8030769
Leptogenesis with single right-handed neutrino dominance
We make an analytic and numerical study of leptogenesis in the framework of the (supersymmetric) standard model plus the seesaw mechanism with a U(1) family symmetry and single right-handed neutrino dominance. In presenting our analytic and numerical results we make a clear distinction between the theoretically clean asymmetry parameter ?1 and the baryon asymmetry YB. In calculating YB we propose and use a fit to the solutions to the Boltzmann equations which gives substantially more reliable results than parametrizations previously used in the literature. Our results show that there is a decoupling between the low energy neutrino observables and the leptogenesis predictions, but that nevertheless leptogenesis is capable of resolving ambiguities within classes of models which would otherwise lead to similar neutrino observables. For example we show that models where the dominant right-handed neutrino is the heaviest are preferred to models where it is the lightest and study an explicit example of a unified model of this type.
53865432
Hefty MSSM-like light Higgs in extended gauge models
A bstractIt is well known that in the MSSM the lightest neutral Higgs h0 must be, at the tree level, lighter than the Z boson and that the loop corrections shift this stringent upper bound up to about 130 GeV. Extending the MSSM gauge group in a suitable way, the new Higgs sector dynamics can push the tree-level mass of h0 well above the tree-level MSSM limit if it couples to the new gauge sector. This effect is further pronounced at the loop level and h0 masses in the 140GeV ballpark can be reached easily. We exemplify this for a sample setting with a low-scale U(1)R × U(1)B−L gauge symmetry in which neutrino masses can be implemented via the inverse seesaw mechanism.
10505280
Testing the mechanism of R-parity breaking with slepton LSP decays
In supersymmetric models R-parity can be violated through either bilinear or trilinear terms in the superpotential, or both. If charged scalar leptons are the lightest supersymmetric particles, their decay properties can be used to obtain information about the relative importance of these couplings. We show that in some specific scenarios it is even possible to decide whether bilinear or trilinear terms give the dominant contribution to the neutrino mass matrix.
35525710
Phenomenology of neutrinoless double beta decay
Neutrinoless double beta decay ( 0 ν β β ) violates lepton number by two units, a positive observation therefore necessarily implies physics beyond the standard model. Here, three possible contributions to 0 ν β β decay are briefly reviewed: (a) The mass mechanism and its connection to neutrino oscillations; (b) Left-right symmetric models and the lower limit on the right-handed W boson mass; and (c) R-parity violating supersymmetry. In addition, the recently published “extended black box” theorem is briefly discussed. Combined with data from oscillation experiments this theorem provides proof that the 0 ν β β decay amplitude must receive a non-zero contribution from the mass mechanism, if neutrinos are indeed Majorana particles.
10450965
CP violation in decays of the lightest supersymmetric particle with bilinearly broken R parity
Supersymmetric models with broken R-parity induced by lepton number violating terms provide a calculable framework for neutrino masses and mixings. Within models with bilinear R-parity breaking six new physical phases appear which are potential sources of novel CP-violating phenomena compared to the minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model. We consider CP-violating observables in the decays of the lightest supersymmetric particle in this class of models. We show that: (i) Neutrino physics requires a strong correlation between three different pairs of phases, thus reducing the effective number of new phases to three. (ii) CP-violating phenomena in decays of the lightest supersymmetric particle due to new R-parity breaking phases turn out to be small, once constraints from neutrino physics are taken into account. We demonstrate that this feature does not depend on the nature of the lightest supersymmetric particle.
11803420
Majoron emission in muon and tau decays revisited
9 pages, 4 figures.-- ISI article identifier:000264762400078.-- ArXiv pre-print avaible at: http://arxiv.org/abs/0902.0525
16340817
IM3SHAPE: A maximum-likelihood galaxy shear measurement code for cosmic gravitational lensing
We present and describe IM3SHAPE, a new publicly available galaxy shape measurement code for weak gravitational lensing shear. IM3SHAPE performs a maximum likelihood fit of a bulgeplus-disc galaxy model to noisy images, incorporating an applied point spread function. We detail challenges faced and choices made in its design and implementation, and then discuss various limitations that affect this and other maximum like lihood methods. We assess the bias arising from fitting an incorrect galaxy model using simple n oise-free images and find that it should not be a concern for current cosmic shear surveys. We test IM3SHAPE on the GREAT08 Challenge image simulations, and meet the requirements for upcoming cosmic shear surveys in the case that the simulations are encompassed by the fitted model, using a simple correction for image noise bias. For the fiducial branch of GREAT08 we obt ain a negligible additive shear bias and sub-two percent level multiplicative bias, which i s suitable for analysis of current surveys. We fall short of the sub-percent level requirement for upcoming surveys, which we attribute to a combination of noise bias and the mis-match between our galaxy model and the model used in the GREAT08 simulations. We meet the requirements for current surveys across all branches of GREAT08, except those with small or high noise galaxies, which we would cut from our analysis. Using the GREAT08 metric we we obtain a score of Q=717 for the usable branches, relative to the goal of Q=1000 for futur e experiments. The code is freely available from https://bitbucket.org/joezuntz/im3shap e.