arXiv subjects

Juraj Klarić

Publications and source records attributed to Juraj Klarić.

15 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Dirac-Phase CP-Violation in the Low-Scale Type-I Seesaw with Three Right-Handed Neutrinos

We study the low-scale type-I seesaw with three right-handed neutrinos (i.e. heavy Majorana neutrinos) when the CP-violation arises solely from the low-energy Dirac phase $δ$ of the Pontecorvo-Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata (PMNS) neutrino mixing matrix and the heavy neutrinos have testable mixings. We derive a CP-conserving and non-real structure of the $3\times 3$ orthogonal matrix entering the Casas-Ibarra parametrisation in terms of two real angles and one single imaginary parameter, ensuring that the only CP-violating phases in the neutrino Yukawa couplings are those of the PMNS matrix. We then focus on the case of CP-violation from $δ$ alone and discuss the phenomenological implications of this hypothesis. We concentrate on quasi-degenerate heavy Majorana neutrinos with masses within $\sim (0.1-100)\,\text{GeV}$, as relevant for low-scale leptogenesis. Only certain subregions of the full ternary space defined by the ratios $Θ^2_e:Θ^2_μ:Θ^2_τ$ - where $Θ^2_α$ denotes the squared coupling of the heavy neutrinos to leptons of flavour $α= e,\,μ,\,τ$ - are compatible with Dirac-phase CP-violation while being testable at collider experiments. Our assumption also implies specific forms of the effective Majorana mass parameter that can be tested at neutrinoless double-beta decay searches. Finally, low-scale leptogenesis under this restriction can reproduce the baryon asymmetry of the Universe (BAU) and be tested through the combination of direct heavy neutral lepton searches and neutrino experiments. The BAU vanishes in the exact limit of CP-conserving values of the Dirac phase $δ= 0,\,π,\,2π$, but the observed BAU can be reproduced within the testable region even if $δ$ deviates from these values by a factor as small as $\mathcal{O}(10^{-5})$, with important implications for ultraviolet completions with approximate CP-symmetry.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter Cries for GeV Heavy Neutral Leptons

The ordinary and dark matter in the Universe may share a common origin in the framework of a minimal extension of the Standard Model by three right-handed neutrinos. A pair of such heavy neutral leptons (HNLs) can give masses to neutrinos, generate the baryon asymmetry at the electroweak scale and produce a large lepton asymmetry at the QCD scale, which is then resonantly transformed into an abundance of the third state that acts as sterile neutrino dark matter. The minimality of this setup, known as Neutrino Minimal Standard Model ($ν$MSM), makes it highly predictive. Earlier attempts to pin down the properties of the HNLs based on the requirement to simultaneously explain the neutrino masses as well as the baryonic and dark matter abundances were hampered by an incomplete understanding of the quantum kinetic equations describing the HNLs throughout cosmic history. We perform the first parameter scan of the $ν$MSM in which this shortcoming has been overcome. We find that the $ν$MSM provides a common explanation for all aforementioned phenomena only within a well-defined parameter space that is limited in all directions, with HNL masses kinematically accessible by the SHiP experiment as well as searches at the LHC and future lepton colliders. Further predictions for the HNL decay branching ratios, CP-violation, and lepton number violation (LNV) make the model highly testable, bringing a discovery of the common origin of neutrino masses and all matter in the Universe within reach of existing and planned experiments.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Probing $ν$SMEFT at Belle II with displaced dilepton vertices

The existence of right-handed (RH) neutrinos is strongly motivated by the observation of small neutrino masses and as a means to shed light on the origin of parity violation in the Standard Model (SM). Experimental searches for the corresponding mass eigenstates, referred to as heavy neutral leptons (HNLs), have been carried out in a variety of experiments and within different HNL models. In the current work we use the SM effective field theory with added RH neutrinos, known as $ν$SMEFT, to study GeV-scale HNL production in $e^+e^-$ collisions at the Belle~II experiment. We focus on leptonic decays of long-lived HNLs that produce a displaced vertex in the Belle~II detector. Accounting for detection efficiency and backgrounds, we estimate the sensitivity of Belle~II to the new-physics scale of four-fermion, Higgs-current, and dipole operators in $ν$SMEFT. We find that for most operators, the search we propose probes large regions of parameter space that are not excluded by other searches.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

New Particles at the Z-Pole: Tera-Z factories as discovery and precision machines

Several proposed future lepton colliders are capable of producing trillions of Z-bosons, including FCC-ee, CEPC, LEP3 and LEP-Z. Such Tera-Z factories can discover new elementary particles with couplings to the Z-boson that are orders of magnitude smaller than current bounds. For couplings near the currently excluded parameter regions, they could produce sufficiently large samples to study the new particles' properties in detail, thereby serving as both a discovery and precision machine in one. Using simple analytic estimates, we quantify the dependence of the expected event yield in long-lived particle searches on the number of produced Z-bosons and on the detector dimensions. From this, we derive estimates for both the discovery reach and the measurement precision attainable at such facilities. While the precision of such estimates of course falls short of proper simulations, the analytic approach is suitable for a quick assessment of the sensitivity for a given design. We illustrate this with two examples, heavy neutral leptons and axion-like particles. Under optimistic assumptions, these could be produced in the millions and billions, respectively, effectively turning future lepton colliders into exotics factories.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

ULYSSES the Third: An Odyssey Towards a Unified Python Toolkit for Leptogenesis

We present the third release of $\texttt{ULYSSES}$, a Python package for the numerical evaluation of the baryon asymmetry generated through leptogenesis. This version includes code implementing state-of-the-art density matrix equations for low-scale leptogenesis with three quasi-degenerate right-handed neutrinos. We extend the validity of the code in this scenario beyond the 100 GeV right-handed neutrino mass scale, into the regime of resonant leptogenesis, by including neutrino production rates valid in both the relativistic and non-relativistic regimes. In addition, in the high-scale vanilla scenario, we provide routines for computing $ΔL = 1$ scattering processes, enabling full phase-space evolution of the right-handed neutrino and lepton asymmetry. A new $\texttt{--extended}$ parameter interface allows users to pass model-specific inputs beyond the standard leptogenesis runcard without modifying the core infrastructure and demonstrate its use with a toy module that simultaneously solves the vanilla leptogenesis equations and the freeze-in production of dark matter. On top of these improvements, we introduce an alternative parametrisation of the Casas-Ibarra matrix, update the default neutrino oscillation parameters and report cross-checks of the new low-scale leptogenesis module against published benchmarks and independent codes. $\texttt{ULYSSES}$ is publicly available on $\href{https://github.com/earlyuniverse/ulysses}{\texttt{GitHub}}$ and pip-installable from PyPI.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

On the importance of radiation-era initial conditions for tensor perturbations

Conservation of super-horizon tensor fluctuations is crucial for connecting inflation to observations. Starting from first principles, recent works have found violations of this conservation if free-streaming radiation is produced during reheating. We show that the non-conservation is sensitive to the radiation initial state, and argue that the physical state should be affected by tensor perturbations that are already present during reheating. The deviation from super-horizon conservation is then negligible, recovering the standard result from kinetic theory. In contrast, a globally homogeneous and isotropic plasma state leads to a large suppression of tensor amplitudes. This difference between the local (physical) and global thermal equilibrium settles the discrepancy between the older and recent literature.

hep-th↗

arXiv2026

Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and the Neutrino-Extended Standard Model Effective Field Theory

We study the impact of light GeV-scale heavy neutral leptons (HNLs) on Big Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) in the neutrino-extended Standard Model Effective Field Theory ($ν$SMEFT). We show that, based on very general considerations, BBN constraints complement laboratory searches at colliders, beam dumps, and neutrinoless double beta decay, by providing an upper bound on the cut-off scale of the effective field theory for HNL masses above $\sim$100 MeV. We identify target regions for future laboratory probes of the $ν$SMEFT parameter space that is bounded from above and below.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

On the collider-testability of the type-I seesaw model with 3 right-handed neutrinos

If any heavy neutral leptons are discovered in accelerator-based experiments, key questions will involve their possible connection to neutrino masses or leptogenesis. Working in a renormalisable extension of the Standard Model by three right-handed neutrinos, we address the question of how much information about the fundamental model parameters can be obtained by measuring the branching ratios in the decays of the heavy neutral leptons into individual SM generations. We find that, provided that these branching ratios could be measured with arbitrary precision and assuming kinematically distinguishable right-handed neutrinos, they can be sufficient to pin down all 18 parameters of the model when supplemented with light neutrino oscillation data. When considering a finite statistical uncertainty comparable to that which can be achieved by future lepton colliders like FCC-ee or CEPC in the mass range of tens of GeV, some parameter degeneracies remain, but measurements would still provide powerful consistency checks of the model. In the sub-GeV range a good sensitivity to individual model parameters can be expected for SHiP and potentially for DUNE. This shows the potential of these experiments to not only discover heavy neutral leptons, but play an important role in understanding their role in particle physics and cosmology.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Low-scale leptogenesis with flavour and CP symmetries

We consider a type-I seesaw framework with a flavour symmetry from the series of non-abelian groups $Δ(3 n^2)$ and $Δ(6 n^2)$ and a CP symmetry. Breaking these symmetries non-trivially results in the right-handed neutrinos being degenerate in mass up to possible (further symmetry-breaking) splittings $κ$ and $λ$, while the neutrino Yukawa coupling matrix encodes the entire flavour structure in the neutrino sector. For a fixed combination of flavour and CP symmetry and residual groups, this matrix has five real free parameters. Four of them are set by light neutrino masses and data on lepton mixing, while $θ_R$ is related to right-handed neutrinos. We scrutinise for all four lepton mixing patterns, grouped into Case 1) through Case 3 b.1), the potential to generate the baryon asymmetry of the Universe (BAU) through low-scale leptogenesis numerically and analytically. The main results are: a) the possible correlation of the BAU and the Majorana phases of the PMNS mixing matrix in certain instances; b) the possibility to generate the correct amount of BAU for zero $κ$ and $λ$ as well as for large $κ$, depending on the case and choice of group theory parameters; c) the chance to produce sufficient BAU for large active-sterile mixing angles, enabling direct experimental tests at current and future facilities, for $θ_R$ close to a special value, potentially protected by an enhanced residual symmetry. We elucidate these results with representative examples of flavour and CP symmetries, which all lead to a good agreement with the measured lepton mixing angles and, possibly, the current hint of the CP phase $δ$. We identify the CP-violating combinations relevant for low-scale leptogenesis, and show that the parametric dependence of the BAU found numerically can be understood well with their help.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Preheating in Palatini Higgs inflation on the lattice

We study preheating following Higgs inflation in the Palatini formulation of gravity. We numerically evolve perturbations of the radial mode of the Higgs field and that of three scalars modeling the gauge bosons. We compare the two non-perturbative mechanisms of growth of excitations -- parametric resonance and tachyonic instability -- and confirm that the latter plays the dominant role. Our results provide further evidence that preheating in Palatini Higgs inflation happens within a single oscillation of the Higgs field about the bottom of its potential, consistent with the approximation of an instantaneous preheating.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

New Benchmark Models for Heavy Neutral Lepton Searches

The sensitivity of direct searches for heavy neutral leptons (HNLs) in accelerator-based experiments depends strongly on the particles properties. Commonly used benchmark scenarios are important to ensure comparability and consistency between experimental searches, re-interpretations, and sensitivity studies at different facilities. In models where the HNLs are primarily produced and decay through the weak interaction, benchmarks are in particular defined by fixing relative strengths of their mixing with SM neutrinos of different flavours, and the interpretation of experimental data is known to strongly depend on those ratios. The commonly used benchmarks in which a single HNL flavour exclusively interacts with one Standard Model generation do not reflect what is found in realistic neutrino mass models. As a part of the activities within CERN's Physics Beyond Colliders initiative we identify two additional benchmarks, which we primarily select based on the requirement to provide a better approximation for the phenomenology of realistic neutrino mass models in view of present and future neutrino oscillation data.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

Mapping the viable parameter space for testable leptogenesis

We for the first time map the range of active-sterile neutrino mixing angles in which leptogenesis is possible in the type I seesaw model with three heavy neutrinos with Majorana masses between 50 MeV and 100 TeV, covering the entire experimentally accessible mass range. Our study includes both,the asymmetry generation during freeze-in (ARS mechanism) and freeze-out (resonant leptotenesis) of the heavy neutrinos. The range of mixings for which leptogenesis is feasible is considerably larger than in the minimal model with only two heavy neutrinos and extends all the way up to the current experimental bounds. For such large mixing angles the HL-LHC could potentially observe a number of events that is large enough to compare different decay channels, a first step towards testing the hypothesis that these particles may be responsible for the origin of matter and neutrino masses.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

Reconciling resonant leptogenesis and baryogenesis via neutrino oscillations

Right-handed neutrinos offer an elegant solution to two well established phenomena beyond the Standard Model (SM) - masses and oscillations of neutrinos, as well as the baryon asymmetry of the Universe. It is also a minimalistic solution since it requires only singlet Majorana fermions to be added to the SM particle content. If these fermions are nearly degenerate, the mass scale of right-handed neutrinos can be very low and accessible by the present and planned experiments. There are at least two well studied mechanisms of the low-scale leptogenesis: baryogenesis via oscillations and resonant leptogenesis. These two mechanisms were often considered separate, but they can in fact be understood as two different regimes of one and the same mechanism, described by a unique set of quantum kinetic equations. In this work we show, using a unified description based on quantum kinetic equations, that the parameter space of these two regimes of low-scale leptogenesis significantly overlap. We present a comprehensive study of the parameter space of the low-scale leptogenesis with the mass scale ranging from $0.1$ GeV to $\sim 10^6$ GeV. The unified perspective of this work reveals the synergy between intensity and energy frontiers in the quest for heavy Majorana neutrinos.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2020

Uniting low-scale leptogeneses

In this work we demonstrate that what was previously considered as different mechanisms of baryon asymmetry generation involving two right-handed Majorana neutrinos with masses far below the GUT scale -- leptogenesis via neutrino oscillations and resonant leptogenesis -- are actually united. We show that the observed baryon asymmetry can be generated for all experimentally allowed values of the right-handed neutrino masses above $M_N \gtrsim 100$ MeV. Leptogenesis is effective in a broad range of the parameters, including mass splitting between two right-handed neutrinos as big as $ΔM_N/M_N \sim 0.1$, as well as mixing angles between the heavy and light neutrinos large enough to be accessible to planned intensity experiments or future colliders.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2019

On Lepton Number Violation in Heavy Neutrino Decays at Colliders

We study the perspective to observe lepton number violating signatures from heavy Majorana neutrino decays at colliders in view of the requirement to explain the light neutrino masses via the seesaw mechanism. In the minimal model with only two heavy neutrinos and in the $ν$MSM one can identify three distinct regions in the mass-mixing plane. For Majorana masses above the electroweak scale the branching ratio for lepton number violating processes at the LHC is generically suppressed. For masses well below the electroweak scale that are probed in displaced vertex searches or at fixed target experiments lepton number violation is the rule and can only be avoided at the cost of fine tuning. In between there is a mass regime where both possibilities coexist. In models with more than two heavy neutrinos the larger parameter space allows for more freedom, but our results remain qualitatively correct unless there is a mass degeneracy amongst more than two of the heavy neutrinos.

hep-ph↗