Dirac phase leptogenesis

I present here a concise summary of the preprint arXiv:0707.3024, written in collaboration with A. Anisimov and P. Di Bari. There we discuss leptogenesis when {\em CP} violation stems exlusively from the Dirac phase in the PMNS mixing matrix. Under this assumption it turns out that the situation is very constrained when a hierarchical heavy right-handed (RH) neutrino spectrum is considered: the allowed regions are small and the final asymmetry depends on the initial conditions. On the other hand, for a quasi-degenerate spectrum of RH neutrinos, the {\em CP} asymmetry can be enhanced and the situation becomes much more favorable, with no dependence on the initial conditions. Interestingly, in the extreme case of resonant leptogenesis, in order to match the observed baryon asymmetry of the Universe, we obtain a lower bound on \sin \q_{13} which depends on the lightest active neutrino mass m_1.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures, contribution to the proceedings of the TAUP 07 conference, Sep. 11-15, Sendai, Japa

On the Role of Low-Energy CP Violation in Leptogenesis

The link between low-energy CP violation and leptogenesis became more accessible with the understanding of flavor effects. However, a definite well-motivated model where such a link occurs was still lacking. Adjoint SU(5) is a simple grand unified theory where neutrino masses are generated through the Type I and Type III seesaw mechanisms, and the lepton asymmetry is generated by the fermionic triplet responsible for the Type III seesaw. We focus exclusively on the case of inverted hierarchy for neutrinos, and we show that successful flavored leptogenesis in this theory strongly points towards low-energy CP violation. Moreover, since the range of allowed masses for the triplet is very restricted, we find that the discovery at the LHC of new states present in the theory, together with proton decay and unification of gauge couplings, can conspire to provide a hint in favor of leptogenesis.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure

Testing post-Newtonian theory with gravitational wave observations

The Laser Interferometric Space Antenna (LISA) will observe supermassive black hole binary mergers with amplitude signal-to-noise ratio of several thousands. We investigate the extent to which such observations afford high-precision tests of Einstein's gravity. We show that LISA provides a unique opportunity to probe the non-linear structure of post-Newtonian theory both in the context of general relativity and its alternatives.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figure

Third post-Newtonian dynamics of compact binaries: Equations of motion in the center-of-mass frame

The equations of motion of compact binary systems and their associated Lagrangian formulation have been derived in previous works at the third post-Newtonian (3PN) approximation of general relativity in harmonic coordinates. In the present work we investigate the binary's relative dynamics in the center-of-mass frame (center of mass located at the origin of the coordinates). We obtain the 3PN-accurate expressions of the center-of-mass positions and equations of the relative binary motion. We show that the equations derive from a Lagrangian (neglecting the radiation reaction), from which we deduce the conserved center-of-mass energy and angular momentum at the 3PN order. The harmonic-coordinates center-of-mass Lagrangian is equivalent, {\it via} a contact transformation of the particles' variables, to the center-of-mass Hamiltonian in ADM coordinates that is known from the post-Newtonian ADM-Hamiltonian formalism. As an application we investigate the dynamical stability of circular binary orbits at the 3PN order.Comment: 31 pages, to appear in Classical and Quantum Gravit

Minimal Lepton Flavour Violation and Leptogenesis with exclusively low-energy CP Violation

We study the implications of a successful leptogenesis within the framework of Minimal Lepton Flavour Violation combined with radiative resonant leptogenesis and the PMNS matrix being the only source of CP violation, which can be obtained provided flavour effects are taken into account. We find that the right amount of the baryon asymmetry of the universe can be generated under the conditions of a normal hierarchy of the light neutrino masses, a non-vanishing Majorana phase, sin(theta_{13})>0.13 and m_{nu,lightest}<0.04 eV. If this is fulfilled, we find strong correlations among ratios of charged LFV processes.Comment: published in JHEP, small change

Post-Newtonian approximation for isolated systems calculated by matched asymptotic expansions

Two long-standing problems with the post-Newtonian approximation for isolated slowly-moving systems in general relativity are: (i) the appearance at high post-Newtonian orders of divergent Poisson integrals, casting a doubt on the soundness of the post-Newtonian series; (ii) the domain of validity of the approximation which is limited to the near-zone of the source, and prevents one, a priori, from incorporating the condition of no-incoming radiation, to be imposed at past null infinity. In this article, we resolve the problem (i) by iterating the post-Newtonian hierarchy of equations by means of a new (Poisson-type) integral operator that is free of divergencies, and the problem (ii) by matching the post-Newtonian near-zone field to the exterior field of the source, known from previous work as a multipolar-post-Minkowskian expansion satisfying the relevant boundary conditions at infinity. As a result, we obtain an algorithm for iterating the post-Newtonian series up to any order, and we determine the terms, present in the post-Newtonian field, that are associated with the gravitational-radiation reaction onto an isolated slowly-moving matter system.Comment: 61 pages, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Leptogenesis with exclusively low-energy CP Violation in the Context of Minimal Lepton Flavour Violation

We analyze lepton flavour violation (LFV) and the generation of the observed baryon-antibaryon asymmetry of the Universe (BAU) within a generalized minimal lepton flavour violation framework with three quasi-degenerate heavy Majorana neutrinos. The BAU which is obtained through radiative resonant leptogenesis can successfully be generated widely independent of the Majorana scale in this scenario and flavour effects are found to be relevant. Then we discuss the specific case in which CP violation is exclusively present at low-energies (a real R matrix) in the flavour sensitive temperature regime. Successful leptogenesis in this case leads to strong constraints on low-energy neutrino parameters.Comment: Contrubution to the proceedings of the EPS HEP 2007 conference, Manchester (UK). 3 pages, 3 figure

Gravitational radiation reaction in the equations of motion of compact binaries to 3.5 post-Newtonian order

We compute the radiation reaction force on the orbital motion of compact binaries to the 3.5 post-Newtonian (3.5PN) approximation, i.e. one PN order beyond the dominant effect. The method is based on a direct PN iteration of the near-zone metric and equations of motion of an extended isolated system, using appropriate ``asymptotically matched'' flat-space-time retarded potentials. The formalism is subsequently applied to binary systems of point particles, with the help of the Hadamard self-field regularisation. Our result is the 3.5PN acceleration term in a general harmonic coordinate frame. Restricting the expression to the centre-of-mass frame, we find perfect agreement with the result derived in a class of coordinate systems by Iyer and Will using the energy and angular momentum balance equations.Comment: 28 pages, references added, to appear in Classical and Quantum Gravit

Post-ISCO Ringdown Amplitudes in Extreme Mass Ratio Inspiral

An extreme mass ratio inspiral consists of two parts: adiabatic inspiral and plunge. The plunge trajectory from the innermost stable circular orbit (ISCO) is special (somewhat independent of initial conditions). We write an expression for its solution in closed-form and for the emitted waveform. In particular we extract an expression for the associated black-hole ringdown amplitudes, and evaluate them numerically.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures. v4: added section with numerical evaluation of the ringdown amplitude