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G. C. Branco

Publications and source records attributed to G. C. Branco.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
arXiv2008

Weak Basis Transformations and Texture Zeros in the Leptonic Sector

We investigate the physical meaning of some of the texture zeros which appear in most of the Ansatze on leptonic masses and their mixing. It is shown that starting from arbitrary lepton mass matrices and making suitable weak basis transformations one can obtain some of these sets of zeros, which therefore have no physical content. We then analyse four-zero texture Ansatze where the charged lepton and neutrino mass matrices have the same structure. The four texture zeros cannot be obtained simultaneously through weak basis transformations, so these Ansatze do have physical content. We show that they can be separated into four classes and study the physical implications of each class.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2008

Proceedings of SuperB Workshop VI: New Physics at the Super Flavor Factory

The sixth SuperB Workshop was convened in response to questions posed by the INFN Review Committee, evaluating the SuperB project at the request of INFN. The working groups addressed the capability of a high-luminosity flavor factory that can gather a data sample of 50 to 75 /ab in five years to elucidate New Physics phenomena unearthed at the LHC. This report summarizes the results of the Workshop.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2008

Flavour physics of leptons and dipole moments

This chapter of the report of the ``Flavour in the era of the LHC'' Workshop discusses the theoretical, phenomenological and experimental issues related to flavour phenomena in the charged lepton sector and in flavour-conserving CP-violating processes. We review the current experimental limits and the main theoretical models for the flavour structure of fundamental particles. We analyze the phenomenological consequences of the available data, setting constraints on explicit models beyond the Standard Model, presenting benchmarks for the discovery potential of forthcoming measurements both at the LHC and at low energy, and exploring options for possible future experiments.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2007

CP violation and limits on New Physics including recent $B_s$ measurements

We analyse present constraints on the SM parameter space and derive, in a model independent way, various bounds on New Physics contributions to $B_d^0$--$\bar B_d^0$ and $B_s^0$--$\bar B_s^0$ mixings. Our analyses include information on a large set of asymmetries, leading to the measurement of the CKM phases $γ$ and $\barβ$, as well as recent data from D0 and CDF related to the $B_s^0$--$\bar B_s^0$ system such as the measurement of $ΔM_{B_s}$, $A_{SL}$ and $ΔΓ_{s}^{CP}$. We examine in detail several observables such as the asymmetries $A_{sl}^d$, $A_{SL}$, the width differences $ΔΓ_{d}$ and $ΔΓ_{s}^{CP}$ and discuss the rôle they play in establishing the limits on New Physics. The present data clearly favour the SM, with the New Physics favoured region placed around the SM solution. A New Physics solution significantly different from the SM is still allowed, albeit quite disfavoured (2.6% probability). We analyse the presently available indirect knowledge on the phase $\barχ$ entering in $B_s^0$--$\bar B_s^0$ mixing and study the impact of a future measurement of $\barχ$ to be achieved at LHC, through the measurement of the time-dependent CP asymmetry in $B_s\to J/ΨΦ$ decays.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2006

A new bridge between leptonic CP violation and leptogenesis

Flavor effects due to lepton interactions in the early Universe may have played an important role in the generation of the cosmological baryon asymmetry through leptogenesis. If the only source of high-energy CP violation comes from the left-handed leptonic sector, then it is possible to establish a bridge between flavored leptogenesis and low-energy leptonic CP violation. We explore this connection taking into account our present knowledge about low-energy neutrino parameters and the matter-antimatter asymmetry observed in the Universe. In this framework, we find that leptogenesis favors a hierarchical light neutrino mass spectrum, while for quasi-degenerate and inverted hierarchical neutrino masses there is a very narrow allowed window. The absolute neutrino mass scale turns out to be m < 0.1 eV.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2006

Complex CKM from Spontaneous CP Violation Without Flavor Changing Neutral Current

We analyse the general constraints on unified gauge models with spontaneous CP breaking that satisfy the conditions that (i) CP violation in the quark sector is described by a realistic complex CKM matrix, and (ii) there is no significant flavor changing neutral current effects in the quark sector. We show that the crucial requirement in order to conform to the above conditions is that spontaneous CP breaking occurs at a very high scale by complex vevs of standard model singlet Higgs fields. Two classes of models are found, one consisting of pure Higgs extensions and the other one involving fermionic extensions of the standard model. We give examples of each class and discuss their possible embeddings into higher unified theories. One of the models has the interesting property that spontaneous CP violation is triggered by spontaneous P violation, thereby linking the scale of CP violation to the seesaw scale for neutrino masses.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2006

Spontaneous CP Violation in a SUSY Model with a complex CKM

It is pointed out that the recent measurement of the angle $γ$ of the unitarity triangle, providing irrefutable evidence for a complex Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) matrix, presents a great challenge for supersymmetric models with spontaneous CP violation. We construct a new minimal extension of the minimal supersymmetric standard model (MSSM), with spontaneous CP breaking, which leads to a complex CKM matrix, thus conforming to present experimental data. This is achieved through the introduction of two singlet chiral superfields and a vector-like quark chiral superfield which mixes with the standard quarks. A $Z_3$ symmetry is introduced in order to have a potential solution to the strong CP problem.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2005

Enlarging the window for radiative leptogenesis

We investigate the scenario of resonant thermal leptogenesis, in which the leptonic asymmetries are generated through renormalization group corrections induced at the leptogenesis scale. In the framework of the standard model extended by three right-handed heavy Majorana neutrinos with masses M1 = M2 << M3 at some high scale, we show that the mass splitting and CP-violating effects induced by renormalization group corrections can lead to values of the CP asymmetries large enough for a successful leptogenesis. In this scenario, the low-energy neutrino oscillation data can also be easily accommodated. The possibility of having an underlying symmetry behind the degeneracy in the right-handed neutrino mass spectrum is also discussed.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2005

New Physics and Evidence for a Complex CKM

We carefully analyse the present experimental evidence for a complex CKM matrix, even allowing for New Physics contributions to $ε_{K}$, $a_{J/ΨK_S}$, $ΔM_{B_{d}}$, $ΔM_{B_{s}}$, and the $ΔI=1/2$ piece of $B\toρρ$ and $B\toρπ$. We emphasize the crucial r\^ ole played by the angle $γ$ in both providing irrefutable evidence for a complex CKM matrix and placing constraints on the size of NP contributions. It is shown that even if one allows for New Physics a real CKM matrix is excluded at a 99.92% C.L., and the probability for the phase $γ$ to be in the interval $[-170^\circ;-10^\circ]\cup [10^\circ;170^\circ]$ is 99.7%.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2004

The size of chi = arg (-Vts Vtb* Vcs* Vcb) and physics beyond the Standard Model

We analyse the allowed range of values of chi, both in the Standard Model and in models with New Physics, pointing out that a relatively large value of chi, e.g. of order lambda, is only possible in models where the unitarity of the 3x3 Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix is violated through the introduction of extra Q=2/3 quarks. We study the interesting case where the extra quark is an isosinglet, determining the allowed range for chi and the effect of a large chi on various low-energy observables, such as CP asymmetries in B meson decays. We also discuss the correlated effects which would be observable at high energy colliders, like decays t -> cZ, modifications of the cross section and forward-backward asymmetry in e+ e- -> ttbar and the direct production of a new quark.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2004

Non-Factorizable Phases, Yukawa Textures and the Size of sin (2 beta)

We emphasize the crucial r\^ ole played by non-factorizable phases in the analysis of the Yukawa flavour structure performed in weak bases with Hermitian mass matrices and with vanishing $(1,1)$ entries. We show that non-factorizable phases are important in order to generate a sufficiently large $\sin 2 β$. A method is suggested to reconstruct the flavour structure of Yukawa couplings from input experimental data both in this Hermitian basis and in a non-Hermitian basis with a maximal number of texture zeros. The corresponding Froggatt--Nielsen patterns are presented in both cases.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2003

Neutrino Masses, Mixing and New Physics Effects

We introduce a parametrization of the effects of radiative corrections from new physics on the charged lepton and neutrino mass matrices, studying how several relevant quantities describing the pattern of neutrino masses and mixing are affected by these corrections. We find that the ratio omega = sin theta / tan theta_atm is remarkably stable, even when relatively large corrections are added to the original mass matrices. It is also found that if the lightest neutrino has a mass around 0.3 eV, the pattern of masses and mixings is considerably more stable under perturbations than for a lighter or heavier spectrum. We explore the consequences of perturbations on some flavor relations given in the literature. In addition, for a quasi-degenerate neutrino spectrum it is shown that: (i) starting from a bi-maximal mixing scenario, the corrections to the mass matrices keep tan theta_atm very close to unity while they can lower tan theta_sol to its measured value; (ii) beginning from a scenario with a vanishing Dirac phase, corrections can induce a Dirac phase large enough to yield CP violation observable in neutrino oscillations.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2003

Universality of Yukawa Couplings Confronts Recent Neutrino Data

We propose a flavour structure for the leptonic sector of the Standard Model, based on the idea of universality of Yukawa couplings, which accommodates all the experimental data on neutrino masses and mixing, at the same time predicting specific correlations between low energy measurable quantities, such as the ratio of neutrino squared mass differences, $|U_{13}|$, the leptonic Dirac phase, and the double-beta decay mass parameter. We also point out that it is possible, in this framework, to generate a sufficient amount of baryon asymmetry of the Universe through leptogenesis.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2003

A Common Origin for all CP Violations

We put forward the conjecture that all CP violating phenomena may have a common origin. In order to illustrate our idea, we present a minimal model where CP is spontaneously broken at a high energy scale, through the phase in the vacuum expectation value of a complex scalar singlet. This single phase is the origin of both low energy CP violation in the quark and leptonic sectors, as well as leptogenesis. We also show that in this framework the strong CP problem may be solved in a simple way through the introduction of a Z_4 symmetry which allows for the implementation of the Nelson-Barr mechanism.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2003

Polychromatic Grand Unification

The possibility of achieving a gauge coupling grand unification by increasing the QCD degrees of freedom at higher energies is investigated. When confronted with precision low-energy data, the generic weak-mixing angle relation sin^2(theta_W) = N/2(N+1) requires N=7 colors at the GUT scale M_U ~ 10^17 GeV. With the exclusive addition of light Higgs doublets to the standard model particle content, such a unification may also occur if N=5 at M_U ~ 10^16 GeV.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2003

Removing Ambiguities in the Neutrino Mass Matrix

We suggest that the weak-basis independent condition det(M_nu)=0 for the effective neutrino mass matrix can be used in order to remove the ambiguities in the reconstruction of the neutrino mass matrix from input data available from present and future feasible experiments. In this framework, we study the full reconstruction of M_nu with special emphasis on the correlation between the Majorana CP-violating phase and the various mixing angles. The impact of the recent KamLAND results on the effective neutrino mass parameter is also briefly discussed.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2003

Neutrino CP phases and lepton electric dipole moments in supersymmetric theories

We analyse the dependence of the electron electric dipole moment (EDM) on neutrino CP violating phases in the context of supersymmetric models. We start by studying the supersymmetric contributions to the lepton EDM and lepton flavour violation processes tau -> mu gamma and mu -> e gamma, in the framework of the mass insertion approximation, showing that, due to the large neutrino mixing, mu -> e gamma leads to severe constraints on the relevant mass insertions. We derive model independent bounds on these mass insertions and show that once these bounds are satisfied, the present experimental limits on electron EDM do not constraint the neutrino phases.

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