arXiv subjects

M. Drewes

Publications and source records attributed to M. Drewes.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

ECFA Higgs, electroweak, and top Factory Study

The ECFA Higgs, electroweak, and top Factory Study ran between 2021 and 2025 as a broad effort across the experimental and theoretical particle physics communities, bringing together participants from many different proposed future collider projects. Activities across three main working groups advanced the joint development of tools and analysis techniques, fostered new considerations of detector design and optimisation, and led to a new set of studies resulting in improved projected sensitivities across a wide physics programme. This report demonstrates the significant expansion in the state-of-the-art understanding of the physics potential of future e+e- Higgs, electroweak, and top factories, and has been submitted as input to the 2025 European Strategy for Particle Physics Update.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2024

Confronting the low-scale seesaw and leptogenesis with neutrinoless double beta decay

We revisit the impact of heavy neutrinos with masses in the MeV-GeV range on neutrinoless double beta decay ($0\nu\beta\beta$) in view of updated results for the lifetime of this process. Working in a minimal realistic extension of the Standard Model by two right-handed neutrino flavours, we show that the non-observation of $0\nu\beta\beta$ will impose strong bounds on the heavy neutrino properties that are complementary to the limits obtained from Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and collider searches. For an inverted mass hierarchy of the light neutrinos we find that improved limits on $0\nu\beta\beta$ from next-generation experiments, assuming an improvement of two orders of magnitude on the current $0\nu\beta\beta$ limits will restrict the allowed parameter space for fixed mass splitting to narrow bands in the mass-mixing plane. Further combining this with the requirement to explain the baryon asymmetry of the universe via leptogenesis reduces these bands to windows in parameter space that are constrained in all directions and can be targeted by direct searches at accelerators, and restricts the mass splitting to values that can be resolved at experiments. For a normal mass hierarchy, restricting the allowed parameter will require even stronger $0\nu\beta\beta$ limits, and only parts of the parameter space can then be probed.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Prospects for Heavy Neutral Lepton Searches at Short and Medium Baseline Reactor Experiments

Heavy neutrinos with masses in the MeV range can in principle simultaneously explain the light neutrino masses and the origin of baryonic matter in the universe. The strongest constraints on their properties come from their potential impact on the formation of light elements in the early universe. Since these constraints rely on assumptions about the cosmic history, independent checks in the laboratory are highly desirable. In this paper, we discuss the opportunity to search for heavy neutrinos within the MeV mass range in short and medium baseline reactor neutrino experiments, using the SoLid, JUNO and TAO experiments as examples. These experiments can give the currently strongest upper bound on the mixing between the light electron neutrinos and the heavy neutrino in the 2-9 MeV mass range.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

Feebly Interacting Particles: FIPs 2022 workshop report

Particle physics today faces the challenge of explaining the mystery of dark matter, the origin of matter over anti-matter in the Universe, the origin of the neutrino masses, the apparent fine-tuning of the electro-weak scale, and many other aspects of fundamental physics. Perhaps the most striking frontier to emerge in the search for answers involves new physics at mass scales comparable to familiar matter, below the GeV-scale, or even radically below, down to sub-eV scales, and with very feeble interaction strength. New theoretical ideas to address dark matter and other fundamental questions predict such feebly interacting particles (FIPs) at these scales, and indeed, existing data provide numerous hints for such possibility. A vibrant experimental program to discover such physics is under way, guided by a systematic theoretical approach firmly grounded on the underlying principles of the Standard Model. This document represents the report of the FIPs 2022 workshop, held at CERN between the 17 and 21 October 2022 and aims to give an overview of these efforts, their motivations, and the decadal goals that animate the community involved in the search for FIPs.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2022

Searches for Long-Lived Particles at the Future FCC-ee

The electron-positron stage of the Future Circular Collider, FCC-ee, is a frontier factory for Higgs, top, electroweak, and flavour physics. It is designed to operate in a 100 km circular tunnel built at CERN, and will serve as the first step towards $\geq$ 100 TeV proton-proton collisions. In addition to an essential and unique Higgs program, it offers powerful opportunities to discover direct or indirect evidence of physics beyond the Standard Model. Direct searches for long-lived particles at FCC-ee could be particularly fertile in the high-luminosity $Z$ run, where $5\times 10^{12}$ $Z$ bosons are anticipated to be produced for the configuration with two interaction points. The high statistics of Higgs bosons, $W$ bosons and top quarks in very clean experimental conditions could offer additional opportunities at other collision energies. Three physics cases producing long-lived signatures at FCC-ee are highlighted and studied in this paper: heavy neutral leptons (HNLs), axion-like particles (ALPs), and exotic decays of the Higgs boson. These searches motivate out-of-the-box optimization of experimental conditions and analysis techniques, that could lead to improvements in other physics searches.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2021

EuCAPT White Paper: Opportunities and Challenges for Theoretical Astroparticle Physics in the Next Decade

Astroparticle physics is undergoing a profound transformation, due to a series of extraordinary new results, such as the discovery of high-energy cosmic neutrinos with IceCube, the direct detection of gravitational waves with LIGO and Virgo, and many others. This white paper is the result of a collaborative effort that involved hundreds of theoretical astroparticle physicists and cosmologists, under the coordination of the European Consortium for Astroparticle Theory (EuCAPT). Addressed to the whole astroparticle physics community, it explores upcoming theoretical opportunities and challenges for our field of research, with particular emphasis on the possible synergies among different subfields, and the prospects for solving the most fundamental open questions with multi-messenger observations.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2018

Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter

We review sterile neutrinos as possible Dark Matter candidates. After a short summary on the role of neutrinos in cosmology and particle physics, we give a comprehensive overview of the current status of the research on sterile neutrino Dark Matter. First we discuss the motivation and limits obtained through astrophysical observations. Second, we review different mechanisms of how sterile neutrino Dark Matter could have been produced in the early universe. Finally, we outline a selection of future laboratory searches for keV-scale sterile neutrinos, highlighting their experimental challenges and discovery potential.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2017

ARS Leptogenesis

We review the current status of the leptogenesis scenario originally proposed by Akhmedov, Rubakov and Smirnov (ARS). It takes place in the parametric regime where the right-handed neutrinos are at the electroweak scale or below and the CP-violating effects are induced by the coherent superposition of different right-handed mass eigenstates. Two main theoretical approaches to derive quantum kinetic equations, the Hamiltonian time evolution as well as the Closed-Time-Path technique are presented, and we discuss their relations. For scenarios with two right-handed neutrinos, we chart the viable parameter space. Both, a Bayesian analysis, that determines the most likely configurations for viable leptogenesis given different variants of flat priors, and a determination of the maximally allowed mixing between the light, mostly left-handed, and heavy, mostly right-handed, neutrino states are discussed. Rephasing invariants are shown to be a useful tool to classify and to understand various distinct contributions to ARS leptogenesis that can dominate in different parametric regimes. While these analyses are carried out for the parametric regime where initial asymmetries are generated predominantly from lepton-number conserving, but flavor violating effects, we also review the contributions from lepton-number violating operators and identify the regions of parameter space where these are relevant.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2017

Probing Leptogenesis

The focus of this chapter lies on the possible experimental tests of leptogenesis scenarios. We consider both leptogenesis generated from oscillations, as well as leptogenesis from out-of-equilibrium decays. As the Akhmedov-Rubakov-Smirnov (ARS) mechanism allows for heavy neutrinos in the GeV range, this opens up a plethora of possible experimental tests, e.g. at neutrino oscillation experiments, neutrinoless double beta decay, and direct searches for neutral heavy leptons at future facilities. In contrast, testing leptogenesis from out-of-equilibrium decays is a quite difficult task. We comment on the necessary conditions for having successful leptogenesis at the TeV-scale. We further discuss possible realizations and their model specific testability in extended seesaw models, models with extended gauge sectors, and supersymmetric leptogenesis. Not being able to test high-scale leptogenesis directly, we present a way to falsify such scenarios by focusing on their washout processes. This is discussed specifically for the left-right symmetric model and the observation of a heavy $W_R$, as well as model independently when measuring $ΔL = 2$ washout processes at the LHC or neutrinoless double beta decay.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2017

A White Paper on keV Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter

We present a comprehensive review of keV-scale sterile neutrino Dark Matter, collecting views and insights from all disciplines involved - cosmology, astrophysics, nuclear, and particle physics - in each case viewed from both theoretical and experimental/observational perspectives. After reviewing the role of active neutrinos in particle physics, astrophysics, and cosmology, we focus on sterile neutrinos in the context of the Dark Matter puzzle. Here, we first review the physics motivation for sterile neutrino Dark Matter, based on challenges and tensions in purely cold Dark Matter scenarios. We then round out the discussion by critically summarizing all known constraints on sterile neutrino Dark Matter arising from astrophysical observations, laboratory experiments, and theoretical considerations. In this context, we provide a balanced discourse on the possibly positive signal from X-ray observations. Another focus of the paper concerns the construction of particle physics models, aiming to explain how sterile neutrinos of keV-scale masses could arise in concrete settings beyond the Standard Model of elementary particle physics. The paper ends with an extensive review of current and future astrophysical and laboratory searches, highlighting new ideas and their experimental challenges, as well as future perspectives for the discovery of sterile neutrinos.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2013

Quantum Leptogenesis I

Thermal leptogenesis explains the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry of the universe in terms of neutrino masses, consistent with neutrino oscillation experiments. We present a full quantum mechanical calculation of the generated lepton asymmetry based on Kadanoff-Baym equations. Origin of the asymmetry is the departure from equilibrium of the statistical propagator of the heavy Majorana neutrino, together with CP violating couplings. The lepton asymmetry is calculated directly in terms of Green's functions without referring to "number densities". Compared to Boltzmann and quantum Boltzmann equations, the crucial difference are memory effects, rapid oscillations much faster than the heavy neutrino equilibration time. These oscillations strongly suppress the generated lepton asymmetry, unless the standard model gauge interactions, which cause thermal damping, are properly taken into account. We find that these damping effects essentially compensate the enhancement due to quantum statistical factors, so that finally the conventional Boltzmann equations again provide rather accurate predictions for the lepton asymmetry.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2010

Leptogenesis from Quantum Interference in a Thermal Bath

Thermal leptogenesis explains the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry of the universe in terms of neutrino masses, consistent with neutrino oscillation experiments. We present a full quantum mechanical calculation of the generated lepton asymmetry based on Kadanoff-Baym equations. Origin of the asymmetry is the departure of the statistical propagator of the heavy Majorana neutrino from the equilibrium propagator, together with CP violating couplings. The lepton asymmetry is calculated directly in terms of Green's functions without referring to `number densities'. A detailed comparison with Boltzmann equations shows that conventional leptogenesis calculations have an uncertainty of at least one order of magnitude. Particularly important is the inclusion of thermal damping rates in the full quantum mechanical calculation.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2008

Nonequilibrium Dynamics of Scalar Fields in a Thermal Bath

We study the approach to equilibrium for a scalar field which is coupled to a large thermal bath. Our analysis of the initial value problem is based on Kadanoff-Baym equations which are shown to be equivalent to a stochastic Langevin equation. The interaction with the thermal bath generates a temperature-dependent spectral density, either through decay and inverse decay processes or via Landau damping. In equilibrium, energy density and pressure are determined by the Bose-Einstein distribution function evaluated at a complex quasi-particle pole. The time evolution of the statistical propagator is compared with solutions of the Boltzmann equations for particles as well as quasi-particles. The dependence on initial conditions and the range of validity of the Boltzmann approximation are determined.

hep-th↗