arXiv subjects

Manuel González-López

Publications and source records attributed to Manuel González-López.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Neutrino t-channels at Colliders: When Light Neutrinos Matter

Heavy Neutral Lepton (HNL)-mediated t-channel processes provide a unique opportunity to probe mass scales beyond the kinematic reach of direct production at high-energy colliders. We revisit these processes using the vector boson scattering channel $WW\to\ell\ell$ at the LHC as a case study, highlighting the essential role of the light neutrinos in restoring the proper high-energy unitary behavior of the scattering amplitude. Their inclusion, overlooked in some previous studies, leads to destructive interference that strongly suppresses lepton number violating signatures, demonstrating that a consistent treatment of the full seesaw spectrum qualitatively alters the phenomenology of t-channel HNL searches. This motivates the exploration of lepton number conserving but lepton flavor violating final states instead. We present a detailed analysis of the $pp\to eμjj$ channel and show that it provides a promising probe of TeV-scale HNLs in low-scale seesaw scenarios with sizable active-sterile mixing, extending the LHC sensitivity beyond existing direct searches.

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arXiv2024

Heavy neutrinos: The chosen ones to bring balance to physics

The Standard Model of Particle Physics has proven to be tremendously successful as the fundamental theory that describes the elementary particles that compose our Universe, as well as the interactions among them. Despite the countless experimental results that have ratified the theoretical predictions of this model, there are sound reasons to think it must be extended. Some are rather theoretical, while others are due to the observation of certain phenomena that the the Standard Model cannot explain. Chief among the latter is the massive nature of neutrinos, the most elusive particles in the Universe, which are rendered massless by the Standard Model. This contradiction establishes the starting point of this PhD thesis, which discusses the role of heavy neutrinos (a hypothetical new type of neutrino) as responsible of generating the mass of the observed neutrinos. Certain extensions of the Standard Model will be explored, which include these new particles and offer common solutions to neutrino masses and to other open problems. The consequences of the interactions of these new neutrinos with Standard Model particles will also be studied, as well as how they can be characterized by the means of present and future experimental observations.

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arXiv2023

Effective portals to heavy neutral leptons

The existence of right-handed neutrinos, or heavy neutral leptons (HNLs), is strongly motivated by the observation of neutrino masses and mixing. The mass of these new particles could lie below the electroweak scale, making them accessible to low-energy laboratory experiments. Additional new physics at high energies can mediate new interactions between the Standard Model particles and HNLs, and is most conveniently parametrized by the neutrino Standard Model Effective Field Theory, or $ν$SMEFT for short. In this work, we consider the dimension six $ν$SMEFT operators involving one HNL field in the mass range of $\mathcal{O}(1)$ MeV $<M_N< \mathcal{O}(100)$ GeV. By recasting existing experimental limits on the production and decay of new light particles, we constrain the Wilson coefficients and new physics scale of each operator as a function of the HNL mass.

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arXiv2022

Right-handed neutrinos and the CDF II anomaly

We point out that right-handed neutrinos can resolve the tension between the latest CDF II measurement of the $W$-boson mass, $M_W$, and the standard model. Integrating out the new states yields a single $d=6$ operator, which induces a deviation from unitarity in the PMNS matrix. This alters the extraction of the Fermi constant from muon decay and increases the prediction for $M_W$, in line with the CDF II result. Non-unitarity of the PMNS matrix would also affect beta, meson, and tau decays. We find that the CDF II value for $M_W$ can be explained without conflicting with lepton flavour universality constraints or the invisible decay width of the $Z$. However, the so-called Cabibbo angle anomaly is worsened if right-handed neutrinos are the origin of the $d=6$ operator. The situation improves if the operator coefficient is left unconstrained, implying additional sources of new physics, but a common explanation of both anomalies is in tension with universality bounds.

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arXiv2022

Dynamical Minimal Flavour Violating Inverse Seesaw

The Inverse Seesaw mechanism is dynamically realised within the Minimal Lepton Flavour Violation context. Lepton number, whose breaking is spontaneously realised, is generalised to a global Abelian factor of the whole flavour symmetry, that also plays the role of the Peccei-Quinn symmetry. The associated Goldstone boson is a Majoraxion that solves the Strong CP problem and represents a Dark Matter candidate. Three distinct scenarios are identified in terms of flavour symmetry and transformation properties of the exotic neutral leptons that enrich the Standard Model spectrum. The associated phenomenology is studied, focusing on the deviations from unitarity of the PMNS mixing matrix. The strongest constraints arise from the determination of the number of active neutrinos through the invisible width of the $Z$, the comparison of the measured $W$ boson mass with its prediction in terms of the Fermi constant from muon decay, and the null searches for the radiative rare muon decay and $μ\to e$ conversion in nuclei. The heavy neutral leptons may have masses of a few TeV, leaving open the possibility for a direct detection at future colliders. The impact of the recent measurement of the $W$ mass at the CDF II detector has also been considered, which, in one of the scenarios, points to a sharp prediction for the masses of the heavy neutral leptons at about $2-3$ TeV.

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arXiv2021

Neutrino Masses and Hubble Tension via a Majoron in MFV

The recent tension between local and early measurements of the Hubble constant can be explained in a particle physics context. A mechanism is presented where this tension is alleviated due to the presence of a Majoron, arising from the spontaneous breaking of Lepton Number. The lightness of the active neutrinos is consistently explained. Moreover, this mechanism is shown to be embeddable in the Minimal (Lepton) Flavour Violating context, providing a correct description of fermion masses and mixings, and protecting the flavour sector from large deviations from the Standard Model predictions. A QCD axion is also present to solve the Strong CP problem. The Lepton Number and the Peccei-Quinn symmetries naturally arise in the Minimal (Lepton) Flavour Violating setup and their spontaneous breaking is due to the presence of two extra scalar singlets. The Majoron phenomenology is also studied in detail. Decays of the heavy neutrinos and the invisible Higgs decay provide the strongest constraints in the model parameter space.

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