arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to W. Grimus.
We present a model which employs the seesaw mechanism with five right-handed neutrinos, leading to trimaximal and CP-conserving lepton mixing. Tri-bimaximal mixing is a natural limiting case of our model which occurs when one particular vacuum expectation value is real and preserves the mu-tau interchange symmetry of the Lagrangian. Our model allows for leptogenesis even in the case of exact tri-bimaximal mixing.
The Large Hadron Collider presents an unprecedented opportunity to probe the realm of new physics in the TeV region and shed light on some of the core unresolved issues of particle physics. These include the nature of electroweak symmetry breaking, the origin of mass, the possible constituent of cold dark matter, new sources of CP violation needed to explain the baryon excess in the universe, the possible existence of extra gauge groups and extra matter, and importantly the path Nature chooses to resolve the hierarchy problem - is it supersymmetry or extra dimensions. Many models of new physics beyond the standard model contain a hidden sector which can be probed at the LHC. Additionally, the LHC will be a top factory and accurate measurements of the properties of the top and its rare decays will provide a window to new physics. Further, the LHC could shed light on the origin of neutralino masses if the new physics associated with their generation lies in the TeV region. Finally, the LHC is also a laboratory to test the hypothesis of TeV scale strings and D-brane models. An overview of these possibilities is presented in the spirit that it will serve as a companion to the Technical Design Reports (TDRs) by the particle detector groups ATLAS and CMS to facilitate the test of the new theoretical ideas at the LHC. Which of these ideas stands the test of the LHC data will govern the course of particle physics in the subsequent decades.
We determine the symmetry groups under which the charged-lepton and the Majorana-neutrino mass terms are invariant. We note that those two groups always exist trivially, i.e. independently of the presence of any symmetries in the Lagrangian, and that they always have the same form. Using this insight, we re-evaluate the recent claim that, whenever lepton mixing is tri-bimaximal, S_4 is the minimal unique horizontal-symmetry group of the Lagrangian of the lepton sector, with S_4 being determined by the symmetries of the lepton mass matrices. We discuss two models for tri-bimaximal mixing which serve as counterexamples to this claim. With these two models and some group-theoretical arguments we illustrate that there is no compelling reason for the uniqueness of S_4.
We elaborate on an earlier proposal by Ernest Ma of a type II seesaw mechanism for suppressing the vacuum expectation values of some Higgs doublets. We emphasize that, by nesting this form of seesaw mechanism into various other seesaw mechanisms, one may obtain light neutrino masses in such a way that the new-physics scale present in the seesaw mechanism - the masses of scalar gauge-SU(2) triplets, scalar SU(2) doublets, or right-handed neutrinos - does not need to be higher than a few 10 TeV. We also investigate other usages of the type II seesaw mechanism for Higgs doublets. For instance, the suppression of the vacuum expectation values of Higgs doublets may realize Froggatt-Nielsen suppression factors in some entries of the fermion mass matrices.
We construct a model for tri-bimaximal lepton mixing which employs only family symmetries and their soft breaking; neither vacuum alignment nor supersymmetry, extra dimensions, or non-renormalizable terms are used in our model. It is an extension of the Standard Model making use of the seesaw mechanism with five right-handed neutrino singlets. The scalar sector comprises four Higgs doublets and one complex gauge singlet. The horizontal symmetry of our model is based on the permutation group S_3 of the lepton families together with the three family lepton numbers--united this constitutes a symmetry group Delta(6\infty^2). The model makes no predictions for the neutrino masses.
Using the seesaw mechanism, we construct a model for the light-neutrino Majorana mass matrix which yields trimaximal lepton mixing together with maximal CP violation and maximal atmospheric-neutrino mixing. We demonstrate that, in our model, the light-neutrino mass matrix retains its form under the one-loop renormalization-group evolution. With our neutrino mass matrix, the absolute neutrino mass scale is a function of |U_e3| and of the atmospheric mass-squared difference. We study the effective mass in neutrinoless double beta-decay as a function of |U_e3|, showing that it contains a fourfold ambiguity.
We consider trimaximal lepton mixing, defined by |U_{alpha 2}|^2 = 1/3 for all alpha = e, mu, tau. This corresponds to a two-parameter lepton mixing matrix U. We present a model for the lepton sector in which trimaximal mixing is enforced by softly broken discrete symmetries; one version of the model is based on the group Delta(27). A salient feature of our model is that no vacuum alignment is required.
We discuss a realization of the non-abelian group O(2) as a family symmetry for the lepton sector. The reflection contained in O(2) acts as a mu-tau interchange symmetry, enforcing--at tree level--maximal atmospheric neutrino mixing and a vanishing mixing angle theta_13. The small ratio m_mu/m_tau (muon over tau mass) gives rise to a suppression factor in the mass of one of the pseudoscalars of the model. We argue that such a light pseudoscalar does not violate any experimental constraint.
We derive a general expression for Delta rho (or, equivalently, for the oblique parameter T) in the SU(2) x U(1) electroweak model with an arbitrary number of scalar SU(2) doublets, with hypercharge +-1/2, and an arbitrary number of scalar SU(2) singlets. The experimental bound on Delta rho constitutes a strong constraint on the masses and mixings of the scalar particles in that model.
We present general expressions for the oblique parameters S, T, U, V, W, and X in the SU(2)xU(1) electroweak model with an arbitrary number of scalar SU(2) doublets, with hypercharge 1/2, and an arbitrary number of scalar SU(2) singlets.
We consider renormalizable SO(10) Yukawa interactions and put the three fermionic 16-plets into the 3-dimensional irreducible A_4 representation. Scanning the possible A_4 representation assignments to the scalars, we find a unique case which allows to accommodate the down-quark and charged-lepton masses. Assuming type II seesaw dominance, we obtain a viable scenario with the Zee-Wolfenstein neutrino mass matrix, i.e., the Majorana mass matrix with a vanishing diagonal. Contributions from the charged-lepton mass matrix resolve the well-known problems with lepton mixing arising from the vanishing diagonal. In our scenario, fermion masses and mixings are well reproduced for both normal and inverted neutrino mass spectra, and b-tau Yukawa unification and definite predictions for the effective mass in neutrinoless double-beta decay are obtained.
We discuss some recent developments in SUSY Grand Unified Theories based on the gauge group SO(10). Considering renormalisable Yukawa couplings, we present ways to accommodate quark and lepton masses and and mixings.
Using the type-II seesaw mechanism with three Higgs doublets phi_alpha (alpha = e, mu, tau) and four Higgs triplets, we build a model for lepton mixing based on a 384-element horizontal symmetry group, generated by the permutation group S_3 and by six Z_2 transformations. The charged-lepton mass matrix is diagonal; the symmetries of the model would require all the three masses m_alpha to be equal, but different vacuum expectation values of the phi_alpha allow the m_alpha to split. The number of parameters in the Majorana neutrino mass matrix m_nu depends on two options: full breaking of the permutation group S_3, or leaving a mu--tau interchange symmetry intact; and hard or spontaneous violation of CP. We discuss in detail the case with the minimal number of three parameters, wherein m_nu is real, symmetric under mu--tau interchange, and has equal diagonal elements. In that case, CP is conserved in lepton mixing, atmospheric neutrino mixing is maximal, and theta_{13} = 0; moreover, the type of neutrino mass spectrum and the absolute neutrino mass scale are sensitive functions of the solar mixing angle.
In these lecture notes we present mechanisms for the generation of Majorana neutrino masses and lepton mixing. We consider simple extensions of the Standard Model. Apart from a section about radiative mass generation, we put special emphasis on the seesaw mechanism and mu-tau interchange symmetry.
We consider fermion masses and mixings in a renormalizable SUSY SO(10) GUT with Yukawa couplings of scalar fields in the representation 10 + 120 + 126 bar. We investigate a scenario defined by the following assumptions: i) A single large scale in the theory, the GUT scale. ii) Small neutrino masses generated by the type I seesaw mechanism with negligible type II contributions. iii) A suitable form of spontaneous CP breaking which induces hermitian mass matrices for all fermion mass terms of the Dirac type. Our assumptions define an 18-parameter scenario for the fermion mass matrices for 18 experimentally known observables. Performing a numerical analysis, we find excellent fits to all observables in the case of both the normal and inverted neutrino mass spectrum.
Some models for the lepton sector, based on seesaw extensions of the Standard Model, are discussed in which the mu-tau interchange symmetry is realized in various ways. The symmetries defining such models and their characteristic predictions for lepton mixing are presented.
We consider the scenario in which the mass matrices of the charged fermions in the SO(10) Grand Unified Theory are generated exclusively by renormalizable Yukawa couplings to one $\mathbf{10} \oplus \mathbf{120}$ representation of scalars. We analyze, partly analytically and partly numerically, this scenario in the three-generations case. We demonstrate that it leads to unification of the $b$ and $τ$ masses at the GUT scale. Testing this scenario against the mass values at the GUT scale, obtained from the renormalization-group evolution in the minimal SUSY extension of the Standard Model, we find that it is not viable: either the down-quark mass or the top-quark mass must be unrealistically low. If we include the CKM mixing angles in the test, then, in order that the mixing angles are well reproduced, either the top-quark mass or the strange-quark mass together with the down-quark mass must be very low. We conclude that, assuming a SUSY SO(10) scenario, charged-fermion mass generation based exclusively on one $\mathbf{10} \oplus \mathbf{120}$ representation of scalars is in contradiction with experiment.
We present a supersymmetric model in which the lepton mixing matrix $U$ obeys, at the seesaw scale, the Harrison--Perkins--Scott \textit{Ansatz}--vanishing $U_{e3}$, maximal atmospheric neutrino mixing, and $\sin^2{θ_\odot} = 1/3$ ($θ_\odot$ is the solar mixing angle). The model features a permutation symmetry $S_3$ among the three lepton multiplets of each type--left-handed doublets, right-handed charged leptons, and right-handed neutrinos--and among three Higgs doublets and three zero-hypercharge scalar singlets; a fourth right-handed neutrino, a fourth Higgs doublet, and a fourth scalar singlet are invariant under $S_3$. In addition, the model has seven $\mathbbm{Z}_2$ symmetries, out of which six do not commute with $S_3$. Supersymmetry is needed in order to eliminate some quartic terms from the scalar potential, quartic terms which would make impossible to obtain the required vacuum expectation values of the three Higgs doublets and three scalar singlets. The Yukawa couplings to the charged leptons are flavour diagonal, so that flavour-changing neutral Yukawa interactions only arise at loop level.