arXiv subjects

M. C. Gonzalez-Garcia

Publications and source records attributed to M. C. Gonzalez-Garcia.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

arXiv2012

Global fit to three neutrino mixing: critical look at present precision

We present an up-to-date global analysis of solar, atmospheric, reactor, and accelerator neutrino data in the framework of three-neutrino oscillations. We provide results on the determination of theta_13 from global data and discuss the dependence on the choice of reactor fluxes. We study in detail the statistical significance of a possible deviation of theta_23 from maximal mixing, the determination of its octant, the ordering of the mass states, and the sensitivity to the CP violating phase, and discuss the role of various complementary data sets in those respects.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2012

Dark Radiation and Decaying Matter

Recent cosmological measurements favour additional relativistic energy density beyond the one provided by the three active neutrinos and photons of the Standard Model (SM). This is often referred to as "dark radiation", suggesting the need of new light states in the theory beyond those of the SM. In this paper, we study and numerically explore the alternative possibility that this increase comes from the decay of some new form of heavy matter into the SM neutrinos. We study the constraints on the decaying matter density and its lifetime, using data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe, the South Pole Telescope, measurements of the Hubble constant at present time, the results from high-redshift Type-I supernovae and the information on the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation scale. We, moreover, include in our analysis the information on the presence of additional contributions to the expansion rate of the Universe at the time of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. We compare the results obtained in this decaying matter scenario with those obtained with the standard analysis in terms of a constant $N_{\rm eff}$.

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arXiv2012

Dark Radiation Confronting LHC in Z' Models

Recent cosmological data favour additional relativistic degrees of freedom beyond the three active neutrinos and photons, often referred to as "dark radiation". Extensions of the SM involving TeV-scale Z' gauge bosons generically contain superweakly interacting light right-handed neutrinos which can constitute this dark radiation. In this letter we confront the requirement on the parameters of the E6 Z' models to account for the present evidence of dark radiation with the already existing constraints from searches for new neutral gauge bosons at LHC7.

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arXiv2012

EUROnu-WP6 2010 Report

This is a summary of the work done by the Working Package 6 (Physics) of the EU project "EUROnu" during the second year of activity of the project.

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arXiv2011

Present Bounds on New Neutral Vector Resonances from Electroweak Gauge Boson Pair Production at the LHC

Several extensions of the Standard Model predict the existence of new neutral spin-1 resonances associated to the electroweak symmetry breaking sector. Using the data from ATLAS (with integrated luminosity of L=1.02 fb^{-1}) and CMS (with integrated luminosity of L=1.55 fb^{-1}) on the production of W+W- pairs through the process pp -> l^+ l^{\prime -} \sla{E}_T, we place model independent bounds on these new vector resonances masses, couplings and widths. Our analyses show that the present data excludes new neutral vector resonances with masses up to 1-2.3 TeV depending on their couplings and widths. We also demonstrate how to extend our analysis framework to different models working a specific example.

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arXiv2011

Neutrino Masses at LHC: Minimal Lepton Flavour Violation in Type-III See-saw

We study the signatures of minimal lepton flavour violation in a simple Type-III see - saw model in which the flavour scale is given by the new fermion triplet mass and it can be naturally light enough to be produced at the LHC. In this model the flavour structure of the lepton number conserving couplings of the triplet fermions to the Standard Model leptons can be reconstructed from the neutrino mass matrix and the smallness of the neutrino mass is associated with a tiny violation of total lepton number. Characteristic signatures of this model include suppressed lepton number violation decays of the triplet fermions, absence of displaced vertices in their decays and predictable lepton flavour composition of the states produced in their decays. We study the observability of these signals in the processes $pp\rightarrow 3\ell + 2j +\Sla{E_T}$ and $pp\rightarrow 2\ell + 4j$ with $\ell =e$ or $μ$ taking into account the present low energy data on neutrino physics and the corresponding Standard Model backgrounds. Our results indicate that the new fermionic states can be observed for masses up to 500 GeV depending on the CP violating Majorana phase for an integrated luminosity of 30 fb$^{-1}$. Moreover, the flavour of the final state leptons in the above processes can shed light on the neutrino mass ordering.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2011

Determination of the Spin of New Resonances in Electroweak Gauge Boson Pair Production at the LHC

The appearance of spin-1 resonances associated to the electroweak symmetry breaking (EWSB) sector is expected in many extensions of the Standard Model. We analyze the CERN Large Hadron Collider potential to probe the spin of possible new charged and neutral vector resonances through the purely leptonic processes pp --> Z^\prime --> l^+ l^{\prime -} Emiss_T, and pp --> W^\prime --> l^{\prime \pm} l^+ l^- Emiss_T, with l, l^\prime = e or μ. We perform a model independent analysis and demonstrate that the spin of the new states can be determined with 99% CL in a large fraction of the parameter space where these resonances can be observed with 100 fb^{-1}. We show that the best sensitivity to the spin is obtained by directly studying correlations between the final state leptons, without the need of reconstructing the events in their center-of-mass frames.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2011

Leptogenesis from Soft Supersymmetry Breaking (Soft Leptogenesis)

Soft leptogenesis is a scenario in which the cosmic baryon asymmetry is produced from a lepton asymmetry generated in the decays of heavy sneutrinos (the partners of the singlet neutrinos of the seesaw) and where the relevant sources of CP violation are the complex phases of soft supersymmetry-breaking terms. We explain the motivations for soft leptogenesis, and review its basic ingredients: the different CP-violating contributions, the crucial role played by thermal corrections, and the enhancement of the efficiency from lepton flavour effects. We also discuss the high temperature regime $T > 10^7$ GeV in which the cosmic baryon asymmetry originates from an initial asymmetry of an anomalous $R$-charge, and soft leptogenesis reembodies in $R$-genesis.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2011

GRBs on probation: testing the UHE CR paradigm with IceCube

Gamma ray burst (GRB) fireballs provide one of very few astrophysical environments where one can contemplate the acceleration of cosmic rays to energies that exceed 10^20 eV. The assumption that GRBs are the sources of the observed cosmic rays generates a calculable flux of neutrinos produced when the protons interact with fireball photons. With data taken during construction IceCube has already reached a sensitivity to observe neutrinos produced in temporal coincidence with individual GRBs provided that they are the sources of the observed extragalactic cosmic rays. We here point out that the GRB origin of cosmic rays is also challenged by the IceCube upper limit on a possible diffuse flux of cosmic neutrinos which should not be exceeded by the flux produced by all GRB over Hubble time. Our alternative approach has the advantage of directly relating the diffuse flux produced by all GRBs to measurements of the cosmic ray flux. It also generates both the neutrino flux produced by the sources and the associated cosmogenic neutrino flux in a synergetic way.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2011

Scrutinizing the ZW+W- vertex at the Large Hadron Collider at 7 TeV

We analyze the potential of the CERN Large Hadron Collider running at 7 TeV to search for deviations from the Standard Model predictions for the triple gauge boson coupling ZW+W- assuming an integrated luminosity of 1 fb^{-1}. We show that the study of W+W- and W^\pm Z productions, followed by the leptonic decay of the weak gauge bosons can improve the present sensitivity on the anomalous couplings Δg_1^Z, Δκ_Z, λ_Z, g_4^Z, and \tildeλ_Z at the 2σlevel.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2011

Updated global fit to three neutrino mixing: status of the hints of theta13 > 0

We present an up-to-date global analysis of solar, atmospheric, reactor and accelerator neutrino data in the framework of three-neutrino oscillations. We discuss in detail the statistical significance of the observed "hint" of non-zero theta13 in the solar sector at the light of the latest experimental advances, such as the Borexino spectral data, the lower value of Gallium rate recently measured in SAGE, and the low energy threshold analysis of the combined SNO phase I and phase II. We also study the robustness of the results under changes of the inputs such as the choice of solar model fluxes and a possible modification of the Gallium capture cross-section as proposed by SAGE. In the atmospheric sector we focus on the latest results for nu_e appearance from MINOS and on the recent Super-Kamiokande results from the combined phases I, II and III, and we discuss their impact on the determination of theta13. Finally, we combine all the data into a global analysis and determine the presently allowed ranges of masses and mixing.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2011

Direct determination of the solar neutrino fluxes from solar neutrino data

We determine the solar neutrino fluxes from a global analysis of the solar and terrestrial neutrino data in the framework of three-neutrino mixing. Using a Bayesian approach we reconstruct the posterior probability distribution function for the eight normalization parameters of the solar neutrino fluxes plus the relevant masses and mixing, with and without imposing the luminosity constraint. This is done by means of a Markov Chain Monte Carlo employing the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm. We also describe how these results can be applied to test the predictions of the Standard Solar Models. Our results show that, at present, both models with low and high metallicity can describe the data with good statistical agreement.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2011

Robust Cosmological Bounds on Neutrinos and their Combination with Oscillation Results

We perform a global analysis of cosmological observables in generalized cosmologies which depart from $Λ$CDM models by allowing non-vanishing curvature $Ω_k\neq 0$, dark energy with equation of state with $ω\neq -1$, the presence of additional relativistic degrees of freedom $ΔN_{\rm rel}$, and neutrino masses $Ω_ν\neq 0$. By combining the data from cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments (in particular the latest results from WMAP-7), the present day Hubble constant (H0) measurement, the high-redshift Type-I supernovae (SN) results and the information from large scale structure (LSS) surveys, we determine the parameters in the 10-dimensional parameter space for such models. We present the results from the analysis when the full shape information from the LSS matter power spectrum (LSSPS) is included versus when only the corresponding distance measurement from the baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) is accounted for. We compare the bounds on the neutrino mass scale in these generalized scenarios with those obtained for the 6+1 parameter analysis in $Λ{\rm CDM}+m_ν$ models and we also study the dependence of those on the set of observables included in the analysis. Finally we combine these results with the information on neutrino mass differences and mixing from the global analysis of neutrino oscillation experiments and derive the presently allowed ranges for the two laboratory probes of the absolute scale of neutrino mass: the effective electron neutrino mass in single beta decay and the effective Majorana neutrino mass in neutrinoless $ββ$ decay.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2011

Testing matter effects in propagation of atmospheric and long-baseline neutrinos

We quantify our current knowledge of the size and flavor structure of the matter effects in the evolution of atmospheric and long-baseline neutrinos based solely on the analysis of the corresponding neutrino data. To this aim we generalize the matter potential of the Standard Model by rescaling its strength, rotating it away from the e-e sector, and rephasing it with respect to the vacuum term. This phenomenological parametrization can be easily translated in terms of non-standard neutrino interactions in matter. We show that in the most general case, the strength of the potential cannot be determined solely by atmospheric and long-baseline data. However its flavor composition is very much constrained and the present determination of the neutrino masses and mixing is robust under its presence. We also present an update of the constraints arising from this analysis in the particular case in which no potential is present in the e-mu and e-tau sectors. Finally we quantify to what degree in this scenario it is possible to alleviate the tension between the oscillation results for neutrinos and antineutrinos in the MINOS experiment and show the relevance of the high energy part of the spectrum measured at MINOS.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2011

Early Universe effective theories: The Soft Leptogenesis and R-Genesis Cases

We discuss the effective theory appropriate for studying soft leptogenesis at temperatures T>10^7 GeV. In this regime, the main source of the B-L asymmetry is the CP asymmetry of a new anomalous R-charge that couple to generalized anomalous electroweak processes. Baryogenesis thus occurs mainly through R-genesis, and with an efficiency that can be up to two orders of magnitude larger than in usual estimates. Contrary to common belief, a sizeable baryon asymmetry is generated also when thermal corrections to the CP asymmetries in sneutrino decays are neglected which, in soft leptogenesis, implyes vanishing lepton-flavour CP asymmetries. We present general Boltzmann equations for soft leptogenesis that are valid in all temperature regimes.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2010

Flavoured soft leptogenesis and natural values of the B term

We revisit flavour effects in soft leptogenesis relaxing the assumption of universality for the soft supersymmetry breaking terms. We find that with respect to the case in which the heavy sneutrinos decay with equal rates and equal CP asymmetries for all lepton flavours, hierarchical flavour configurations can enhance the efficiency by more than two orders of magnitude. This translates in more than three order of magnitude with respect to the one-flavour approximation. We verify that lepton flavour equilibration effects related to off-diagonal soft slepton masses are ineffective for damping these large enhancements. We show that soft leptogenesis can be successful for unusual values of the relevant parameters, allowing for $B\sim {\cal O}({\rm TeV})$ and for values of the washout parameter up to $m_{\rm eff}/m_* \sim 5\times 10^{3}$.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2010

Supersymmetric Leptogenesis

We study leptogenesis in the supersymmetric standard model plus the seesaw. We identify important qualitative differences that characterize supersymmetric leptogenesis with respect to the non-supersymmetric case. The lepton number asymmetries in fermions and scalars do not equilibrate, and are related via a non-vanishing gaugino chemical potential. Due to the presence of new anomalous symmetries, electroweak sphalerons couple to winos and higgsinos, and QCD sphalerons couple to gluinos, thus modifying the corresponding chemical equilibrium conditions. A new constraint on particles chemical potentials corresponding to an exactly conserved $R$-charge, that also involves the number density asymmetry of the heavy sneutrinos, appears. These new ingredients determine the $3\times 4$ matrices that mix up the density asymmetries of the lepton flavours and of the heavy sneutrinos. We explain why in all temperature ranges the particle thermodynamic system is characterized by the same number of independent quantities. Numerical differences with respect to usual treatment remain at the ${\cal O}(1)$ level.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2010

CP Violation from Scatterings with Gauge Bosons in Leptogenesis

We present an explicit computation of the CP asymmetry in scattering processes involving the heavy right-handed neutrinos of the type I seesaw framework and the Standard Model gauge bosons. Compared to CP violation in two--body decays and in scatterings with top quarks there are new contributions at one loop in the form of new type of vertex corrections as well as of box diagrams. We show that their presence implies that, unlike the CP asymmetry in scatterings with top quarks, the CP asymmetry in scatterings with gauge bosons is different from the two-body decay asymmetry even for hierarchical right-handed neutrinos. This also holds for the L-conserving CP asymmetry in scatterings with U(1)$_Y$ gauge bosons.

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