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Heinrich Päs

Publications and source records attributed to Heinrich Päs.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay and Physics Beyond the Standard Model

Neutrinoless double beta decay is the most powerful tool to probe not only for Majorana neutrino masses but for lepton number violating physics in general. We discuss relations between lepton number violation, double beta decay and neutrino mass, review a general Lorentz invariant parametrization of the double beta decay rate, highlight a number of different new physics models showing how different mechanisms can trigger double beta decay, and finally discuss possibilities to discriminate and test these models and mechanisms in complementary experiments.

hep-ph↗

Fourth Generation Majorana Neutrinos

We investigate the possibility of a fourth sequential generation in the lepton sector. Assuming neutrinos to be Majorana particles and starting from a recent - albeit weak - evidence for a non-zero admixture of a fourth generation neutrino from fits to weak lepton and meson decays we discuss constraints from neutrinoless double beta decay, radiative lepton decay and like-sign dilepton production at hadron colliders. Also an idea for fourth generation neutrino mass model building is briefly outlined. Here we soften the large hierarchy of the neutrino masses within an extradimensional model that locates each generation on different lepton number violating branes without large hierarchies.

hep-ph↗

Baryon asymmetry of the universe and new neutrino states

The presence of additional neutrino states with masses in the GeV range is allowed by electro-weak precision observables. However, these additional states can lead to lepton number violating interactions which potentially can wash out considerably any GUT scale generated or elsewise pre-existing baryon asymmetry. We discuss the resulting bounds on neutrino parameters and find that - unless the baryon asymmetry is created at or below the electroweak scale or in some flavor which is decoupled from interactions to the new neutrino states - these have to be pseudo-Dirac with mass splittings between the right-handed and left-handed states of less than about ten keV.

hep-ph↗

R-Parity violating flavor symmetries, recent neutrino data and absolute neutrino mass scale

We study the role of a very general type of flavor symmetry in controlling the strength of R-parity violation in supersymmetric models. We assume that only leptons are charged under a global symmetry whose breaking induces lepton number (and, hence, R-parity) violation. The charge assignments of leptons under this symmetry are such that the total number of independent lepton number violating couplings is reduced from 39 to 6. The most severe constraints on these flavor-correlated couplings arise from neutrino masses and mixing as well as from the non-observation of K_L -> eμ. We find that such a scenario predicts an almost vanishing smallest neutrino mass eigenvalue, allowing the upcoming generation of neutrinoless double beta decay experiments to shed light on the hierarchy.

hep-ph↗

Neutrino mass hierarchy and the origin of leptonic flavor mixing from the right-handed sector

We consider a neutrino mass model where all leptonic mixing is induced by a heavy Majorana sector through the seesaw type I mechanism, while the Dirac mass matrices are diagonal. Such a pattern occurs naturally in grand unified theories. Constraints on the parameters of the models are considered and it is shown that a normal neutrino mass hierarchy is preferred. The lightest neutrino mass is typically small, leading to nonobservable rates for neutrinoless double beta decay in the normal hierarchy case.

hep-ph↗

Trinification, the Hierarchy Problem and Inverse Seesaw Neutrino Masses

In minimal trinification models light neutrino masses can be generated via a radiative see-saw mechanism, where the masses of the right-handed neutrinos originate from loops involving Higgs and fermion fields at the unification scale. This mechanism is absent in models aiming at solving or ameliorating the hierarchy problem, such as low-energy supersymmetry, since the large seesaw-scale disappears. In this case, neutrino masses need to be generated via a TeV-scale mechanism. In this paper, we investigate an inverse seesaw mechanism and discuss some phenomenological consequences.

hep-ph↗

Adiabatic & non-adiabatic perturbation theory for coherence vector description of neutrino oscillations

The standard wave function approach for the treatment of neutrino oscillations fails in situations where quantum ensembles at a finite temperature with or without an interacting background plasma are encountered. As a first step to treat such phenomena in a novel way, we propose a unified approach to both adiabatic and non-adiabatic two-flavor oscillations in neutrino ensembles with finite temperature and generic (e.g. matter) potentials. Neglecting effects of ensemble decoherence for now we study the evolution of a neutrino ensemble governed by the associated Quantum Kinetic Equations, which apply to systems with finite temperature. The Quantum Kinetic Equations are solved formally using the Magnus expansion and it is shown that a convenient choice of the quantum mechanical picture (e.g. the interaction picture) reveals suitable parameters to characterize the physics of the underlying system (e.g. an effective oscillation length). It is understood that this method also provides a promising starting point for the treatment of the more general case in which decoherence is taken into account.

hep-ph↗

Exotic Higgs boson decay modes as a harbinger of $S_3$ flavor symmetry

Discrete symmetries employed to explain flavor mixing and mass hierarchies can be associated with an enlarged scalar sector which might lead to exotic Higgs decay modes. In this paper, we explore such a possibility in a scenario with $S_3$ flavor symmetry which requires three scalar SU(2) doublets. The spectrum is fixed by minimizing the scalar potential, and we observe that the symmetry of the model leads to tantalizing Higgs decay modes potentially observable at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC).

hep-ph↗

Lepton number violation in theories with a large number of Standard Model copies

We examine lepton number violation (LNV) in theories with a saturated black hole bound on a large number of species. Such theories have been advocated recently as a possible solution to the hierarchy problem and an explanation of the smallness of neutrino masses. The violation of lepton number can be a potential phenomenological problem of this N-copy extension of the Standard Model as due to the low quantum gravity scale black holes may induce TeV scale LNV operators generating unacceptably large rates of LNV processes. We show, however, that this does not happen in this scenario due to a specific compensation mechanism between contributions of different Majorana neutrino states to these processes. As a result rates of LNV processes are extremely small and far beyond experimental reach, at least for the left-handed neutrino states.

hep-ph↗

Lepton number, black hole entropy and 10 to the 32 copies of the Standard Model

Lepton number violating processes are a typical problem in theories with a low quantum gravity scale. In this paper we examine lepton number violation (LNV) in theories with a saturated black hole bound on a large number of species. Such theories have been advocated recently as a possible solution to the hierarchy problem and an explanation of the smallness of neutrino masses. Naively one would expect black holes to introduce TeV scale LNV operators, thus generating unacceptably large rates of LNV processes. We show, however, that this does not happen in this scenario due to a complicated compensation mechanism between contributions of different Majorana neutrino states to these processes. As a result rates of LNV processes are extremely small and far beyond experimental reach, at least for the left-handed neutrino states.

hep-ph↗

Constraints on fourth generation Majorana neutrinos

We investigate the possibility of a fourth sequential generation in the lepton sector. Assuming neutrinos to be Majorana particles and starting from a recent - albeit weak - evidence for a non-zero admixture of a fourth generation neutrino from fits to weak lepton and meson decays we discuss constraints from neutrinoless double beta decay, radiative lepton decay and like-sign di-lepton production at hadron colliders.

hep-ph↗

Resonant active-sterile neutrino mixing in the presence of matter potentials and altered dispersion relations

We investigate resonant active-sterile neutrino oscillations emergent from the interplay between matter, CPT- and Lorentz-violating coefficients with different energy dependences. Novel and experimentally accessible resonant neutrino oscillation phenomenologies are predicted and possible implications for observed, but yet unexplained, neutrino oscillation anomalies such as LSND and MiniBooNE are discussed.

hep-ph↗

Explaining LSND and MiniBooNE using altered neutrino dispersion relations

We investigate the possibility to explain the MiniBooNE anomaly by CPT and Lorentz symmetry violating neutrino-antineutrino oscillations in a two generation framework. We work with four non-zero CPT-violating parameters that allow for resonant enhancements in neutrino-antineutrino oscillation phenomena in vacuo which are suitably described in terms of charge conjugation eigenstates of the system. We study the relation between the flavor, charge conjugation and mass eigenbasis of neutrino-antineutrino oscillations and examine the interplay between the available CPT-violating parameter space and possible resonance structures.

hep-ph↗

Explaining LSND using extra-dimensional shortcuts

We explore the possibility to explain the LSND result in the context of extra-dimensional theories. If sterile neutrinos take shortcuts through extra dimensions, this results in altered neutrino dispersion relations. Active-sterile neutrino oscillations thus are modified and new types of resonances occur.

hep-ph↗

Neutrino-antineutrino oscillations as a possible solution for the LSND and MiniBooNE anomalies?

We investigate resonance structures in CPT and Lorentz symmetry violating neutrino-antineutrino oscillations in a two generation framework. We work with four non-zero CPT-violating parameters that allow for resonant enhancements in neutrino-antineutrino oscillation phenomena in vacuo which are suitably described in terms of charge conjugation eigenstates of the system. We study the relation between the flavor, charge conjugation and mass eigenbasis of neutrino-antineutrino oscillations and examine the interplay between the available CPT-violating parameter space and possible resonance structures. Eventually we remark on the consequences of such scenarios for neutrino oscillation experiments, namely possible solutions for the LSND and MiniBooNE anomalies.

hep-ph↗

Baseline-dependent neutrino oscillations with extra-dimensional shortcuts

In extra-dimensional scenarios oscillations between active and sterile neutrinos can be governed by a new resonance in the oscillation amplitude. This resonance results when cancelation occurs between two phase differences, the usual kinematic one coming from the neutrino mass-squared difference, and a geometric one coming from the difference in travel times of the sterile neutrino through the bulk relative to the active neutrino confined to the brane. In this work we introduce a specific metric for the brane-bulk system, from which we explicitly derive extra-dimensional geodesics for the sterile neutrino, and ultimately the oscillation probability of the active-sterile two-state system. We find that for an asymmetrically-warped metric, the resonance condition involves both the neutrino energy E and the travel distance L on the brane. In other words, the resonant energy may be viewed as baseline-dependent. We show that to a good approximation, the resonance condition is not on E or on L, but rather on the product LE. The model is rich in implications, including the possibility of multiple solutions to the resonance condition, with ramifications for existing data sets, e.g., LSND and MiniBooNE. Some phenomenology with these brane-bulk resonances is discussed.

hep-ph↗

Closed timelike curves in asymmetrically warped brane universes

In asymmetrically warped spacetimes different warp factors are assigned to space and to time. We discuss causality properties of these warped brane universes and argue that scenarios with two extra dimensions may allow for timelike curves which can be closed via paths in the extra-dimensional bulk. In particular, necessary and sufficient conditions on the metric for the existence of closed timelike curves are presented. We find a six-dimensional warped metric which satisfies the CTC conditions, and where the null, weak and dominant energy conditions are satisfied on the brane (although only the former remains satisfied in the bulk). Such scenarios are interesting, since they open the possibility of experimentally testing the chronology protection conjecture by manipulating on our brane initial conditions of gravitons or hypothetical gauge-singlet fermions (sterile neutrinos) which then propagate in the extra dimensions.

gr-qc↗

Neutrino time travel

We discuss causality properties of extra-dimensional theories allowing for effectively superluminal bulk shortcuts. Such shortcuts for sterile neutrinos have been discussed as a solution to the puzzling LSND and MiniBooNE neutrino oscillation results. We focus here on the sub-category of asymmetrically warped brane spacetimes and argue that scenarios with two extra dimensions may allow for timelike curves which can be closed via paths in the extra-dimensional bulk. In principle sterile neutrinos propagating in the extra dimension may be manipulated in a way to test the chronology protection conjecture experimentally.

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