arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to L. Lavoura.
I provide a simple derivation of the Buchalla-Safir bound on gamma. I generalize it to the case where an upper bound on the phase of the penguin pollution is assumed. I apply the Buchalla-Safir bound, and its generalization, to the recent Belle data on CP violation in B --> pi+ pi-.
Quark flavor mixing may originate in the soft breaking of horizontal symmetries. Those symmetries, which in the simplest case are three family U(1) groups, are obeyed only by the dimension-4 Yukawa couplings and lead, when unbroken, to the absence of mixing. Their breaking may arise from the dimension-3 mass terms of SU(2)-singlet vector-like quarks. Those gauge-singlet mass terms break the horizontal symmetries at a scale much higher than the Fermi scale, yet softly, leading to quark mixing while the quark masses remain unsuppressed.
We discuss the problem of the small ratio of muon mass to tau mass in a class of seesaw models where maximal atmospheric neutrino mixing is enforced through a $μ$--$τ$ interchange symmetry. We introduce into those models an additional symmetry $T$ such that $m_μ= 0$ in the case of exact $T$ invariance. The symmetry $T$ may be softly broken in the Higgs potential, and one thus achieves $m_μ\ll m_τ$ in a technically natural way. We speculate on a wider applicability of this mechanism.
We discuss a neutrino mass matrix $\mathcal{M}_ν$ originally found by Babu, Ma, and Valle (BMV) and show that this mass matrix can be characterized by a simple algebraic relation. From this relation it follows that atmospheric neutrino mixing is exactly maximal while at the same time an arbitrary mixing angle $θ_{13}$ of the lepton mixing matrix $U$ is allowed and--in the usual phase convention--CP violation in mixing is maximal; moreover, neither the neutrino mass spectrum nor the solar mixing angle are restricted. We put forward a simple seesaw extension of the Standard Model where the family lepton numbers are softly broken by the Majorana mass terms of the right-handed neutrino singlets and the BMV mass matrix results from a non-standard $CP$ symmetry.
We discuss two types of neutrino mass matrices which both give $θ_{23} = 45^\circ$, i.e., a maximal atmospheric mixing angle. We review three models, based on the seesaw mechanism and on simple extensions of the scalar sector of the Standard Model, where those mass matrices are obtained from symmetries.
We propose a discrete non-abelian symmetry group which enforces maximal atmospheric neutrino mixing, while $θ_{13} = 0$ and the solar mixing angle $θ_{12}$ remains undetermined; without finetuning, $θ_{12}$ will be large but non-maximal. Our extension of the Standard Model has three right-handed neutrino singlets $ν_R$ and implements the seesaw mechanism. Furthermore, we have an enlarged scalar sector with three Higgs doublets and two scalar gauge singlets; the latter have masses and vacuum expectation values of the order of the seesaw scale. Lepton mixing stems exclusively from the $ν_R$ Majorana mass matrix, where non-diagonal elements are generated by the vacuum expectation values of the scalar singlets. The model predicts a neutrino mass spectrum with $m_3 > m_2 > m_1$ and the effective Majorana mass of neutrinoless $ββ$ decay is equal to $m_1 m_2 / m_3$.
At one-loop level the decay f1 --> f2 gamma, where f1 and f2 are two spin-1/2 particles with the same electric charge, is mediated by a boson B and a spin-1/2 fermion F. The boson B may have either spin 0 - interacting with the fermions through Dirac matrices 1 and gamma5 - or spin 1 - with V+A and V-A couplings to the fermions. I give general formulae for the one-loop electroweak amplitude of f1 --> f2 gamma in all these cases.
We show that maximal atmospheric and large solar neutrino mixing can be implemented in SU(5) gauge theories, by making use of the $U(1)_F$ symmetry associated with a suitably defined family number $F$, together with a $\mathbbm{Z}_2$ symmetry which does not commute with $F$. $U(1)_F$ is softly broken by the mass terms of the right-handed neutrino singlets, which are responsible for the seesaw mechanism; in addition, $U(1)_F$ is also spontaneously broken at the electroweak scale. In our scenario, lepton mixing stems exclusively from the right-handed-neutrino Majorana mass matrix, whereas the CKM matrix originates solely in the up-type-quark sector. We show that, despite the non-supersymmetric character of our model, unification of the gauge couplings can be achieved at a scale $10^{16} \mathrm{GeV} < m_U < 10^{19} \mathrm{GeV}$; indeed, we have found a particular solution to this problem which yields results almost identical to the ones of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model.
We consider the lepton sector of the Standard Model and allow for an arbitrary number of Higgs doublets and, moreover, for the presence of right-handed neutrino singlets which enable the seesaw mechanism. In this framework, we identify and calculate the dominant one-loop radiative corrections to the tree-level mass matrix of the light neutrinos. The interesting feature is that both the tree-level and the one-loop contributions to the light-neutrino mass matrix are quadratic in the Yukawa couplings, with the effect that the one-loop contribution is smaller than the tree-level one mainly because of the one-loop factor $(16π^2)^{-1}$. We also point out the possibility of generating radiatively--in this framework--the ratio of solar over atmospheric neutrino mass-squared differences, as needed for the large-mixing-angle MSW solution of the solar-neutrino problem.
We consider the Standard Model with an arbitrary number n_H of Higgs doublets and enlarge the lepton sector by adding to each lepton family \ell a right-handed neutrino singlet ν_{\ell R}. We assume that all Yukawa-coupling matrices are diagonal, but the Majorana mass matrix M_R of the right-handed neutrino singlets is an arbitrary symmetric matrix, thereby introducing an explicit but soft violation of all lepton numbers. We investigate lepton-flavor-violating processes within this model. We pay particular attention to the large-m_R behavior of the amplitudes for these processes, where m_R is the order of magnitude of the matrix elements of M_R. While the amplitudes for processes like tau^- --> mu^- gamma and Z --> tau^+ mu^- drop as 1/m_R^2 for arbitrary n_H, processes like tau^- --> mu^- e^+ e^- and mu^- --> e^- e^+ e^- obey this power law only for n_H = 1. For n_H \geq 2, on the contrary, those amplitudes do not fall off when m_R increases, rather they converge towards constants. This non-decoupling of the right-handed scale occurs because of the sub-process ell^- --> ell'^- {S_b^0}^*, where S_b^0 is a neutral scalar which subsequently decays to e^+ e^-. That sub-process has a contribution from charged-scalar exchange which, for n_H \geq 2, does not decrease when m_R tends to infinity. We also perform a general study of the non-decoupling and argue that, after performing the limit m_R --> \infty and removing the ν_R from the Lagrangian, our model becomes a multi-Higgs-doublet Standard Model with suppressed flavor-changing Yukawa couplings. Finally, we show that, with the usual assumptions about the mass scales in the seesaw mechanism, the branching ratios of all lepton-flavor-changing processes are several orders of magnitude smaller than present experimental limits.
We discuss models where the U(1) symmetries of lepton numbers are responsible for maximal neutrino mixing. We pay particular attention to an extension of the Standard Model with three right-handed neutrino singlets in which we require that the three lepton numbers L_e, L_μ, and L_τbe separately conserved in the Yukawa couplings, but assume that they are softly broken by the Majorana mass matrix M_R of the neutrino singlets. In this framework, where lepton-number breaking occurs at a scale much higher than the electroweak scale, deviations from family lepton number conservation are calculable, i.e., finite, and lepton mixing stems exclusively from M_R. We show that in this framework either maximal atmospheric neutrino mixing or maximal solar neutrino mixing or both can be imposed by invoking symmetries. In this way those maximal mixings are stable against radiative corrections. The model which achieves maximal (or nearly maximal) solar neutrino mixing assumes that there are two different scales in M_R and that the lepton number \bar L = L_e - L_μ- L_τis conserved in between them. We work out the difference between this model and the conventional scenario where (approximate) \bar L invariance is imposed directly on the mass matrix of the light neutrinos.
We consider lepton mixing in an extension of the Standard Model with three right-handed neutrino singlets. We require that the three lepton numbers L_e, L_μ, and L_τbe separately conserved in the Yukawa couplings, and we assume that they are softly broken only by the Majorana mass matrix M_R of the neutrino singlets. In this framework, where lepton-number breaking occurs at a scale much higher than the electroweak scale, deviations from family-lepton-number conservation are calculable and finite, and lepton mixing stems exclusively from M_R. We then show that a discrete symmetry exists such that, in the lepton mixing matrix U, maximal atmospheric neutrino mixing together with U_{e3}=0 can be obtained naturally. Alternatively, if one assumes that there are two different scales in M_R and that the lepton number \bar L = L_e - L_μ- L_τis conserved in between them, then maximal solar neutrino mixing follows naturally. If both the discrete symmetry and intermediate \bar L conservation are introduced, bimaximal mixing is achieved.
We consider the decays of a correlated neutral-meson--antimeson state with C-parity +1. We show that there is CPT noninvariance in the mixing of the neutral mesons if, for any two decay modes f and g, the decay rate has a component R_A which is antisymmetric under the interchange of the decay times t_1 and t_2. In particular, one may cleanly extract the CPT-noninvariance parameter with the help of R_A by using opposite-sign dilepton events.
We develop a recipe which allows one to recursively and uniquely decouple the large scale from the small scale in mass matrices of the seesaw type, up to any order in the inverse of the large scale. Our method allows one to calculate the mass matrix of the light neutrinos with arbitrary precision. The same method can be applied in the case of quark mass matrices in an extension of the Standard Model with vector-like quarks which have mass terms at a scale much higher than the electroweak scale.
We enlarge the lepton sector of the Standard Model by adding to it two right-handed neutrino singlets, and propose a model based on the seesaw mechanism and on the lepton number $\bar L = L_e - L_μ- L_τ$. The model is innovative from the theoretical point of view in that the $\bar L$-invariant mass term of the right-handed neutrinos is associated with the large mass scale responsible for the seesaw mechanism, whereas $\bar L$ is softly broken at a smaller scale by the remaining Majorana mass terms of the right-handed neutrinos. While being very economical, the model has predictive power: one neutrino is massless ($m_3 = 0$), the lepton mixing matrix $U$ features $U_{e3} = 0$, and the solar-neutrino oscillations have maximal amplitude.
We propose a model which uses the seesaw mechanism and the lepton number $\bar L = L_e - L_μ- L_τ$ to achieve the neutrino mass spectrum $m_1 = m_2$ and $m_3 = 0$, together with a lepton mixing matrix $U$ with $U_{e3} = 0$. In this way, we accommodate atmospheric neutrino oscillations. A small mass splitting $m_1 > m_2$ is generated by breaking $\bar L$ spontaneously and using Babu's two-loop mechanism. This allows us to incorporate ``just so'' solar-neutrino oscillations with maximal mixing into the model. The resulting mass matrix has three parameters only, since $\bar L$ breaking leads exclusively to a non-zero $ee$ matrix element.
I suggest a model based on a softly broken symmetry L_e - L_mu - L_tau and on Babu's mechanism for two-loops radiative generation of the neutrino masses. The model predicts that one of the physical neutrinos (nu_3) is massless and that its component along the nu_e direction (U_e3) is zero. Moreover, if the soft-breaking term is assumed to be very small, then the vacuum oscillations of nu_e have almost maximal amplitude and solve the solar-neutrino problem. New scalars are predicted in the 10 TeV energy range, and a breakdown of e-mu-tau universality should not be far from existing experimental bounds.
In tagged cascade decays of the type P^0 (P^0-bar) -> M^0 / M^0-bar X -> f X there are two complex CPT-violating parameters: one in P^0 - P^0-bar mixing, the other one in M^0 - M^0-bar mixing. I analyze those decays and find that, in principle, the former parameter can be extracted from a careful comparison of their time dependences. CPT violation in M^0 - M^0-bar mixing, on the other hand, always appears entangled with ratios of decay amplitudes and cannot be extracted.