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Kunio Kaneta

Publications and source records attributed to Kunio Kaneta.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Self-interacting dark matter and muon $g-2$ in a gauged U$(1)_{L_μ - L_τ}$ model

We construct a self-interacting dark matter model that could simultaneously explain the observed muon anomalous magnetic moment. It is based on a gauged U$(1)_{L_μ - L_τ}$ extension of the standard model, where we introduce a vector-like pair of fermions as the dark matter candidate and a new Higgs boson to break the symmetry. The new gauge boson has a sizable contribution to muon $(g-2)$, while being consistent with other experimental constraints. The U$(1)_{L_μ - L_τ}$ Higgs boson acts as a light force carrier, mediating dark matter self-interactions with a velocity-dependent cross section. It is large enough in galaxies to thermalize the inner halo and explain the diverse rotation curves and diminishes towards galaxy clusters. Since the light mediator dominantly decays to the U$(1)_{L_μ - L_τ}$ gauge boson and neutrinos, the astrophysical and cosmological constraints are weak. We study the thermal evolution of the model in the early Universe and derive a lower bound on the gauge boson mass.

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New Weak-Scale Physics from SO(10) with High-Scale Supersymmetry

Gauge coupling unification and the stability of the Higgs vacuum are among two of the cherished features of low-energy supersymmetric models. Putting aside questions of naturalness, supersymmetry might only be realised in nature at very high energy scales. If this is the case, the preservation of gauge coupling unification and the stability of the Higgs vacuum would certainly require new physics, but it need not necessarily be at weak scale energies. New physics near the unification scale could in principle ensure Grand Unification, while new physics below $μ\sim 10^{10}$ GeV could ensure the stability of the Higgs vacuum. Surprisingly however, we find that in the context of a supersymmetric SO(10) Grand Unified Theory, gauge coupling unification and the Higgs vacuum stability, when taken in conjunction with existing phenomenological constraints, require the presence of $\mathcal{O}$(TeV)-scale physics. This weak-scale physics takes the form of a complex scalar SU(2)$_L$ triplet with zero hypercharge, originating from the $\mathbf{210}$ of SO(10).

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Hillclimbing Higgs inflation

We propose a realization of cosmic inflation with the Higgs field when the Higgs potential has degenerate vacua by employing the recently proposed idea of hillclimbing inflation. The resultant inflationary predictions exhibit a sizable deviation from those of the ordinary Higgs inflation.

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Sterile neutrino dark matter from right-handed neutrino oscillations

We study a scenario where sterile neutrino (either warm or cold) dark matter (DM) is produced through (nonresonant) oscillations among right-handed neutrinos (RHNs) and can constitute the whole DM in the Universe, in contrast to the conventional sterile neutrino production through its mixing with the left-handed neutrinos. The lightest RHN can be sterile neutrino DM whose mixing with left-handed neutrinos is sufficiently small while heavier RHNs can have non-negligible mixings with left-handed neutrinos to explain the neutrino masses by the seesaw mechanism. We also demonstrate that, in our scenario, the production of sterile RHN DM from the decay of a heavier RHN is subdominant compared with the RHN oscillation production due to the X-ray and small-scale structure constraints.

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Gravitino Decay in High Scale Supersymmetry with R-parity Violation

We consider the effects of R-parity violation due to the inclusion of a bilinear $μ^\prime L H_u$ superpotential term in high scale supersymmetric models with an EeV scale gravitino as dark matter. Although the typical phenomenological limits on this coupling (e.g. due to lepton number violation and the preservation of the baryon asymmetry) are relaxed when the supersymmetric mass spectrum is assumed to be heavy (in excess of the inflationary scale of $3 \times 10^{13}$ GeV), the requirement that the gravitino be sufficiently long-lived so as to account for the observed dark matter density, leads to a relatively strong bound on $μ^\prime \lesssim 20$ GeV. The dominant decay channels for the longitudinal component of the gravitino are $Z ν, W^\pm l^\mp$, and $hν$. To avoid an excess neutrino signal in IceCube, our limit on $μ'$ is then strengthened to $μ' \lesssim 50$ keV. When the bound is saturated, we find that there is a potentially detectable flux of mono-chromatic neutrinos with EeV energies.

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Very low scale Coleman-Weinberg inflation with non-minimal coupling

We study viable small-field Coleman-Weinberg (CW) inflation models with the help of non-minimal coupling to gravity. The simplest small-field CW inflation model (with a low-scale potential minimum) is incompatible with the cosmological constraint on the scalar spectral index. However, there are possibilities to make the model realistic. First, we revisit the CW inflation model supplemented with a linear potential term. We next consider the CW inflation model with a logarithmic non-minimal coupling and illustrate that the model can open a new viable parameter space that includes the model with a linear potential term. We also show parameter spaces where the Hubble scale during the inflation can be as small as $10^{-4} $ GeV, $1$ GeV, $10^4 $ GeV, and $10^8$ GeV for the number of $e$-folds of $40,~45,~50$, and $55$, respectively, with other cosmological constraints being satisfied.

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Hillclimbing inflation

We propose a new class of inflationary models in which inflation takes place while the inflaton is climbing up a potential hill due to a coupling to gravity. We study their attractor behavior, and investigate its relation with known attractors. We also discuss a possible realization of this type of models with the natural inflation, and show that the inflationary predictions come well within the region consistent with the observation of the cosmic microwave background.

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Dark photon relic dark matter production through the dark axion portal

We present a new mechanism to produce the dark photon ($γ'$) in the early universe with a help of the axion ($a$) using a recently proposed dark axion portal. The dark photon, a light gauge boson in the dark sector, can be a relic dark matter if its lifetime is long enough. The main process we consider is a variant of the Primakoff process $f a \to f γ'$ mediated by a photon, which is possible with the axion--photon--dark photon coupling. The axion is thermalized in the early universe because of the strong interaction and it can contribute to the non-thermal dark photon production through the dark axion portal coupling. It provides a two-component dark matter sector, and the relic density deficit issue of the axion dark matter can be addressed by the compensation with the dark photon. The dark photon dark matter can also address the reported 3.5 keV $X$-ray excess via the $γ' \to γa$ decay.

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Portal Connecting Dark Photons and Axions

The dark photon and the axion (or axion-like particle) are popular light particles of the hidden sector. Each of them has been actively searched for through the couplings called the vector portal and the axion portal. We introduce a new portal connecting the dark photon and the axion (axion--photon--dark photon, axion--dark photon--dark photon), which emerges in the presence of the two particles. This dark axion portal is genuinely new couplings, not just from a product of the vector portal and the axion portal, because of the internal structure of these couplings. We present a simple model that realizes the dark axion portal and discuss why it warrants a rich phenomenology.

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Right-handed neutrino dark matter under the B-L gauge interaction

We study the right-handed neutrino (RHN) dark matter candidate in the minimal U(1)_{B-L} gauge extension of the standard model. The U(1)_{B-L} gauge symmetry offers three RHNs which can address the origin of the neutrino mass, the relic dark matter, and the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the universe. The lightest among the three is taken as the dark matter candidate, which is under the B-L gauge interaction. We investigate various scenarios for this dark matter candidate with the correct relic density by means of the freeze-out or freeze-in mechanism. A viable RHN dark matter mass lies in a wide range including keV to TeV scale. We emphasize the sub-electroweak scale light B-L gauge boson case, and identify the parameter region motivated from the dark matter physics, which can be tested with the planned experiments including the CERN SHiP experiment.

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Diphoton channel at the LHC experiments to find a hint for a new heavy gauge boson

Recently there has been a huge interest in the diphoton excess around 750 GeV reported by both ATLAS and CMS collaborations, although the newest analysis with more statistics does not seem to support the excess. Nevertheless, the diphoton channel at the LHC experiments are a powerful tool to probe a new physics. One of the most natural explanations of a diphoton excess, if it occurs, could be a new scalar boson with exotic colored particles. In this setup, it would be legitimate to ask what is the role of this new scalar in nature. A heavy neutral gauge boson ($Z'$) is one of the traditional targets of the discovery at the collider experiments with numerous motivations. While the Landau-Yang theorem dictates the diphoton excess cannot be this spin-1 gauge boson, there is a strong correlation of a new heavy gauge boson and a new scalar boson which provides a mass to the gauge boson being at the same mass scale. In this paper, we point out a simple fact that a new scalar with a property similar to the recently highlighted 750 GeV would suggest an existence of a TeV scale $Z'$ gauge boson that might be within the reach of the LHC Run 2 experiments. We take a scenario of the well-motivated and popular gauged $B-L$ symmetry and require the gauge coupling unification to predict the mass and other properties of the $Z'$ and illustrate the discovery of the $Z'$ would occur during the LHC experiments.

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Thermal Relic Dark Matter Beyond the Unitarity Limit

We discuss a simple model of thermal relic dark matter whose mass can be much larger than the so-called unitarity limit on the mass of point-like particle dark matter. The model consists of new strong dynamics with one flavor of fermions in the fundamental representation which is much heavier than the dynamical scale of the new strong dynamics. Dark matter is identified with the lightest baryonic hadron of the new dynamics. The baryonic hadrons annihilate into the mesonic hadrons of the new strong dynamics when they have large radii. Resultantly, thermal relic dark matter with a mass in the PeV range is possible.

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Single and double production of the Higgs boson at hadron and lepton colliders in minimal composite Higgs models

In the composite Higgs models, originally proposed by Georgi and Kaplan, the Higgs boson is a pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson (pNGB) of spontaneous breaking of a global symmetry. In the minimal version of such models, global SO(5) symmetry is spontaneously broken to SO(4), and the pNGBs form an isospin doublet field, which corresponds to the Higgs doublet in the Standard Model (SM). Predicted coupling constants of the Higgs boson can in general deviate from the SM predictions, depending on the compositeness parameter. The deviation pattern is determined also by the detail of the matter sector. We comprehensively study how the model can be tested via measuring single and double production processes of the Higgs boson at LHC and future electron-positron colliders. The possibility to distinguish the matter sector among the minimal composite Higgs models is also discussed. In addition, we point out differences in the cross section of double Higgs boson production from the prediction in other new physics models.

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Spontaneous thermal Leptogenesis via Majoron oscillation

A novel model of spontaneous Leptogenesis is investigated, where it takes place in the thermal equilibrium due to a background Nambu-Goldstone field in motion. In particular, we identify the Nambu-Goldstone field to be the Majoron which associates with spontaneous breakdown of (discrete) $B-L$ symmetry. In this scenario sufficient lepton number asymmetry is generated in primordial thermal bath without having $CP$-violating out-of-equilibrium decay of the heavy right-handed Majorana neutrinos. To obtain the observed baryon asymmetry, the neutrino masses are predicted in certain ranges, which can be translated into the effective mass of the neutrinoless double beta decay.

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Probing composite Higgs models by measuring phase shifts at LHC

Composite Higgs models are an attractive scenario, where the discovered Higgs boson is regarded as a Nambu-Goldstone boson associated with spontaneous breakdown of a global symmetry of more fundamental theory. This class of models predicts violation of perturbative unitarity at high energies, and new resonances are expected to appear around TeV scale to maintain the unitarity, while a sizable phase shift is predicted in certain scattering amplitude. We investigate the new resonance scale from the phase shift by drawing analogies with pion physics in QCD. The detectability of the phase shift at LHC and the ILC is also discussed. This talk was given in {\it HPNP 2015} at University of Toyama and based on the work in collaboration with S.~Kanemura, T.~Shindou and N.~Machida (arXiv:1410.8413 [hep-ph]).

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Gravitational effects on vanishing Higgs potential at the Planck scale

We investigate gravitational effects on the so-called multiple point criticality principle (MPCP) at the Planck scale. The MPCP requires two degenerate vacua, whose necessary conditions are expressed by vanishing Higgs quartic coupling $λ(M_{\rm Pl})=0$ and vanishing its $β$ function $β_λ(M_{\rm Pl})=0$. We discuss a case that a specific form of gravitational corrections are assumed to contribute to $β$ functions of coupling constants although it is accepted that gravitational corrections do not alter the running of the standard model (SM) couplings. To satisfy the above two boundary conditions at the Planck scale, we find that the top pole mass and the Higgs mass should be $170.8\,{\rm GeV} \lesssim M_t\lesssim 171.7\,{\rm GeV}$ and $M_h=125.7\pm0.4\,{\rm GeV}$, respectively, as well as include suitable magnitude of gravitational effects (a coefficient of gravitational contribution as $|a_λ| > 2$). In this case, however, since the Higgs quartic coupling $λ$ becomes negative below the Planck scale, two vacua are not degenerate. We find that $M_h \gtrsim 131.5\,{\rm GeV}$ with $M_t \gtrsim 174\,{\rm GeV}$ is required by the realization of the MPCP. Therefore, the MPCP at the Planck scale cannot be realized in the SM and also the SM with gravity since $M_h \gtrsim 131.5\,{\rm GeV}$ is experimentally ruled out.

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New resonance scale and fingerprint identification in minimal composite Higgs models

Composite Higgs models are an intriguing scenario in which the Higgs particle is identified as a pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson associated with spontaneous breaking of some global symmetry above the electroweak scale. They would predict new resonances at high energy scales, some of which can appear at multi-TeV scales. In such a case, analogies with pion physics in QCD that a sizable phase shift is predicted in pion-pion scattering processes might help us to evaluate scales of the resonances.In this paper, we discuss two complementary approaches to investigate the compositeness scale in minimal composite Higgs models. First, we discuss the bound on vector boson scattering from perturbative unitarity, and we evaluate the phase shift of the scattering amplitude, assuming that the same fitting function can be applied as the case in the pion physics. We then obtain the relation between possible phase shifts and promising new resonance scales. We also investigate the possibility to measure the phase shift at LHC and the future hadron colliders. Second, we classify deviations in Higgs coupling constants from the standard model predictions in various kinds of the minimal composite Higgs models. We then discuss a possibility to discriminate a specific minimal composite Higgs model from the other models with extended Higgs sectors by utilizing deviation patterns in the Higgs boson couplings by future precision measurements.

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CνB absorption line in the neutrino spectrum at IceCube

The observed neutrino flux can be as a whole well fitted by a simple power-law of the neutrino energy $E_ν$, $E_ν^{-γ_ν}$ ($γ_ν\simeq 2$). As a notable feature of the spectrum, however, it has a gap between 500 TeV and 1 PeV. Although the existence of the gap in the neutrino spectrum is not statistically significant at this point, it is very enticing to ask whether it might hint some physics beyond the Standard Model. In this paper, we investigate a possibility that the gap can be interpreted as an absorption line in the power-law spectrum by the cosmic neutrino background through a new resonance in the MeV range. We also show that the absorption line has rich information about not only the MeV scale new particle but also the neutrino masses as well as the distances to the astrophysical sources of the high energy neutrinos. Viable models to achieve this possibility are also discussed.

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