arXiv subjects

Natsumi Nagata

Publications and source records attributed to Natsumi Nagata.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

From the LZ Event to Grand Unification: Heavy Higgsinos and Proton Decay

The recently reported LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) event has renewed interest in inelastic Higgsino dark matter. While a weak-scale Higgsino provides a simple interpretation of the event, such a scenario is in tension with the IceCube bound from dark-matter capture and annihilation in the Sun. This tension can be avoided for a much heavier Higgsino, with a mass of order $10^5$ GeV and a neutral-state mass splitting of $\simeq 400$ keV, which in turn points to gaugino masses around $10^7$ GeV. Such a heavy supersymmetric spectrum is often thought to be unfavorable for supersymmetric grand unified theories (GUTs), since it tends to worsen gauge coupling unification and lower the unification scale, potentially leading to excessively rapid proton decay. In this work, we revisit this expectation in minimal supersymmetric SU(5), taking into account the GUT-scale threshold corrections. We show that the resulting unification conditions allow the SU(5) gauge bosons to remain sufficiently heavy when the adjoint-Higgs self-coupling is small, thereby suppressing dimension-six proton decay. At the same time, the color-triplet Higgs mass can remain near the conventional GUT scale, $M_{H_C}\sim 10^{16}$ GeV, particularly when the gluino is significantly heavier than the wino. Remarkably, in this region the dimension-five decay mode $p\to K^+\barν$ can have a lifetime within the reach of next-generation proton-decay searches, including Hyper-Kamiokande, JUNO, and DUNE. We also discuss supersymmetry-breaking scenarios that can give rise to the required supersymmetric mass spectrum.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Asymmetric Inelastic Dark Matter and the LUX-ZEPLIN event

The recent LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) search at high nuclear-recoil energies reported an intriguing candidate event near 250 keV, motivating interpretations in terms of inelastic dark matter. A simple realization with Higgsino dark matter, however, is strongly constrained by capture and subsequent annihilation in the Sun, which would produce a high-energy neutrino flux excluded by IceCube. We propose an asymmetric inelastic dark-matter scenario that naturally avoids this tension. The dark matter is a predominantly Standard-Model-singlet Dirac fermion that mixes weakly with a nearly degenerate electroweak doublet. Its primordial asymmetry is generated by CP-violating out-of-equilibrium decays of heavy Majorana fermions produced nonthermally from inflaton decays, while the symmetric component is efficiently depleted through dark-sector interactions. The absence of an appreciable antiparticle abundance then suppresses dark-matter annihilation in the Sun and eliminates the associated IceCube constraint. The singlet-doublet structure simultaneously yields an off-diagonal Z-boson coupling proportional to the mixing angle, whereas the diagonal coupling is suppressed by its square. Consequently, an observable inelastic scattering rate can coexist with stringent limits on elastic scattering. We find that the LZ event can be accommodated for dark-matter masses of a few hundred GeV to 1 TeV, with mass splittings of a few hundred keV and mixing angles below O$(10^{-2})$. Since the relic abundance is set by the primordial asymmetry rather than thermal freeze-out, lighter dark matter is also viable and can alleviate the potential tension with the absence of events in the LZ high-energy sideband. This framework predicts correlated elastic and inelastic direct-detection signals, together with complementary signatures at collider and precision experiments.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Planck-Scale Effects on Nucleon Decay in Minimal Supersymmetric SU(5)

We examine the impact on the phenomenology of the minimal supersymmetric SU(5) Grand Unified Theory (GUT) of dimension-5 operators with coefficients suppressed by the Planck mass scale, with particular emphasis on predictions for nucleon decay. We incorporate dimension-5 operators in both the Higgs sector and the Yukawa interactions in the theory, and take account of the constraints from gauge coupling measurements, the mass of the Higgs boson, fermion masses and the cold dark matter density. We consider two scenarios for soft supersymmetry breaking: the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model (CMSSM) and the Non-Universal Higgs Model (NUHM). We present predictions for the nucleon decay modes $p \to π^0 e^+, π^0 μ^+, K^+ \bar ν, π^+ \bar ν$, $K^0 e^+, K^0 μ^+$ and $n\to π^0 \bar ν$, $π^- e^+, K^0 \bar ν$, which we compare with both the present experimental sensitivities and those projected for the JUNO and Hyper-Kamiokande experiments. We find that these experiments may have interesting possibilities for discovering several of these decay modes.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2026

Complementary Probes of Light Higgsinos: Electroweak Precision Measurements and Dark Matter Direct Detection

Although higgsinos are well motivated to be light from the viewpoint of naturalness, they remain difficult to detect experimentally because they interact only through electroweak interactions and typically possess a compressed mass spectrum. While higgsino dark matter can be efficiently probed by direct detection experiments when gauginos are relatively light, the sensitivity rapidly deteriorates for heavier gauginos due to the suppression of higgsino-gaugino mixing. In this paper, we investigate the prospects for probing light higgsinos through future electroweak precision measurements. Focusing on scenarios in which charginos and neutralinos are the only light electroweakly interacting superparticles, we evaluate their contributions to the electroweak oblique parameters as well as to the precision observables $M_W$ and $\sin^2θ_{\mathrm{eff}}$. We compare the projected sensitivities of future $e^+e^-$ colliders with those of dark matter direct detection experiments. We find that future electroweak precision measurements provide a powerful probe of higgsinos with masses $\lesssim 500~\mathrm{GeV}$, including parameter regions with highly compressed spectra and spin-independent scattering cross sections below the neutrino fog. On the other hand, dark matter direct detection experiments are particularly sensitive to scenarios with larger charged-neutral mass splittings induced by higgsino-gaugino mixing, and can probe higgsino dark matter all the way up to the thermal relic mass of $\simeq 1~\mathrm{TeV}$. Our results demonstrate the strong complementarity between electroweak precision measurements and dark matter direct detection experiments in exploring light higgsinos and testing supersymmetric scenarios motivated by naturalness.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Reach of e^+e^- Higgs factory for light higgsinos via electroweak precision observables and comparison with other future facilities

Light higgsinos with mass ~100-400 GeV are well-motivated from naturalness considerations within supersymmetric models. However, at hadron colliders such as CERN LHC, they are rather difficult to search for due to the small visible energy release from heavy higgsino decay to the lightest higgsino, assumed here to be the lightest SUSY particle (LSP). An alternative way to search for the sparticles of supersymmetry is via their virtual effects on electroweak precision observables (EWPO) such as the W boson mass or the effective weak mixing angle \sin^2θ_{\rm eff}. We quantify the ability of an e^+e^- Higgs factory operating at \sqrt{s}\sim 90-250 GeV to indirectly detect higgsinos via EWPO in the so-called higgsino discovery plane. The latter allows one to compare the relative reach of LHC and high-lumi LHC with an e^+e^- Higgs factory and with a linear e^+e^- collider operating at \sqrt{s}~ 0.5 TeV.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Deformations of Starobinsky Inflation in No-Scale SU(5) and SO(10) GUTs

The original Starobinsky $R + R^2$ model of inflation is consistent with Planck and other measurements of the CMB, but recent results from the ACT and SPT Collaborations hint that the tilt of scalar perturbations may be in tension with the prediction of the Starobinsky model. No-scale models of inflation can reproduce the predictions of the Starobinsky model, but also provide a framework for incorporating deformations that could accommodate more easily the ACT and SPT data. We discuss this possibility in the contexts of SU(5) GUTs, taking into account the constraints on these models imposed by the longevity of the proton, the cold dark matter density and the measured value of the Higgs boson. We find that SU(5) with a CMSSM-like pattern of soft supersymmetry breaking has difficulty in accommodating all the constraints, whereas SU(5) with pure gravity-mediated supersymmetry breaking can accommodate them easily. We also consider two SO(10) symmetry-breaking patterns that can accommodate the ACT and SPT data. In both the SU(5) and SO(10) models, the deformations avoid issues associated with large initial field values in the Starobinsky model: in particular, the total number of e-folds is largely independent of the initial conditions.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Electroweak Precision Data as a Gateway to Light Higgsinos

We investigate the prospects of probing weak-scale higgsinos through electroweak precision measurements at a future $e^+ e^-$ collider. In the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model, higgsinos mix with winos and binos after electroweak symmetry breaking, forming charginos and neutralinos. These states contribute to electroweak precision observables, which can be measured with high accuracy at future $e^+ e^-$ colliders. Their contributions depend on the mixing structure, as evidenced by the generation of the oblique parameters $\hat{S}$ and $\hat{T}$, in addition to the $W$ and $Y$ parameters, which arise even in the absence of mixing. We demonstrate that higgsinos with masses up to $\sim 500~\mathrm{GeV}$ can be probed through future electroweak precision experiments, highlighting their significance in probing weak-scale supersymmetry.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Searching for Gluino LSP at the LHC

We analyse relevant signals expected at the LHC, assuming that the gluino is the lightest supersymmetric particle (LSP) in the framework of the $μν$SSM. In this $R$-parity violating model, the presence of couplings involving right-handed neutrinos solves simultaneously the $μ$ problem and the accommodations of neutrino masses and mixing angles. We study gluino pair production in quark-antiquark and gluon-gluon collisions. The main decay channels for the gluino LSP are the three-body decays to two quarks and a lepton or a neutrino. In both cases, the leading channels occur for the third family of quarks. We compare the predictions of this scenario with LHC searches for prompt and long-lived particles. To analyse the parameter space we sample the $μν$SSM for a gluino LSP, paying special attention to reproduce the current experimental data on neutrino and Higgs physics, as well as flavour observables. Our results imply a lower limit on the mass of the gluino LSP of about 2600 GeV, and an upper limit for the decay length of about 6 cm.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2025

Axion Emission from Proton Cooper Pairs in Neutron Stars

We investigate axion emission from singlet proton Cooper pairs in neutron stars, a process that dominates axion emission in young neutron stars in the KSVZ model. By re-deriving its emissivity, we confirm consistency with most existing literature, except for a recent study that exhibits a different dependence on the effective mass. This discrepancy results in more than an order-of-magnitude deviation in emissivity, significantly impacting constraints on the KSVZ axion from the cooling observations of the Cassiopeia A neutron star. Furthermore, we examine uncertainties arising from neutron-star equations of state and their role in the discrepancy, finding that the large deviation persists regardless of the choice of equations of state.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Wormhole-Induced ALP Dark Matter

Non-perturbative gravitational effects induce explicit global symmetry breaking terms within axion models. These exponentially suppressed terms in the potential give a mass contribution to the axion-like particles (ALPs). In this work we investigate this scenario with a scalar field charged under a global $U(1)$ symmetry and having a non-minimal coupling to gravity. Given the exponential dependence, the ALP can retain a mass spanning a wide range, which can act as a dark matter component. We specify pre-inflationary and post-inflationary production mechanisms of these ALPs, with the former from the misalignment mechanism and the latter from both the misalignment and cosmic-string decay. We identify the allowed parameter ranges that explain the dark matter abundance for both a general inflation case and a case where the radial mode scalar drives inflation, each in metric and Palatini formalisms. We show that the ALP can be the dominant component of the dark matter in a wide range of its mass, $m_{a} \in [10^{-21}~\mathrm{eV},\, \mathrm{TeV}]$, depending on the inflationary scenario and the $U(1)$ breaking scale. These results indicate that ALPs can be responsible for our dark matter abundance within a setup purely from non-perturbative gravitational effects.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

Exploring Chirality Structure in Nucleon Decay

Baryon number conservation is an accidental symmetry in the Standard Model, but its violation is theoretically anticipated, making the search for such processes a promising avenue for discovering new physics. In this paper, we explore how measurements of different nucleon decay channels can reveal the structure of the underlying theory. We investigate the chirality structure of baryon-number violating interactions through lifetime measurements of strangeness-conserving nucleon-decay channels. By employing an effective field theory approach, we demonstrate that the ratio of partial decay widths of proton decay channels, $Γ(p \to η\ell^+)/Γ(p \to π^0 \ell^+)$, where $\ell^+$ denotes a positron or anti-muon, is sensitive to this chirality structure. Furthermore, we find that in certain new physics models, both anti-lepton and anti-neutrino channels provide valuable insights into the model's structure. Our results highlight the importance of searching for various decay channels in upcoming nucleon decay experiments.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2024

A Generic Analysis of Nucleon Decay Branching Fractions in Flipped SU(5) Grand Unification

In flipped SU(5) grand unified theories, the partial decay lifetimes of certain nucleon decay channels depend generically on an unknown unitary matrix, which arises when left-handed lepton fields are embedded into anti-fundamental representations of SU(5). This dependency is particularly relevant when the neutrino mass matrix has a generic structure, introducing uncertainty in the prediction of nucleon decay branching fractions within flipped SU(5). In this paper, we demonstrate that this uncertainty can be parametrized using two parameters, which can be determined by measuring the partial lifetimes of $p \to π^0 e^+$, $p \to π^0 μ^+$, and $n \to π^0 \barν$. In addition, we establish upper limits on the ratios of the decay widths of these channels, offering a potential method to test flipped SU(5) in future nucleon decay experiments.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

Thermal Leptogenesis in the Minimal Gauged $U(1)_{L_μ-L_τ}$ Model

We discuss the thermal leptogenesis mechanism within the minimal gauged U(1)$_{L_μ-L_τ}$ model to explain the observed baryon asymmetry of the Universe (BAU). In such framework, the phases of the Pontecorvo-Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata neutrino mixing matrix and the sum of the Standard Model neutrino masses are predictable because of a restricted neutrino mass matrix structure. Additionally, in the context of thermal leptogenesis, the BAU can be computed in terms of the three remaining free variables that parameterise the right-handed neutrino masses and their Yukawa couplings to the Higgs and lepton doublets. We identify the ranges of such parameters for which the correct BAU can be reproduced. We adopt the formalism of the density matrix equations to fully account for flavour effects and consider the decays of all the three right-handed neutrinos. Our analysis reveals that thermal leptogenesis is feasible within a wide parameter space, specifically for Yukawa couplings ranging from approximate unity to $\mathcal{O}(0.03-0.05)$ and mass of the lightest right-handed neutrino $M_1\gtrsim 10^{11-12}\,\text{GeV}$, setting a leptogenesis scale in the considered model which is higher than that of the non-thermal scenario.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

Vortex Creep Heating vs. Dark Matter Heating in Neutron Stars

Dark matter particles captured in neutron stars deposit their energy as heat. This DM heating effect can be observed only if it dominates over other internal heating effects in NSs. In this work, as an example of such an internal heating source, we consider the frictional heating caused by the creep motion of neutron superfluid vortex lines in the NS crust. The luminosity of this heating effect is controlled by the strength of the interaction between the vortex lines and nuclei in the crust, which can be estimated from the many-body calculation of a high-density nuclear system as well as through the temperature observation of old NSs. We show that both the temperature observation and theoretical calculation suggest that the vortex creep heating dominates over the DM heating. The vortex-nuclei interaction must be smaller than the estimated values by several orders of magnitude to overturn this.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

Vortex Creep Heating in Neutron Stars

Recent observations of old warm neutron stars suggest the presence of a heating source in these stars, requiring a paradigm beyond the standard neutron-star cooling theory. In this work, we study the scenario where this heating is caused by the friction associated with the creep motion of neutron superfluid vortex lines in the crust. As it turns out, the heating luminosity in this scenario is proportional to the time derivative of the angular velocity of the pulsar rotation, and the proportional constant $J$ has an approximately universal value for all neutron stars. This $J$ parameter can be determined from the temperature observation of old neutron stars because the heating luminosity is balanced with the photon emission at late times. We study the latest data of neutron star temperature observation and find that these data indeed give similar values of $J$, in favor of the assumption that the frictional motion of vortex lines heats these neutron stars. These values turn out to be consistent with the theoretical calculations of the vortex-nuclear interaction.

astro-ph.HE↗

arXiv2023

Axion Quality Problem and Non-Minimal Gravitational Coupling in the Palatini Formulation

In axion models, the global U(1) Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry is explicitly broken by non-perturbative effects of gravity, such as axionic wormholes. The gravitational violation of the PQ symmetry due to wormholes is large enough to invalidate the PQ mechanism, which is entitled as the axion quality problem. Recently, a novel solution to this quality problem was suggested, where the non-minimal coupling of the axion field to gravity $ξ$ is introduced to suppress the wormhole contribution. In this work, we revisit the problem in a different but equally valid formulation of gravity, namely the Palatini formulation, where the Ricci scalar is solely determined by connection. We first find the axionic wormhole solution in the Palatini formulation, taking the full dynamical radial mode as well as the axial mode, then show that the quality problem is still resolved with the non-minimal coupling $ξ$. The requested lower bound of $ξ$ in the Palatini formulation turns out to be slightly higher than that in the metric formulation.

hep-th↗

arXiv2023

Electroweak Loop Contributions to the Direct Detection of Wino Dark Matter

Electroweak loop corrections to the matrix elements for the spin-independent scattering of cold dark matter particles on nuclei are generally small, typically below the uncertainty in the local density of cold dark matter. However, as shown in this paper, there are instances in which the electroweak loop corrections are relatively large, and change significantly the spin-independent dark matter scattering rate. An important example occurs when the dark matter particle is a wino, e.g., in anomaly-mediated supersymmetry breaking (AMSB) and pure gravity mediation (PGM) models. We find that the one-loop electroweak corrections to the spin-independent wino LSP scattering cross section generally interfere constructively with the tree-level contribution for AMSB models with negative Higgsino mixing, $μ< 0$, and in PGM-like models for both signs of $μ$, lifting the cross section out of the neutrino fog and into a range that is potentially detectable in the next generation of direct searches for cold dark matter scattering.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

Quantifying Limits on CP Violating Phases from EDMs in Supersymmetry

We revisit the calculation of the electron, neutron, and proton electric dipole moments (EDMs) in the constrained minimal supersymmetric standard model (CMSSM). The relatively large mass of the Higgs boson, $m_H \simeq 125$ GeV coupled with the (as yet) lack of discovery of any supersymmetric particle at the LHC, has pushed the supersymmetry breaking scale to several TeV or higher. Though one might expect this decoupling to have relaxed completely any bounds on the two CP violating phases in the CMSSM ($θ_μ$ and $θ_A$), the impressive experimental improvements in the limits on the EDMs (particularly the electron EDM) still allow us to set constraints of order $(0.01 - 0.1)π$ on $θ_A$ and $(0.001 - 0.1)π$ on $θ_μ$. We also discuss the impact of future improvements in the experimental limits on supersymmetric models.

hep-ph↗