arXiv subjects

Sarif Khan

Publications and source records attributed to Sarif Khan.

36 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

A Two-Component Dark Matter Model and its Associated Gravitational Waves

We consider an extension of the Standard Model that accounts for the muon $g-2$ tension and neutrino masses and study in detail dark matter phenomenology. The model under consideration includes a WIMP and a FIMP scalar dark matter candidates and thus gives rise to two-component dark matter scenarios. We discuss different regimes and mechanisms of production, including the novel freeze-in semi-production, and show that the WIMP and FIMP together compose the observed relic density today. The presence of the extra scalar fields allows phase transitions of the first order. We examine the evolution of the vacuum state and discuss stochastic gravitational wave signals associated with the first-order phase transition. We show that the gravitational wave signals may be probed by future gravitational wave experiments which may serve as a complementary detection signal.

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arXiv2022

Axion and FIMP Dark Matter in a $U(1)$ extension of the Standard Model

In the Standard Model a Dark Matter candidate is missing, but it is relatively simple to enlarge the model including one or more suitable particles. We consider in this paper one such extension, inspired by simplicity and by the goal to solve more than just the Dark Matter issue. Indeed we consider a local $U(1) $ extension of the SM providing an axion particle to solve the strong CP problem and including RH neutrinos with appropriate mass terms. One of the latter is decoupled from the SM leptons and can constitute stable sterile neutrino DM. In this setting, the PQ symmetry arises only as an accidental symmetry but its breaking by higher order operators is sufficiently suppressed to avoid introducing a large $ θ$ contribution. The axion decay constant and the RH neutrino masses are related to the same v.e.v.s and the PQ scale and both DM densities are determined by the parameters of the axion and scalar sector. The model predicts in general a mixed Dark Matter scenario with both axion and sterile neutrino DM and is characterised by a reduced density and observational signals from each single component.

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arXiv2021

Zooming in on eV-MeV Scale Sterile Neutrinos in light of Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay

The existence of light sterile neutrinos, as predicted in several models, can help to explain a number of observations starting from dark mater to recent anomalies in short baseline experiments. In this paper we consider two models - Left-Right Symmetric Zee model and Extended Seesaw model, that can naturally accommodate the presence of light sterile neutrinos in the eV to MeV mass scale. We perform a detailed study on the neutrinoless double beta decay process which receives major contributions from diagrams involving these light sterile neutrinos. Considering a number of theoretical and experimental constraints, including light neutrino masses and mixings, unitarity of the mixing matrix etc., we compare our predicted values of the half-life of neutrinoless double beta decay with the experimental limits. This can put significant constraints on the neutrino mass, active-sterile neutrino mixing and several other important parameters in these models.

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arXiv2021

Right Handed Neutrinos, TeV Scale BSM Neutral Higgs and FIMP Dark Matter in EFT Framework

We consider an effective field theory framework with three standard model (SM) gauge singlet right handed neutrinos, and an additional SM gauge singlet scalar field. The framework successfully generates eV masses of the light neutrinos via seesaw mechanism, and accommodates a feebly interacting massive particle (FIMP) as dark matter candidate. Two of the gauge singlet neutrinos participate in neutrino mass generation, while the third gauge singlet neutrino is a FIMP dark matter. We explore the correlation between the $\textit{vev}$ of the gauge singlet scalar field which translates as mass of the BSM Higgs, and the mass of dark matter, which arises due to relic density constraint. We furthermore explore the constraints from the light neutrino masses in this set-up. We chose the gauge singlet BSM Higgs in this framework in the TeV scale. We perform a detailed collider analysis to analyse the discovery prospect of the TeV scale BSM Higgs through its di-fatjet signature, at a future $pp$ collider which can operate with $\sqrt{s}=100$ TeV c.m.energy.

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arXiv2020

Two component FIMP DM in a $U(1)_{B-L}$ extension of the SM

In this work, we discuss two component fermionic FIMP dark matter (DM) in a popular $B-L$ extension of the standard model (SM) with inverse seesaw mechanism. Due to the introduced $\mathbb{Z}_{2}$ discrete symmetry, a keV SM gauge singlet fermion is stable and can be a warm DM candidate. Also, this $\mathbb{Z}_{2}$ symmetry helps the lightest right-handed neutrino, with mass of order GeV, to be a long-lived or stable particle by choosing a corresponding Yukawa coupling to be very small. Firstly, in the absence of a GeV DM component (i.e., without tuning its corresponding Yukawa coupling), we consider only a keV DM as a single component DM produced by the freeze-in mechanism. Secondly, we study a two component FIMP DM scenario and emphasize that the correct ballpark DM relic density bound can be achieved for a wide parameter space.

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arXiv2020

Explaining Xenon-1T signal with FIMP dark matter and neutrino mass in a $U(1)_{X}$ extension

In the present work, we have extended the standard model by an abelian $U(1)_{X}$ gauge group and additional particles. In particular, we have extended the particle content by three right handed neutrinos, two singlet scalars and two vector like leptons. Charged assignments under different gauge groups are such that the model is gauge anomaly free and the anomaly contributions cancel among generations. Once the symmetry gets broken then three physical Higgses are produced, one axion like particle (ALP), which also acts as the keV scale FIMP dark matter, is produced and the remaining component is absorbed by the extra gauge boson. Firstly, we have successfully generated neutrino mass by the type-I seesaw mechanism for normal hierarchy with the $3σ$ bound on the oscillation parameters. The ALP in the present model can explain the Xenon-1T electron recoil signal at keV scale through its coupling with the electron. We also have vector like leptons which help in producing the dark matter from their decay by the freeze in mechanism. Electron and tauon get mass from dimensional-5 operators at Planck scale and if we consider the vevs $v_{1,2} \simeq 10^{12}$ GeV then we can obtain the correct value of the electron mass but not the tauon mass. Vector like leptons help in getting the correct value of the tauon mass through another higher dimensional operator which also has a role in DM production by the $2 \rightarrow 2$ process, giving the correct ballpark value of relic density for suitable reheat temperature of the Universe. We have shown that the ALP production by the higher dimensional operator can explain the electron, tauon mass and Xenon-1T signal simultaneously whereas the decay production can not explain all of them together.

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arXiv2019

Same-Sign Tetralepton Signature at Large Hadron Collider, and future $pp$ Collider

We analyze a novel signature of the type II seesaw model - same-sign tetra-lepton signal arising from the mixing of neutral Higgs bosons and their subsequent decays to singly and doubly charged Higgs bosons. For this, we consider wide ranges of the triplet vacuum expectation value (vev) and Yukawa couplings, that are consistent with the observed neutrino masses and mixing as well as the LHC search limits. We find that a doubly charged Higgs boson with mass around 250 GeV and triplet vev around $10^{-4}-10^{-2}$ GeV can give significantly large number of events through it decay to same-sign $W$ gauge bosons at High-Luminosity LHC with $3000 \text{fb}^{-1}$ of data. We also pursue the analysis for a future hadron collider with the c.m. energy of 100 TeV. Considering a heavy Higgs boson around 900 GeV and an intermediate region of the triplet vev, where both same-sign dilepton and gauge boson decays can occur, we identify a limited range of the parameters where the number of same-sign tetra-lepton events are as large as 1000.

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arXiv2019

FIMP dark matter candidate(s) in a $B-L$ model with inverse seesaw mechanism

The non-thermal dark matter (DM) production via the so-called freeze-in mechanism provides a simple alternative to the standard thermal WIMP scenario. In this work, we consider a popular $U(1)_{B-L}$ extension of the standard model (SM) in the context of inverse seesaw mechanism which has at least one (fermionic) FIMP DM candidate. Due to the added $\mathbb{Z}_{2}$ symmetry, a SM gauge singlet fermion, with mass of order keV, is stable and can be a warm DM candidate. Also, the same $\mathbb{Z}_{2}$ symmetry helps the lightest right-handed neutrino, with mass of order GeV, to be a stable or long-lived particle by making a corresponding Yukawa coupling very small. This provides a possibility of a two component DM scenario as well. Firstly, in the absence of a GeV DM component (i.e., without tuning its corresponding Yukawa coupling to be very small), we consider only a keV DM as a single component DM, which is produced by the freeze-in mechanism via the decay of the extra $Z'$ gauge boson associated to $U(1)_{B-L}$ and can consistently explain the DM relic density measurements. In contrast with most of the existing literature, we have found a reasonable DM production from the annihilation processes. After numerically studying the DM production, we show the dependence of the DM relic density as a function of its relevant free parameters. We use these results to obtain the parameter space regions that are compatible with the DM relic density bound. Secondly, we study a two component DM scenario and emphasize that the current DM relic density bound can be satisfied for a wide range of parameter space.

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arXiv2019

Doubly-charged Higgs Boson at Future Electron-Proton Collider

We explore the discovery prospect of the doubly-charged component of an $SU(2)_L$-triplet scalar at the future $e^- p$ collider FCC-eh, proposed to operate with an electron beam energy of 60 GeV and a proton beam energy of 50 TeV. We consider the associated production of the doubly-charged Higgs boson along with leptons and jet(s), and its subsequent prompt decay to same-sign lepton pair. This occurs for ${\cal O}(1)$ Yukawa coupling of the scalar triplet with charged leptons, which is expected for reasonably small vacuum expectation values of the neutral component of the triplet field that governs the neutrino mass generation in the type-II seesaw. We present our analysis for two different final states, $3l+\ge1j$ and an inclusive $\ge2l+\ge1j$ channel. Considering its decay to electrons only, we find that the doubly-charged Higgs with mass around a TeV could be observed at $3σ$ confidence level with $\mathcal{O}(200)\, \rm{fb}^{-1}$ of integrated luminosity, while masses up to 2 TeV could be probed within a few years of data accumulation. The signal proposed here becomes essentially background-free, if it is triggered in the $μμ$ mode and a $5σ$ discovery is achievable in this channel for a TeV-scale doubly-charged Higgs with an integrated luminosity as low as $\mathcal{O} (50)\, \rm{fb}^{-1}$. We also highlight the sensitivity of FCC-eh to the Yukawa coupling responsible for production of the doubly-charged Higgs boson as a function of its mass in both the $ee$ and $μμ$ channels.

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arXiv2019

Common origin of baryon asymmetry, dark matter and neutrino mass

In this work, we explain three beyond standard model (BSM) phenomena, namely neutrino masses, the baryon asymmetry of the Universe and Dark Matter, within a single model and in each explanation the right handed (RH) neutrinos play the prime role. Indeed by just introducing two RH neutrinos we can generate the neutrino masses by the Type-I seesaw mechanism. The baryon asymmetry of the Universe can arise from thermal leptogenesis from the decay of lightest RH neutrino before the decoupling of the electroweak sphaleron transitions, which redistribute the $ B-L $ number into a baryon number. At the same time, the decay of the RH neutrino can produce the Dark Matter (DM) as an asymmetric Dark Matter component. The source of CP violation in the two sectors is exactly the same, related to the complex couplings of the neutrinos. By determining the comoving number density for different values of the CP violation in the DM sector, we obtain a particular value of the DM mass after satisfying the relic density bound. We also give prediction for the DM direct detection (DD) in the near future by different ongoing DD experiments.

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arXiv2018

Neutrino and Collider Implications of a Left-Right Extended Zee Model

We study a simple left-right symmetric (LRS) extension of the Zee model for neutrino mass generation. An extra $SU(2)_{L/R}$ singlet charged scalar helps in generating a loop-induced Majorana mass for neutrinos in this model. The right-handed neutrinos in this case are very light of the order of a few eV to a few MeV which makes this scenario quite different from other LRS models. We have analyzed the scalar potential and Higgs spectrum in detail, which also play an important role for the neutrino phenomenology. We identified the parameter regions in the model which satisfy the experimentally observed neutrino masses and mixings along with other experimental constraints. We have then studied the collider signatures of the charged scalar at $e^+e^-$ colliders with different benchmark points. It is possible to get a huge enhancement in the production cross-section of the charged scalar at lepton collider compared to the hadron colliders, resulting in a much stronger signal which can be easily observed at the upcoming ILC or CLIC experiments.

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arXiv2018

Inverse seesaw and dark matter in a gauged ${\rm B-L}$ extension with flavour symmetry

We propose a model which generates neutrino masses by the inverse seesaw mechanism, provides a viable dark matter candidate and explains the muon ($g-2$) anomaly. The Standard Model (SM) gauge group is extended with a gauged U(1)$_{\rm B-L}$ as well as a gauged U(1)$_{\rm L_μ - L_τ}$. While U(1)$_{\rm L_μ - L_τ}$ is anomaly free, the anomaly introduced by U(1)$_{\rm B-L}$ is cancelled between the six SM singlet fermions introduced for the inverse seesaw mechanism and four additional chiral fermions introduced in this model. After spontaneous symmetry breaking the four chiral fermionic degrees of freedom combine to give two Dirac states. The lightest Dirac fermion becomes stable and hence the dark matter candidate. We focus on the region of the parameter space where the dark matter annihilates to the right-handed neutrinos, relating the dark matter sector with the neutrino sector. The U(1)$_{\rm L_μ - L_τ}$ gauge symmetry provides a flavour structure to the inverse seesaw framework, successfully explaining the observed neutrino masses and mixings. We study the model parameters in the light of neutrino oscillation data and find correlation between them. Values of some of the model parameters are shown to be mutually exclusive between normal and inverted ordering of the neutrino mass eigenstates. Moreover, the muon ($g-2$) anomaly can be explained by the additional contribution arising from U(1)$_{\rm L_μ - L_τ}$ gauge boson.

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arXiv2018

Singlet-Triplet Fermionic Dark Matter and LHC Phenomenology

It is well known that for the pure standard model triplet fermionic WIMP-type dark matter (DM), the relic density is satisfied around 2 TeV. For such a heavy mass particle, the production cross-section at 13 TeV run of LHC will be very small. Extending the model further with a singlet fermion and a triplet scalar, DM relic density can be satisfied for even much lower masses. The lower mass DM can be copiously produced at LHC and hence the model can be tested at collider. For the present model we have studied the multi jet ($\geq 2\,j$) + missing energy ($\cancel{E}_{T}$) signal and show that this can be detected in the near future of the LHC 13 TeV run. We also predict that the present model is testable by the earth based DM direct detection experiments like Xenon-1T and in future by Darwin.

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arXiv2018

Explaining the 3.5 keV X-ray Line in a ${L_μ-L_τ}$ Extension of the Inert Doublet Model

We explain the existence of neutrino masses and their flavor structure, dark matter relic abundance and the observed 3.5 keV X-ray line within the framework of a gauged $U(1)_{L_μ - L_τ}$ extension of the "scotogenic" model. In the $U(1)_{L_μ - L_τ}$ symmetric limit, two of the the RH neutrinos are degenerate in mass, while the third is heavier. The $U(1)_{L_μ - L_τ}$ symmetry is broken spontaneously. Firstly, this breaks the $μ-τ$ symmetry in the light neutrino sector. Secondly, this results in mild splitting of the two degenerate RH neutrinos, with their mass difference given in terms of the $U(1)_{L_μ - L_τ}$ breaking parameter. Finally, we get a massive $Z_{μτ}$ gauge boson. Due to the added $Z_2$ symmetry under which the RH neutrinos and the inert doublet are odd, the canonical Type-I seesaw is forbidden and the tiny neutrino masses are generated radiatively at one loop. The same $Z_2$ symmetry also ensures that the lightest RH neutrino is stable and the other two can only decay into the lightest one. This makes the two nearly-degenerate lighter neutrinos a two-component dark matter, which in our model are produced by the freeze-in mechanism via the decay of the $Z_{μτ}$ gauge boson in the early universe. We show that the next-to-lightest RH neutrino has a very long lifetime and decays into the lightest one at the present epoch explaining the observed 3.5 keV line.

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arXiv2017

Neutrino Mass, Leptogenesis and FIMP Dark Matter in a ${\rm U}(1)_{\rm B-L}$ Model

The Standard Model (SM) is inadequate to explain the origin of tiny neutrino masses, the dark matter (DM) relic abundance and also the baryon asymmetry of the Universe. In this work to address all the three puzzles, we extend the SM by a local U$(1)_{\rm B-L}$ gauge symmetry, three right-handed (RH) neutrinos for the cancellation of gauge anomalies and two complex scalars having nonzero U$(1)_{\rm B-L}$ charges. All the newly added particles become massive after the breaking of U$(1)_{\rm B-L}$ symmetry by the vacuum expectation value (VEV) of one of the scalar fields $ϕ_H$. The other scalar field $ϕ_{DM}$, which does not have any VEV, becomes automatically stable and can be a viable DM candidate. Neutrino masses are generated using Type-I seesaw mechanism while the required lepton asymmetry to reproduce the observed baryon asymmetry, can be attained from the CP violating out of equilibrium decays of RH neutrinos in TeV scale. More importantly within this framework, we have studied in detail the production of DM via freeze-in mechanism considering all possible annihilation and decay processes. Finally, we find a situation when DM is dominantly produced from the annihilation of RH neutrinos, which are at the same time also responsible for neutrino mass generation and leptogenesis.

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arXiv2017

FIMP and Muon ($g-2$) in a U$(1)_{L_μ-L_τ}$ Model

The tightening of the constraints on the standard thermal WIMP scenario has forced physicists to propose alternative dark matter (DM) models. One of the most popular alternate explanations of the origin of DM is the non-thermal production of DM via freeze-in. In this scenario the DM never attains thermal equilibrium with the thermal soup because of its feeble coupling strength ($\sim 10^{-12}$) with the other particles in the thermal bath and is generally called the Feebly Interacting Massive Particle (FIMP). In this work, we present a gauged U(1)$_{L_μ-L_τ}$ extension of the Standard Model (SM) which has a scalar FIMP DM candidate and can consistently explain the DM relic density bound. In addition, the spontaneous breaking of the U(1)$_{L_μ-L_τ}$ gauge symmetry gives an extra massive neutral gauge boson $Z_{μτ}$ which can explain the muon ($g-2$) data through its additional one-loop contribution to the process. Lastly, presence of three right-handed neutrinos enable the model to successfully explain the small neutrino masses via the Type-I seesaw mechanism. The presence of the spontaneously broken U(1)$_{L_μ-L_τ}$ gives a particular structure to the light neutrino mass matrix which can explain the peculiar mixing pattern of the light neutrinos.

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arXiv2016

Neutrino Mass, Dark Matter and Anomalous Magnetic Moment of Muon in a $U(1)_{L_μ-L_τ}$ Model

The observation of neutrino masses, mixing and the existence of dark matter are amongst the most important signatures of physics beyond the Standard Model (SM). In this paper, we propose to extend the SM by a local $L_μ- L_τ$ gauge symmetry, two additional complex scalars and three right-handed neutrinos. The $L_μ- L_τ$ gauge symmetry is broken spontaneously when one of the scalars acquires a vacuum expectation value. The $L_μ- L_τ$ gauge symmetry is known to be anomaly free and can explain the beyond SM measurement of the anomalous muon $({\rm g-2})$ through additional contribution arising from the extra $Z_{μτ}$ mediated diagram. Small neutrino masses are explained naturally through the Type-I seesaw mechanism, while the mixing angles are predicted to be in their observed ranges due to the broken $L_μ-L_τ$ symmetry. The second complex scalar is shown to be stable and becomes the dark matter candidate in our model. We show that while the $Z_{μτ}$ portal is ineffective for the parameters needed to explain the anomalous muon $({\rm g-2})$ data, the correct dark matter relic abundance can easily be obtained from annihilation through the Higgs portal. Annihilation of the scalar dark matter in our model can also explain the Galactic Centre gamma ray excess observed by Fermi-LAT. We show the predictions of our model for future direct detection experiments and neutrino oscillation experiments.

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arXiv2016

Galactic Gamma Ray Excess and Dark Matter Phenomenology in a $U(1)_{B-L}$ Model

In this work, we have considered a gauged $U(1)_{\rm B-L}$ extension of the Standard Model (SM) with three right handed neutrinos for anomaly cancellation and two additional SM singlet complex scalars with non-trivial B-L charges. One of these is used to spontaneously break the $U(1)_{\rm B-L}$ gauge symmetry, leading to Majorana masses for the neutrinos through the standard Type I seesaw mechanism, while the other becomes the dark matter (DM) candidate in the model. We test the viability of the model to simultaneously explain the DM relic density observed in the CMB data as well as the Galactic Centre (GC) $γ$-ray excess seen by Fermi-LAT. We show that for DM masses in the range 40-55 GeV and for a wide range of $U(1)_{\rm B-L}$ gauge boson masses, one can satisfy both these constraints if the additional neutral Higgs scalar has a mass around the resonance region. In studying the dark matter phenomenology and GC excess, we have taken into account theoretical as well as experimental constraints coming from vacuum stability condition, PLANCK bound on DM relic density, LHC and LUX and present allowed areas in the model parameter space consistent with all relevant data, calculate the predicted gamma ray flux from the GC and discuss the related phenomenology.

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