arXiv subjects

António P. Morais

Publications and source records attributed to António P. Morais.

47 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2020

Gravitational footprints of massive neutrinos and lepton number breaking

We investigate the production of primordial Gravitational Waves (GWs) arising from First Order Phase Transitions (FOPTs) associated to neutrino mass generation in the context of type-I and inverse seesaw schemes. We examine both "high-scale" as well as "low-scale" variants, with either explicit or spontaneously broken lepton number symmetry $U(1)_L$ in the neutrino sector. In the latter case, a pseudo-Goldstone majoron-like boson may provide a candidate for cosmological dark matter. We find that schemes with softly-broken $U(1)_L$ and with single Higgs-doublet scalar sector lead to either no FOPTs or too weak FOPTs, precluding the detectability of GWs in present or near future measurements. Nevertheless, we found that, in the majoron-like seesaw scheme with spontaneously broken $U(1)_L$ at finite temperatures, one can have strong FOPTs and non-trivial primordial GW spectra which can fall well within the frequency and amplitude sensitivity of upcoming experiments, including LISA, BBO and u-DECIGO. However, GWs observability clashes with invisible Higgs decay constraints from the LHC. A simple and consistent fix is to assume the majoron-like mass to lie above the Higgs-decay kinematical threshold. We also found that the majoron-like variant of the low-scale seesaw mechanism implies a different GW spectrum than the one expected in the high-scale seesaw. This feature will be testable in future experiments. Our analysis shows that GWs can provide a new and complementary portal to test the neutrino mass generation mechanism.

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arXiv2020

Probing multi-step electroweak phase transition with multi-peaked primordial gravitational waves spectra

Multi-peaked spectra of the primordial gravitational waves are considered as a phenomenologically relevant source of information about the dynamics of sequential phase transitions in the early Universe. In particular, such signatures trace back to specific patterns of the first-order electroweak phase transition in the early Universe occurring in multiple steps. Such phenomena appear to be rather generic in multi-scalar extensions of the Standard Model. In a particularly simple extension of the Higgs sector, we have identified and studied the emergence of sequential long- and short-lasting transitions as well as their fundamental role in generation of multi-peaked structures in the primordial gravitational-wave spectrum. We discuss the potential detectability of these signatures by the proposed gravitational-wave interferometers.

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arXiv2019

Multi-peaked signatures of primordial gravitational waves from multi-step electroweak phase transition

The first-order electroweak phase transition in the early universe could occur in multiple steps leading to specific multi-peaked signatures in the primordial gravitational wave (GW) spectrum. We argue that these signatures are generic phenomena in multi-scalar extensions of the Standard Model. In a simple example of such an extension, we have studied the emergence of reoccurring and nested vacuum bubble configurations and their role in the formation of multiple peaks in the GW spectrum. The conditions for potential detectability of these features by the forthcoming generation of interferometers have been studied.

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arXiv2019

Scale hierarchies, symmetry breaking and particle spectra in SU(3)-family extended SUSY trinification

A unification of left-right $\rm{SU}(3)_\rm{L}\times \rm{SU}(3)_\rm{R}$, colour $\rm{SU}(3)_\rm{C}$ and family $\rm{SU}(3)_\rm{F}$ symmetries in a maximal rank-8 subgroup of ${\rm{E}}_8$ is proposed as a landmark for future explorations beyond the Standard Model (SM). We discuss the implications of this scheme in a supersymmetric (SUSY) model based on the trinification gauge $\left[\rm{SU}(3)\right]^3$ and global $\rm{SU}(3)_\rm{F}$ family symmetries. Among the key properties of this model are the unification of SM Higgs and lepton sectors, a common Yukawa coupling for chiral fermions, the absence of the $μ$-problem, gauge couplings unification and proton stability to all orders in perturbation theory. The minimal field content consistent with a SM-like effective theory at low energies is composed of one $\mathrm{E}_6$ $27$-plet per generation as well as three gauge and one family $\rm{SU}(3)$ octets inspired by the fundamental sector of ${\rm{E}}_8$. The details of the corresponding (SUSY and gauge) symmetry breaking scheme, multi-scale gauge couplings' evolution, and resulting effective low-energy scenarios are discussed.

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arXiv2018

Electroweak phase transitions in multi-Higgs models: the case of Trinification-inspired THDSM

The rich vacuum structure of multi-Higgs extensions of the Standard Model (SM) may have interesting cosmological implications for the electroweak phase transition (EWPT). As an important example of such class of models, we consider a particularly simple low-energy SM-like limit of a recently proposed Grand-Unified Trinification model with the scalar sector composed of two Higgs doublets and a complex singlet and with a global $\mathrm{U}(1)$ family symmetry. The fermion sector of this model is extended with a family of vector-like quarks which enhances CP violation. With the current study, we aim at exploring the generic vacuum structure and uncovering the features of the EWPT in this model relevant for cosmology. We show the existence of different phase transition patterns providing strong departure from thermal equilibrium. Most of these observations are not specific to the considered model and may generically be expected in other multi-Higgs extensions of the SM.

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arXiv2017

Reviving trinification models through an $\mathrm{E}_6$-extended supersymmetric GUT

We present a supersymmetric (SUSY) model based on trinification $[\mathrm{SU}(3)]^3$ and family $\mathrm{SU}(3)_\mathrm{F}$ symmetries embedded into a maximal subgroup of $\mathrm{E}_8$, where the sectors of light Higgs bosons and leptons are unified into a single chiral supermultiplet. The common origin of gauge trinification and of the family symmetry from $\mathrm{E}_8$ separates the model from other trinification-based GUTs, as it protects, in particular, the Standard Model fermions from gaining mass until the electroweak symmetry is broken. Furthermore, it allows us to break the trinification symmetry via vacuum expectation values in $\mathrm{SU}(3)$-adjoint scalars down to a left-right symmetric theory. Simultaneously, it ensures the unification of the gauge and Yukawa couplings as well as proton stability. Although the low-energy regime (e.g. mass hierarchies in the scalar sector determined by a soft SUSY-breaking mechanism) is yet to be established, these features are one key to revive the once very popular trinification-based GUTs.

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arXiv2016

On a radiative origin of the Standard Model from Trinification

In this work, we present a trinification-based grand unified theory incorporating a global $\mathrm{SU}(3)$ family symmetry that after a spontaneous breaking leads to a left-right symmetric model. Already at the classical level, this model can accommodate the matter content and the quark Cabbibo mixing in the Standard Model (SM) with only one Yukawa coupling at the unification scale. Considering the minimal low-energy scenario with the least amount of light states, we show that the resulting effective theory enables dynamical breaking of its gauge group down to that of the SM by means of radiative corrections accounted for by the renormalisation group evolution at one loop. This result paves the way for a consistent explanation of the SM breaking scale and fermion mass hierarchies.

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arXiv2016

All one-loop scalar vertices in the effective potential approach

Using the one-loop Coleman-Weinberg effective potential, we derive a general analytic expression for all the derivatives of the effective potential with respect to any number of classical scalar fields. The result is valid for a renormalisable theory in four dimensions with any number of scalars, fermions or gauge bosons. This result corresponds to the zero-external momentum contribution to a general one-loop diagram with N scalar external legs. We illustrate the use of the general result in two simple scalar singlet extensions of the Standard Model, to obtain the dominant contributions to the triple couplings of light scalar particles under the zero external momentum approximation

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arXiv2016

A to Z of the Muon Anomalous Magnetic Moment in the MSSM with Pati-Salam at the GUT scale

We analyse the low energy predictions of the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM) arising from a GUT scale Pati-Salam gauge group further constrained by an $A_4 \times Z_5$ family symmetry, resulting in four soft scalar masses at the GUT scale: one left-handed soft mass $m_0$ and three right-handed soft masses $m_1,m_2,m_3$, one for each generation. We demonstrate that this model, which was initially developed to describe the neutrino sector, can explain collider and non-collider measurements such as the dark matter relic density, the Higgs boson mass and, in particular, the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon $(g-2)_μ$. Since about two decades, $(g-2)_μ$ suffers a puzzling about 3$\,σ$ excess of the experimentally measured value over the theoretical prediction, which our model is able to fully resolve. As the consequence of this resolution, our model predicts specific regions of the parameter space with the specific properties including light smuons and neutralinos, which could also potentially explain di-lepton excesses observed by CMS and ATLAS.

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arXiv2015

Two-loop stability of singlet extensions of the SM with dark matter

We present a study of the high energy stability of a minimal complex singlet extension of the Standard Model with or without dark matter (CxSM). We start by obtaining the beta functions of the couplings of the theory from the effective potential and then perform the RGE evolution for the allowed parameter space of the model at the electroweak scale. We obtain the scale up to which the model survives and combine this information with all the LHC measurements as well as bounds from dark matter detection experiments as well as the relic density best measurement from Planck. We conclude that scenarios which solve both the dark matter and stability problems must contain a dark particle heavier than 50 GeV and a new visible state (mixing with the SM-like Higgs) heavier than 170 GeV.

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arXiv2015

Two-loop stability of a complex singlet extended Standard Model

Motivated by the dark matter and the baryon asymmetry problems, we analyse a complex singlet extension of the Standard Model (SM) with a Z2 symmetry (which provides a dark matter candidate). After a detailed two-loop calculation of the renormalization group equations for the new scalar sector, we study the radiative stability of the model up to a high energy scale (with the constraint that the 126 GeV Higgs boson found at the LHC is in the spectrum) and find it requires the existence of a new scalar state mixing with the Higgs with a mass larger than 140 GeV. This bound is not very sensitive to the cut-off scale as long as the latter is larger than 10^10 GeV. We then include all experimental and observational constraints/measurements from collider data, dark matter direct detection experiments and from the Planck satellite and in addition force stability at least up to the GUT scale, to find that the lower bound is raised to about 170 GeV, while the dark matter particle must be heavier than about 50 GeV.

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