An infrared singularity in the damping rate for longitudinal gluons in hot QCD

We calculate $\gamma_l(0)$, the damping rate for longitudinal on-shell gluons with zero momentum in hot QCD using the hard-thermal-loop (htl) scheme. We find it to be divergent in the infrared, which means that in this scheme $\gamma_l(0)$ is different from $\gamma_t(0)$, the corresponding damping rate for transverse gluons which is known to be finite. This result suggests that the htl scheme is infrared sensitive and thus may need to be improved upon in this sector. We discuss this issue after we present our calculation.Comment: 11 pages, RevTeX. Two signs corrected. Same result but substantially rewritten with more emphasis on the infrared problem. References adde

Constraints on a general 3-generation neutrino mass matrix from neutrino data: application to the MSSM with R-parity violation

We consider a general symmetric $(3\times 3)$ mass matrix for three generations of neutrinos. Imposing the constraints, from the atmospheric neutrino and solar neutrino anomalies as well as from the CHOOZ experiment, on the mass squared differences and on the mixing angles, we identify the ranges of allowed inputs for the 6 matrix elements. We apply our results to Majorana left-handed neutrino masses generated at tree level and through fermion--sfermion loop diagrams in the MSSM with R-parity violation. The present experimental results on neutrinos from laboratories, cosmology and astrophysics are implemented to either put bounds on trilinear ($\lambda_{ijk}, \lambda'_{ijk}$) and bilinear ($\mu_{e,\mu,\tau}$) R-parity-violating couplings or constrain combinations of products of these couplings.Comment: 35 pages, 25 PS figures, REVTeX, revised version to appear in Nuclear physics

Addendum to Finite-size effects on multibody neutrino exchange

The interaction energy of the neutrons due to massless neutrino exchange in a neutron star has recently been proved, using an effective theory, to be extremely small and infrared-safe. Our comment here is of conceptual order: two approaches to compute the total interaction energy density have recently been proposed. Here, we study the connection between these two approaches. From CP invariance, we argue that the resulting interaction energy has to be even in the parameter $b=-G_F n_n /\sqrt{2}$, which expresses the static neutrino potential created by a neutron medium of density $n_n$.Comment: Latex file (Revtex), 9 pages, 1 figure, one reference change

A model independent determination of ∣Vub∣|V_{ub}| using the global q2q^2 dependence of the dispersive bounds on the B→πlνB\to\pi l\nu form factors

We propose a method to determine the CKM matrix element $|V_{ub}|$ using the global $q^2$ dependence of the dispersive bound on the form factors for $B\to \pi l\nu$ decay. Since the lattice calculation of the $B\to \pi l\nu$ form factor is limited to the large $q^2$ regime, only the experimental data in a limited kinematic range can be used in a conventional method. In our new method which exploits the statistical distributions of the dispersive bound proposed by Lellouch, we can utilize the information of the global $q^2$ dependence for all kinematic range. As a feasibility study we determine $|V_{ub}|$ by combining the form factors from quenched lattice QCD, the dispersive bounds, and the experimental data by CLEO. We show that the accuracy of $|V_{ub}|$ can be improved by our method.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figure

Inelastic photon-neutrino interactions using an effective Lagrangian

We justify the feasibility of substituting a photon leg by a neutrino current in the Euler-Heisenberg Lagrangian to obtain an effective Lagrangian for the process $\gamma\nu\to\gamma\gamma \nu$ and its crossed reactions. We establish the link between these processes and the four-photon scattering in both the Standard Model and the effective theory. As an application, we compute the processes $\gamma\nu\to\gamma\gamma\nu$ and $\gamma\gamma\to\gamma{\nu}\bar\nu$, give their polarized cross sections, and show how to use the $\gamma\gamma\to\gamma\gamma$ results as a check. We settle the question about the disagreement between two computations in the literature concerning the reaction $\gamma\gamma\to \gamma \nu\bar\nu$.Comment: 14 pages, RevTeX, axodraw, 3 figures, comment adde

Five-leg photon-neutrino interactions

In a first part, we justify the feasibility of substituting a photon leg by a neutrino current in the Euler-Heisenberg Lagrangian to obtain an effective Lagrangian for the process $\gamma\nu\to\gamma\gamma \nu$ and its crossed reactions. We establish the link between these processes and the four-photon scattering in both the Standard Model and the effective theory. As an application, we compute in this effective theory the processes $\gamma\nu\to\gamma\gamma\nu$ and $\gamma\gamma\to\gamma{\nu}\bar\nu$ and show how to use the $\gamma\gamma\to\gamma\gamma$ results as a check. We settle the question of the disagreement between two computations in the literature concerning the reaction $\gamma\gamma\to \gamma \nu\bar\nu$. In the second part, we present results of the direct computation of the photon-neutrino five-leg processes in the Standard Model, discuss possible astrophysical implications of our results, and provide simple fits to the exact expressions.Comment: 6 pages, axodraw, ltwol2e, 5 figures, contributed paper to the 29th International Conference on High Energy Physics (Vancouver

Impact of sterile neutrinos on nuclear-assisted cLFV processes

We discuss charged lepton flavour violating processes occurring in the presence of muonic atoms, such as muon-electron conversion in nuclei $\text{CR}(\mu -e, \text{ N})$, the (Coulomb enhanced) decay of muonic atoms into a pair of electrons BR($\mu^- e^- \to e^- e^-$, N), as well as Muonium conversion and decay, $\text{Mu}-\bar{\text{Mu}}$ and $\text{Mu}\to e^+ e^-$. Any experimental signal of these observables calls for scenarios of physics beyond the Standard Model. In this work, we consider minimal extensions of the Standard Model via the addition of sterile fermions, providing the corresponding complete analytical expressions for all the considered observables. We first consider an "ad hoc" extension with a single sterile fermion state, and investigate its impact on the above observables. Two well motivated mechanisms of neutrino mass generation are then considered: the Inverse Seesaw embedded into the Standard Model, and the $\nu$MSM. Our study reveals that, depending on their mass range and on the active-sterile mixing angles, sterile neutrinos can give significant contributions to the above mentioned observables, some of them even lying within present and future sensitivity of dedicated cLFV experiments. We complete the analysis by confronting our results to other (direct and indirect) searches for sterile fermions.Comment: 32 pages, 11 figures. v2: minor revision, matches published version on JHE

Effect of steriles states on lepton magnetic moments and neutrinoless double beta decay

We address the impact of sterile fermion states on the anomalous magnetic moment of charged leptons, as well as their contribution to neutrinoless double beta decays. We illustrate our results in a minimal, effective extension of the Standard Model by one sterile fermion state, and in a well-motivated framework of neutrino mass generation, embedding the Inverse Seesaw into the Standard Model. The simple "3+1" effective case succeeds in alleviating the tension related to the muon anomalous magnetic moment, albeit only at the 3$\sigma$ level, and for light sterile states (corresponding to a }cosmologically disfavoured regime). Interestingly, our analysis shows that a future $0 \nu 2 \beta$ observation does not necessarily imply an inverted hierarchy for the active neutrinos in this simple extension. Although the Inverse Seesaw realisation here addressed could indeed ease the tension in $(g-2)_\mu$, bounds from lepton universality in kaon decays mostly preclude this from happening. However, these scenarios can also have a strong impact on the interpretation of a future $0 \nu 2 \beta$ signal regarding the hierarchy of the active neutrino mass spectrum.Comment: 25 pages, 19 figure