CP violation in scatterings, three body processes and the Boltzmann equations for leptogenesis

Abstract

We obtain the Boltzmann equations for leptogenesis including decay and scattering processes with two and three body initial or final states. We present an explicit computation of the CP violating scattering asymmetries. We analyze their possible impact in leptogenesis, and we discuss the validity of their approximate expressions in terms of the decay asymmetry. In scenarios in which the initial heavy neutrino density vanishes, the inclusion of CP asymmetries in scatterings can enforce a cancellation between the lepton asymmetry generated at early times and the asymmetry produced at later times. We argue that a sizeable amount of washout is crucial for spoiling this cancellation, and we show that in the regimes in which the washouts are particularly weak, the inclusion of CP violation in scatterings yields a reduction in the final value of the lepton asymmetry. In the strong washout regimes the inclusion of CP violation in scatterings still leads to a significant enhancement of the lepton asymmetry at high temperatures; however, due to the independence from the early conditions that is characteristic of these regimes, the final value of the lepton asymmetry remains approximately unchanged.