arXiv subjects

Isabella Masina

Publications and source records attributed to Isabella Masina.

48 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2004

Lepton Electric Dipole Moments from Heavy States Yukawa Couplings

In supersymmetric theories the radiative corrections due to heavy states could leave their footprints in the flavour structure of the supersymmetry breaking masses. We investigate whether present and future searches for the muon and electron EDMs could be sensitive to the CP violation and flavour misalignment induced on slepton masses by the radiative corrections due to the right-handed neutrinos of the seesaw model and to the heavy Higgs triplets of SU(5) GUT. When this is the case, limits on the relevant combination of neutrino Yukawa couplings are obtained. Explicit analytical expressions are provided which accounts for the dependencies on the supersymmetric mass parameters.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2004

Can Neutrino Mixings Arise from the Charged Lepton Sector?

The neutrino mixing matrix U is in general of the form U=U_e^+ U_nu, where U_e arises from the diagonalization of charged leptons and U_nu is from the neutrino sector. We discuss the possibility that U_nu is nearly diagonal (in the lagrangian basis) and the observed mixing arises with good accuracy from U_e. We find that the fact that, in addition to the nearly maximal atmospheric mixing angle theta_{23}, the solar angle theta_{12} is definitely also large while at the same time the third mixing angle theta_{13} is small, makes the construction of a natural model of this sort considerably more complicated. We present an example of a natural model of this class. We also find that the case that U_nu is exactly of the bimixing type is severely constrained by the bound on theta_{13} but not excluded. We show that planned experimental searches for theta_{13} could have a strong impact on bimixing models.

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arXiv2004

Fermion Generations, Masses and Mixing Angles from Extra Dimensions

We discuss a toy model in six dimensions that predicts two fermion generations, natural mass hierarchy and intergenerational mixing. Matter is described by vector-like six dimensional fermions, one per each irreducible standard model representation. Two fermion generations arise from the compactification mechanism, through orbifold projection. They are localized in different regions of the compact space by a six dimensional mass term. Flavour symmetry is broken via Yukawa couplings, with a Higgs vacuum expectation value not constant in the extra space. A hierarchical spectrum is obtained from order one dimensionless parameters of the six dimensional theory. The Cabibbo angle arises from the soft breaking of six dimensional parity symmetry. We also briefly discuss how the present model could be extended to cover the realistic case.

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arXiv2003

Models of Neutrino Masses: Anarchy versus Hierarchy

We present a quantitative study of the ability of models with different levels of hierarchy to reproduce the solar neutrino solutions, in particular the LA solution. As a flexible testing ground we consider models based on SU(5)xU(1)_F. In this context, we have made statistical simulations of models with different patterns from anarchy to various types of hierachy: normal hierarchical models with and without automatic suppression of the 23 (sub)determinant and inverse hierarchy models. We find that, not only for the LOW or VO solutions, but even in the LA case, the hierarchical models have a significantly better success rate than those based on anarchy. The normal hierachy and the inverse hierarchy models have comparable performances in models with see-saw dominance, while the inverse hierarchy models are particularly good in the no see-saw versions. As a possible distinction between these categories of models, the inverse hierarchy models favour a maximal solar mixing angle and their rate of success drops dramatically as the mixing angle decreases, while normal hierarchy models are far more stable in this respect.

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arXiv2003

Heavy Triplets: Electric Dipole Moments vs Proton Decay

The experimental limit on the electron electric dipole moment constraints the pattern of supersymmetric grand-unified theories with right-handed neutrinos. We show that such contraints are already competing with the well known ones derived by the limit on proton lifetime.

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arXiv2002

Lepton Flavour Violation

After a summary of the motivations for searching flavour violating decays and electric dipole moments in the leptonic sector, I briefly sketch the present status of the limits on lepton-slepton misalignement and discuss the potentialities of the planned experimental improvements. Candidates for theories beyond the Standard Model have to satisfy all these experimental constraints; I will discuss in particular how the supersymmetric SM extended with the see-saw faces the flavour problem.

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arXiv2002

Large Solar Angle and Seesaw Mechanism: a Bottom-up Perspective

In addition to the well established large atmospheric angle, a large solar angle is probably present in the leptonic sector. In the context of the see-saw and by means of a bottom-up approach, we explore which patterns for the Dirac and Majorana right-handed mass matrices provide two large mixings in a robust way and with the minimal amount of tuning. Three favourite patterns emerge, which have a suggestive physical interpretation in terms of the role played by right-handed neutrinos: in both solar and atmospheric sectors, either a single or a pseudo-Dirac pair of right-handed neutrinos dominates. Each pattern gives rise to specific relations among the neutrino mixing angles and mass differences, which lead to testable constraints on U_{e3}. The connection with the rate of LFV charged lepton decays is also addressed.

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arXiv2001

tau -> mu gamma and mu -> e gamma as probes of neutrino mass models

We discuss the possibility of discriminating between different supersymmetric see-saw models by improving the experimental sensitivity to charged lepton flavour violating processes. Assuming a hierarchical neutrino mass spectrum, we classify realistic see-saw models according to how the hierarchy Delta m^2_{sun} << Delta m^2_{atm} is generated, and study the predictions of each class for the branching ratios of tau -> mu gamma and mu -> e gamma. The process tau -> mu gamma is found to be a particularly promising tool to probe the fundamental see-saw parameters, and especially to identify the origin of the large atmospheric mixing angle. Predictions for mu -> e gamma are more model-dependent. We point out that, even with an improvement of the experimental sensitivities by three orders of magnitude, both tau -> mu gamma and mu -> e gamma could escape detection in models where Delta m^2_{atm} is determined by one of the lightest right-handed neutrinos.

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arXiv2001

The problem of neutrino masses in extensions of the Standard Model

We review the problem of neutrino masses and mixings in the context of Grand Unified Theories. After a brief summary of the present experimental status of neutrino physics, we describe how the see-saw mechanism can automatically account for the large atmospheric mixing angle. We provide two specific examples where this possibility is realized by means of a flavour symmetry. We then review in some detail the various severe problems which plague minimal GUT models (like the doublet-triplet splitting and proton-decay) and which force to investigate the possibility of constructing more elaborate but realistic models. We then show an example of a quasi-realistic SUSY SU(5) model which, by exploiting the crucial presence of an abelian flavour symmetry, does not require any fine-tuning and predicts a satisfactory phenomenology with respect to coupling unification, fermion masses and mixings and bounds from proton decay.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2000

From Minimal to Realistic Supersymmetric SU(5) Grand Unification

We construct and discuss a "realistic" example of SUSY SU(5) GUT model, with an additional U(1) flavour symmetry, that is not plagued by the need of large fine tunings, like those associated with doublet-triplet splitting in the minimal model, and that leads to an acceptable phenomenology. This includes coupling unification with a value of alpha_s(m_Z) in much better agreement with the data than in the minimal version, an acceptable hierarchical pattern for fermion masses and mixing angles, also including neutrino masses and mixings, and a proton decay rate compatible with present limits (but the discovery of proton decay should be within reach of the next generation of experiments). In the neutrino sector the preferred solution is one with nearly maximal mixing both for atmospheric and solar neutrinos.

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arXiv2000

A See-Saw Mechanism for Large Neutrino Mixing from Small Quark and Lepton Mixings

I introduce and sketch the main features of those see-saw models where a large atmospheric mixing can be achieved starting from nearly diagonal matrices for charged leptons, Dirac neutrinos and Majorana right-handed neutrinos. It turns out that these models can be realized in Grand Unified Theories and they are well compatible with the related phenomenology of fermion masses and mixings.

hep-ph↗

arXiv1999

Large Neutrino Mixing from Small Quark and Lepton Mixings

We discuss the special class of models where nearly maximal neutrino mixing is produced through the see-saw mechanism, starting from only nearly diagonal matrices for charged leptons, Dirac neutrinos and Majorana right-handed neutrinos.

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