The flavor problem and discrete symmetries

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Measurement of sigma(p(p)over-bar -> Z plus X)Br(Z -> tau(+)tau(-)) at root s=1.96 TeV

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Confusing the extragalactic neutrino flux limit with a neutrino propagation limit

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

ELKO SPINOR FIELDS: LAGRANGIANS FOR GRAVITY DERIVED FROM SUPERGRAVITY

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Search for W' -> tb resonances with left- and right-handed couplings to fermions D0 Collaboration

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Flavor mixing in a Lee-type model

An exactly solvable quantum field theory (QFT) model of Lee type is constructed to study how neutrino flavor eigenstates are created through interactions and how the localization properties of neutrinos follows from the parent particle that decays. The two-particle states formed by the neutrino and the accompanying charged lepton can be calculated exactly as well as their creation probabilities. We can show that the coherent creation of neutrino flavor eigenstates follows from the common negligible contribution of neutrino masses to their creation probabilities. on the other hand, it is shown that it is not possible to associate a well-defined flavor to coherent superpositions of charged leptons.

Anomaly-free constraints in neutrino seesaw models

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Neutrino masses and the scalar sector of a B-L extension of the standard model

We consider an electroweak model based on the gauge symmetry SU(2)(L) circle times U(1)(Y') circle times U(1)(B-L) which has right-handed neutrinos with different exotic B - L quantum numbers. Because of this particular feature we are able to write Yukawa terms, and right-handed neutrino mass terms, with scalar fields that can develop vacuum expectation values belonging to different energy scales. We make a detailed study of the scalar and the Yukawa neutrino sectors to show that this model is compatible with the observed solar and atmospheric neutrino mass scales and the tribimaximal mixing matrix. We also show that there are dark matter candidates if a Z(2) symmetry is included.

NEUTRINOLESS DOUBLE-BETA DECAY IN AN SU(3)(L)CIRCLE-TIMES-U(1)(N) MODEL

We consider a model for the electroweak interactions with the SU(3)(L) circle times U(1)(N) gauge symmetry. We show that the conservation of the quantum number F = L+B forbids the appearance of massive neutrinos and the neutrinoless double-beta decay (beta beta)(0 nu). Explicit or/and spontaneous breaking of F implies that the neutrinos have an arbitrary mass. In addition the (beta beta)(0 nu) decay also has some channels that do not depend explicitly on the neutrino mass.

Quantum geometry of chiral bosons on a circle

We extend the geometric treatment done for the Majorana-Weyl fermions in two dimensions by Sanielevici and Semenoff to chiral bosons on a circle. For this case we obtain a generalized Floreanini-Jackiw Lagrangian density, and the corresponding gravitational (or Virasoro) anomalies are found as expected. © 1989 The American Physical Society.

Atmospheric neutrino observations and flavor changing interactions

Flavor changing (FC) neutrino-matter interactions can account for the zenith-angle-dependent deficit of atmospheric neutrinos observed in the SuperKamiokande experiment, without directly invoking either neutrino mass or mixing. We find that FC ν μ-matter interactions provide a good fit to the observed zenith angle distributions, comparable in quality to the neutrino oscillation hypothesis. The required FC interactions arise naturally in many attractive extensions of the standard model. © 1999 The American Physical Society.

Spontaneous breaking of a global symmetry in a 3-3-1 model

In a 3-3-1 model in which the lepton masses arise from a scalar sextet it is possible to break spontaneously a global symmetry which implies in a pseudoscalar Majoron-like Goldstone boson. This Majoron does not mix with any other scalar fields and for this reason it does not couple, at the tree level, to either the charged leptons or to the quarks. Moreover, its interaction with neutrinos is diagonal. We also argue that there is a set of parameters in which the model can be consistent with the invisible Z0 width and that heavy neutrinos can decay sufficiently rapid by Majoron emission, having a lifetime shorter than the age of the universe. ©1999 The American Physical Society.

U(2) flavor physics without U(2) symmetry

We present a model of fermion masses based on a minimal, non-Abelian discrete symmetry that reproduces the Yukawa matrices usually associated with U(2) theories of flavor. Mass and mixing angle relations that follow from the simple form of the quark and charged lepton Yukawa textures are therefore common to both theories. We show that the differing representation structure of our horizontal symmetry allows for new solutions to the solar and atmospheric neutrino problems that do not involve modification of the original charged fermion Yukawa textures, or the introduction of sterile neutrinos. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V.

Long range neutrino forces in the cosmic relic neutrino background

Neutrinos mediate long range forces among macroscopic bodies in a vacuum. When the bodies are placed in the neutrino cosmic background, these forces are modified. Indeed, at distances long compared to the scale T -1, the relic neutrinos completely screen off the two-neutrino exchange force, whereas for small distances the interaction remains unaffected. ©2000 The American Physical Society.

Search for semiclassical gravity effects in relativistic stars

We discuss the possible influence of gravity in the neutronization process p+e-→νe, which is particularly important as a cooling mechanism of neutron stars. Our approach is semiclassical in the sense that leptonic fields are quantized on a classical background spacetime, while neutrons and protons are treated as excited and unexcited nucleon states, respectively. We expect gravity to have some influence wherever the energy content carried by the in state is barely above the neutron mass. In this case the emitted neutrinos would be soft enough to have a wavelength of the same order as the space curvature radius. ©2000 The American Physical Society.