We point out that if neutron--antineutron oscillation is observed in a free neutron oscillation experiment, it will put an upper limit on the strengths of Lorentz invariance violating (LIV) mass operators for neutrons at the level of $10^{-23}$ GeV or so, which would be the most stringent LIV limit for neutrons. We also study constraints on $Delta B=2$ LIV operators and find that for one particular operator degaussing is not necessary to obtain a visible signal. We also note that observation of $n-bar{n}$ oscillation signal in the nucleon decay search experiment involving nuclei does not lead to any limit on LIV operators since the nuclear potential difference between neutron and antineutrons will mask any Lorentz violating effect.
We show that discovery of baryon number violation in two processes with at least one obeying the selection rule Delta (B-L) = pm 2 can determine the Majorana character of neutrinos. Thus observing p to e^+ pi^0 and n to e^- pi^0 decays, or p to e^+ pi^0 and n-nbar oscillations, or n to e^- pi^+ and n-nbar oscillations would establish that neutrinos are Majorana particles. We discuss this in a model-independent effective operator approach.
This report, prepared for the Community Planning Study - Snowmass 2013 - summarizes the theoretical motivations and the experimental efforts to search for baryon number violation, focussing on nucleon decay and neutron-antineutron oscillations. Present and future nucleon decay search experiments using large underground detectors, as well as planned neutron-antineutron oscillation search experiments with free neutron beams are highlighted.
A recently proposed scenario for baryogenesis, called post--sphaleron baryogenesis (PSB) is discussed within a class of quark--lepton unified framework based on the gauge symmetry SU(2)_L x SU(2)_R x SU(4)_c realized in the multi--TeV scale. The baryon asymmetry of the universe in this model is produced below the electroweak phase transition temperature after the sphalerons have decoupled from the Hubble expansion. These models embed naturally the seesaw mechanism for neutrino masses, and predict color-sextet scalar particles in the TeV range which may be accessible to the LHC experiments. A necessary consequence of this scenario is the baryon number violating Delta B=2 process of neutron--antineutron (n-bar{n}) oscillations. In this paper we show that the constraints of PSB, when combined with the neutrino oscillation data and restrictions from flavor changing neutral currents mediated by the colored scalars imply an upper limit on the n-bar{n} oscillation time of 5 x 10^{10} sec. regardless of the quark--lepton unification scale. If this scale is relatively low, in the (200-250) TeV range, tau_{n-bar{n}} is predicted to be less than 10^{10} sec., which is accessible to the next generation of proposed experiments.
We investigate the effects of messenger-matter mixing on the lightest CP-even Higgs boson mass m_h in gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking models. It is shown that with such mixings m_h can be raised to about 125 GeV, even when the superparticles have sub-TeV masses, and when the gravitino has a cosmologically preferred sub-keV mass. In minimal gauge mediation without messenger-matter mixing, realizing m_h = 125 GeV would require multi-TeV SUSY spectrum. The increase in $m_h$ due to messenger-matter mixing is maximal in the case of messengers belonging to 10+bar{10} of SU(5) unification, while it is still significant when they belong to $5+bar{5}$ of SU(5). Our results are compatible with gauge coupling unification, perturbativity, and the unification of messenger Yukawa couplings. We embed these models into a grand unification framework with a U(1) flavor symmetry that addresses the fermion mass hierarchy and generates naturally large neutrino mixing angles. While SUSY mediated flavor changing processes are sufficiently suppressed in such an embedding, small new contributions to K^0-bar{K^0} mixing can resolve the apparent discrepancy in the CP asymmetry parameters sin2beta and epsilon_K.
We propose a new mechanism for generating small neutrino masses which predicts the relation m_ u ~ v^4/M^3, where v is the electroweak scale, rather than the conventional seesaw formula m_ u ~ v^2/M. Such a mass relation is obtained via effective dimension seven operators LLHH(H*H)/M^3, which arise when an isospin 3/2 Higgs multiplet Phi is introduced along with iso-triplet leptons. The masses of these particles are naturally in the TeV scale. The neutral member of Phi acquires an induced vacuum expectation value and generates neutrino masses, while its triply charged partner provides the smoking gun signal of this scenario. These triply charged bosons can be pair produced at the LHC and the Tevatron, with Phi^{+++} decaying into W^+l^+l^+ or W^+W^+W^+, possibly with displaced vertices. The leptonic decays of Phi^{+++} will help discriminate between normal and inverted hierarchies of neutrino masses. This scenario also allows for raising the standard Higgs boson mass to values in excess of 500 GeV.
We show that in supersymmetric models with gauged B-L symmetry, there is a new source for cosmological lepton asymmetry. The Higgs bosons responsible for B-L gauge symmetry breaking decay dominantly into right-handed sneutrinos tilde{N} and tilde{N}* producing an asymmetry in tilde{N} over tilde{N}*. This can be fully converted into ordinary lepton asymmetry in the decays of tilde{N}. In simple models with gauged B-L symmetry we show that resonant/soft leptogenesis is naturally realized. Supersymmetry guarantees quasi-degenerate scalar states, while soft breaking of SUSY provides the needed CP violation. Acceptable values of baryon asymmetry are obtained without causing serious problems with gravitino abundance.
The NSF has chosen the site for the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL) to be in Lead, South Dakota. In fact, the state of South Dakota has already stepped up to the plate and contributed its own funding for the proposed lab, see http://www.sanfordlaboratoryathomestake.org/index.html. The final decision by NSF for funding the Initial Suite of Experiments for DUSEL will be made early in 2009. At that time the NSF Science Board must make a decision. Of order 200 experimentalists have already expressed an interest in performing experiments at DUSEL. In order to assess the interest of the theoretical community, the Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics (CCAPP) at The Ohio State University (OSU) organized a 3-day DUSEL Theory Workshop in Columbus, Ohio from April 4 - 6, 2008. The workshop focused on the scientific case for six proposed experiments for DUSEL: long baseline neutrino oscillations, proton decay, dark matter, astrophysical neutrinos, neutrinoless double beta decay and N-Nbar oscillations. The outcome of this workshop is the DUSEL Theory White paper addressing the scientific case at a level which may be useful in the decision making process for policy makers at the NSF and in the U.S. Congress. In order to assess the physics interest in the DUSEL project we have posted the DUSEL Theory White paper on the following CCAPP link http://ccapp.osu.edu/whitepaper.html . Please read the white paper and, if you are interested, use the link to show your support by co-signing the white paper.
