion of a spinning relativistic particle in an external electromagnetic field is considered. The approach is based on the introduction of new coordinates and their conjugated momenta to describe the spin degrees of freedom together with an appropriate set of constraints in the Dirac formulation. For particles with gyromagnetic ratio $g=2$, the equations of motion do not predict any deviation from the standard Lorentz force, while for $g \neq 2$ an additional force, which corresponds to the magnetic dipole force, is obtained.Comment: Latex file, 11 page