Displaced vertex signatures of a pseudo-Goldstone sterile neutrino

Low-scale models of neutrino mass generation often feature sterile neutrinos with masses in the GeV-TeV range, which can be produced at colliders through their mixing with the Standard Model neutrinos. We consider an alternative scenario in which the sterile neutrino is produced in the decay of a he...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Lavignac, Stéphane, Medina, Aníbal Damián
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:Argentina
Institución:Universidad Nacional de La Plata
Repositorio:SEDICI (UNLP)
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:sedici.unlp.edu.ar:10915/123856
Acceso en línea:http://sedici.unlp.edu.ar/handle/10915/123856
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Física
Beyond standard model
Neutrino physics
Supersymmetric standard model
Supersymmetric effective theories
Descripción
Sumario:Low-scale models of neutrino mass generation often feature sterile neutrinos with masses in the GeV-TeV range, which can be produced at colliders through their mixing with the Standard Model neutrinos. We consider an alternative scenario in which the sterile neutrino is produced in the decay of a heavier particle, such that its production cross section does not depend on the active-sterile neutrino mixing angles. The mixing angles can be accessed through the decays of the sterile neutrino, provided that they lead to observable displaced vertices. We present an explicit realization of this scenario in which the sterile neutrino is the supersymmetric partner of a pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone boson, and is produced in the decays of higgsino-like neutralinos and charginos. The model predicts the active-sterile neutrino mixing angles in terms of a small number of parameters. We show that a sterile neutrino with a mass between a few 10 GeV and 200 GeV can lead to observable displaced vertices at the LHC, and outline a strategy for reconstructing experimentally its mixing angles.