Dark matter in the type Ib seesaw model

We consider a minimal type Ib seesaw model where the effective neutrino mass operator involves two different Higgs doublets, and the two right-handed neutrinos form a heavy Dirac mass. We propose a minimal dark matter extension of this model, in which the Dirac heavy neutrino is coupled to a dark Dirac fermion and a dark complex scalar field, both charged under a discrete Z2 symmetry, where the lighter of the two is a dark matter candidate. Focussing on the fermionic dark matter case, we explore the parameter space of the seesaw Yukawa couplings, the neutrino portal couplings and dark scalar to dark fermion mass ratio, where correct dark matter relic abundance can be produced by the freeze-in mechanism. By considering the mixing between the standard model neutrinos and the heavy neutrino, we build a connection between the dark matter production and current laboratory experiments ranging from collider to lepton flavour violating experiments. For a GeV mass heavy neutrino, the parameters related to dark matter production are constrained by the experimental results directly and can be further tested by future experiments such as SHiP.

Search for heavy neutral leptons in $$W^+\rightarrow \mu ^{+}\mu ^{\pm }\, \text {jet}$$ decays

A search is performed for heavy neutrinos in the decay of a W boson into two muons and a jet. The data set corresponds to an integrated luminosity of approximately $$3.0\, \text {fb} ^{-1} $$ 3.0 fb - 1 of proton–proton collision data at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and $$8\, \text {TeV} $$ 8 TeV collected with the LHCb experiment. Both same-sign and opposite-sign muons in the final state are considered. Data are found to be consistent with the expected background. Upper limits on the coupling of a heavy neutrino with the Standard Model neutrino are set at $$95\%$$ 95 % confidence level in the heavy-neutrino mass range from 5 to $$50\, \text {GeV/}c^2 $$ 50 GeV/ c 2 . These are of the order of $$10^{-3}$$ 10 - 3 for lepton-number-conserving decays and of the order of $$10^{-4}$$ 10 - 4 for lepton-number-violating heavy-neutrino decays.

Heavy neutrino-antineutrino oscillations in quantum field theory

It has been proposed that the coherent propagation of long-lived heavy neutrino mass eigenstates can lead to an oscillating rate of lepton number conserving (LNC) and violating (LNV) events, as a function of the distance between the production and displaced decay vertices. We discuss this phenomenon, which we refer to as heavy neutrino-antineutrino oscillations, in the framework of quantum field theory (QFT), using the formalism of external wave packets. General formulae for the oscillation probabilities and the number of expected events are derived and the coherence and localisation conditions that have to be satisfied in order for neutrino-antineutrino oscillations to be observable are discussed. The formulae are then applied to a low scale seesaw scenario, which features two nearly mass degenerate heavy neutrinos that can be sufficiently long lived to produce a displaced vertex when their masses are below the W boson mass. The leading and next-to-leading order oscillation formulae for this scenario are derived. For an example parameter point used in previous studies, the kinematics of the considered LNC/LNV processes are simulated, to check that the coherence and localisation conditions are satisfied. Our results show that the phenomenon of heavy neutrino-antineutrino oscillations can indeed occur in low scale seesaw scenarios and that the previously used leading order formulae, derived with a plane wave approach, provide a good approximation for the considered example parameter point.

Exploring CP-violation, via heavy neutrino oscillations, in rare B meson decays at Belle II

In this article we study the rare B-meson decay via two on-shell almost-degenerate Majorana Heavy Neutrinos, into two charged leptons and two pseudoscalar mesons ($$B^{\pm } \rightarrow D^0 \ell ^{\pm }_1 \ell ^{\pm }_2 \pi ^{\mp }$$ B ± → D 0 ℓ 1 ± ℓ 2 ± π ∓ ). We consider the scenario where the heavy neutrino masses are $$\sim 2$$ ∼ 2 GeV and the heavy-light mixing coefficients are $$|B_{\ell N}|^2 \sim 10^{-5}$$ | B ℓ N | 2 ∼ 10 - 5 , and evaluate the possibility to measure the CP-asymmetry at Belle II. We present some realistic conditions under which the asymmetry could be detected.

Neutrino mass, mixing and muon g − 2 explanation in $$ \mathrm{U}{(1)}_{L_{\mu }-{L}_{\tau }} $$ extension of left-right theory

We consider a gauged $$ \mathrm{U}{(1)}_{L_{\mu }-{L}_{\tau }} $$ U 1 L μ − L τ extension of the left-right symmetric theory in order to simultaneously explain neutrino mass, mixing and the muon anomalous magnetic moment. We get sizeable contribution from the interaction of the new light gauge boson Zμτ of the $$ \mathrm{U}{(1)}_{L_{\mu }-{L}_{\tau }} $$ U 1 L μ − L τ symmetry with muons which can individually satisfy the current bounds on muon (g − 2) anomaly (∆aμ). The other positive contributions to ∆aμ come from the interactions of singly charged gauge bosons WL, WR with heavy neutral fermions and that of neutral CP-even scalars with muons. The interaction of WL with heavy neutrino is facilitated by inverse seesaw mechanism which allows large light-heavy neutrino mixing and explains neutrino mass in our model. CP-even scalars with mass around few hundreds GeV can also satisfy the entire current muon anomaly bound. The results show that the model gives a small but non-negligible contribution to ∆aμ thereby eliminating the entire deviation in theoretical prediction and experimental result of muon (g − 2) anomaly. We have briefly presented a comparative study for symmetric and asymmetric left-right symmetric model in context of various contribution to ∆aμ. We also discuss how the generation of neutrino mass is affected when left-right symmetry breaks down to Standard Model symmetry via various choices of scalars.

Probing sterile neutrinos in B (D) meson decays at Belle II (BESIII)

We present, how a systematic study of $$B \rightarrow D\ell N$$B→DℓN ($$D \rightarrow K \ell N$$D→KℓN) decays with $$\ell =\mu ,\tau $$ℓ=μ,τ, at Belle II (BESIII) can provide unambiguous signature of a heavy neutrino N and/or constrain its mixing with active neutrinos $$\nu _\ell $$νℓ, which is parameterized by $$| U_{\ell N} |^2$$|UℓN|2. Our constraint on $$\vert U_{\mu N} \vert ^2$$|UμN|2 that can be achieved from the full Belle II data is comparable with what can be obtained from the much larger data set of the upgraded LHCb. Additionally, our method offers better constraint on $$\vert U_{\mu N} \vert ^2$$|UμN|2 for mass of sterile neutrino $$m_N < 2$$mN<2 GeV. We can also probe the Dirac and Majorana nature of N by observing the sequential decay of N, including suppression from observation of a displaced vertex as well as helicity flip, for Majorana N.