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1. Radiative Majorana neutrino masses in a parity solution to the strong CP problem

   https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP03(2024)047  

   Hall, Lawrence J; Harigaya, Keisuke; Shpilman, Yogev (March 2024, Journal of High Energy Physics)

   A<sc>bstract</sc> The strong CP problem is solved in Parity symmetric theories, with the electroweak gauge group containing SU(2)_L× SU(2)_Rbroken by the minimal set of Higgs fields. Neutrino masses may be explained by adding the same number of gauge singlet fermions as the number of generations. The neutrino masses vanish at tree-level and are only radiatively generated, leading to larger couplings of right-handed neutrinos to Standard Model particles than with the tree-level seesaw mechanism. We compute these radiative corrections and the mixing angles between left- and right-handed neutrinos. We discuss sensitivities to these right-handed neutrinos from a variety of future experiments that search for heavy neutral leptons with masses from tens of MeV to the multi-TeV scale. 

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2. Distinctive signals of frustrated dark matter

   https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP09(2022)175  

   Carpenter, Linda M.; Murphy, Taylor; Tait, Tim M. (September 2022, Journal of High Energy Physics)

   A bstract We study a renormalizable model of Dirac fermion dark matter (DM) that communicates with the Standard Model (SM) through a pair of mediators — one scalar, one fermion — in the representation ( 6 , 1 , $$ \frac{4}{3} $$ 4 3 ) of the SM gauge group SU(3) c × SU(2) L × U(1) Y . While such assignments preclude direct coupling of the dark matter to the Standard Model at tree level, we examine the many effective operators generated at one-loop order when the mediators are heavy, and find that they are often phenomenologically relevant. We reinterpret dijet and pair-produced resonance and jets + $$ {E}_{\mathrm{T}}^{\mathrm{miss}} $$ E T miss searches at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in order to constrain the mediator sector, and we examine an array of DM constraints ranging from the observed relic density Ω χ $$ {h}_{\mathrm{Planck}}^2 $$ h Planck 2 to indirect and direct searches for dark matter. Tree-level annihilation, available for DM masses starting at the TeV scale, is required in order to produce Ω χ $$ {h}_{\mathrm{Planck}}^2 $$ h Planck 2 through freeze-out, but loops — led by the dimension-five DM magnetic dipole moment — are nonetheless able to produce signals large enough to be constrained, particularly by the XENON1T experiment. In some benchmarks, we find a fair amount of parameter space left open by experiment and compatible with freeze-out. In other scenarios, however, the open space is quite small, suggesting a need for further model-building and/or non-standard cosmologies. 

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3. Sterile neutrino dark matter and leptogenesis in Left-Right Higgs Parity

   https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP01(2021)125  

   Dunsky, David; Hall, Lawrence J.; Harigaya, Keisuke (January 2021, Journal of High Energy Physics)

   A bstract The standard model Higgs quartic coupling vanishes at (10 9 − 10 13 ) GeV. We study SU(2) L × SU(2) R × U(1) B−L theories that incorporate the Higgs Parity mechanism, where this becomes the scale of Left-Right symmetry breaking, v R . Furthermore, these theories solve the strong CP problem and predict three right-handed neutrinos. We introduce cosmologies where SU(2) R × U(1) B−L gauge interactions produce right-handed neutrinos via the freeze-out or freeze-in mechanisms. In both cases, we find the parameter space where the lightest right-handed neutrino is dark matter and the decay of a heavier one creates the baryon asymmetry of the universe via leptogenesis. A theory of flavor is constructed that naturally accounts for the lightness and stability of the right-handed neutrino dark matter, while maintaining sufficient baryon asymmetry. The dark matter abundance and successful natural leptogenesis require v R to be in the range (10 10 − 10 13 ) GeV for freeze-out, in remarkable agreement with the scale where the Higgs quartic coupling vanishes, whereas freeze-in requires v R ≳ 10 9 GeV. The allowed parameter space can be probed by the warmness of dark matter, precise determinations of the top quark mass and QCD coupling by future colliders and lattice computations, and measurement of the neutrino mass hierarchy. 

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4. Quark masses and mixing in string-inspired models

   https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP06(2025)175  

   Constantin, Andrei; Fraser-Taliente, Cristofero S; Harvey, Thomas R; Leung, Lucas_T Y; Lukas, Andre (June 2025, Journal of High Energy Physics)

   A<sc>bstract</sc> We study a class of supersymmetric Froggatt-Nielsen (FN) models with multiple U(1) symmetries and Standard Model (SM) singlets inspired by heterotic string compactifications on Calabi-Yau threefolds. The string-theoretic origin imposes a particular charge pattern on the SM fields and FN singlets, dividing the latter into perturbative and non-perturbative types. Employing systematic and heuristic search strategies, such as genetic algorithms, we identify charge assignments and singlet VEVs that replicate the observed mass and mixing hierarchies in the quark sector, and subsequently refine the Yukawa matrix coefficients to accurately match the observed values for the Higgs VEV, the quark and charged lepton masses and the CKM matrix. This bottom-up approach complements top-down string constructions and our results demonstrate that string FN models possess a sufficiently rich structure to account for flavour physics. On the other hand, the limited number of distinct viable charge patterns identified here indicates that flavour physics imposes tight constraints on string theory models, adding new constraints on particle spectra that are essential for achieving a realistic phenomenology. 

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5. Coherent $$\mathrm{J}/\psi $$ and $${\uppsi '}$$ photoproduction at midrapidity in ultra-peripheral Pb–Pb  collisions at $$\sqrt{s_{\mathrm {NN}}}~=~5.02$$ TeV

   https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-021-09437-6  

   Acharya, S.; Adamová, D.; Adler, A.; Adolfsson, J.; Rinella, G. Aglieri; Agnello, M.; Agrawal, N.; Ahammed, Z.; Ahmad, S.; Ahn, S. U.; et al (August 2021, The European Physical Journal C)

   Abstract The coherent photoproduction of $$\mathrm{J}/\psi $$ J / ψ and $${\uppsi '}$$ ψ ′ mesons was measured in ultra-peripheral Pb–Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy $$\sqrt{s_{\mathrm {NN}}}~=~5.02$$ s NN = 5.02  TeV  with the ALICE detector. Charmonia are detected in the central rapidity region for events where the hadronic interactions are strongly suppressed. The $$\mathrm{J}/\psi $$ J / ψ is reconstructed using the dilepton ( $$l^{+} l^{-}$$ l + l - ) and proton–antiproton decay channels, while for the $${\uppsi '}$$ ψ ′   the dilepton and the $$l^{+} l^{-} \pi ^{+} \pi ^{-}$$ l + l - π + π - decay channels are studied. The analysis is based on an event sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 233 $$\mu {\mathrm{b}}^{-1}$$ μ b - 1 . The results are compared with theoretical models for coherent $$\mathrm{J}/\psi $$ J / ψ and $${\uppsi '}$$ ψ ′ photoproduction. The coherent cross section is found to be in a good agreement with models incorporating moderate nuclear gluon shadowing of about 0.64 at a Bjorken- x of around $$6\times 10^{-4}$$ 6 × 10 - 4 , such as the EPS09 parametrization, however none of the models is able to fully describe the rapidity dependence of the coherent $$\mathrm{J}/\psi $$ J / ψ cross section including ALICE measurements at forward rapidity. The ratio of $${\uppsi '}$$ ψ ′ to $$\mathrm{J}/\psi $$ J / ψ coherent photoproduction cross sections was also measured and found to be consistent with the one for photoproduction off protons. 

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