Correlated perturbations from inflation and the cosmic microwave background

We compare the latest cosmic microwave background data with theoretical predictions including correlated adiabatic and cold dark matter (CDM) isocurvature perturbations with a simple power-law dependence. We find that there is a degeneracy between the amplitude of correlated isocurvature perturbations and the spectral tilt. A negative (red) tilt is found to be compatible with a larger isocurvature contribution. Estimates of the baryon and CDM densities are found to be almost independent of the isocurvature amplitude. The main result is that current microwave background data do not exclude a dominant contribution from CDM isocurvature fluctuations on large scales.     

Exploring neutrino mass and mass hierarchy in interacting dark energy models

We investigate how the dark energy properties impact the constraints on the total neutrino mass in interacting dark energy(IDE)models. In this study, we focus on two typical interacting dynamical dark energy models, i.e., the interacting w cold dark matter(IwCDM) model and the interacting holographic dark energy(IHDE) model. To avoid the large-scale instability problem in IDE models, we apply the parameterized post-Friedmann approach to calculate the perturbation of dark energy. We employ the Planck 2015 cosmic microwave background temperature and polarization data, combined with low-redshift measurements on baryon acoustic oscillation distance scales, type Ia supernovae, and the Hubble constant, to constrain the cosmological parameters. We find that the dark energy properties could influence the constraint limits on the total neutrino mass. Once dynamical dark energy is considered in the IDE models, the upper bounds of ∑mν will be changed. By considering the values of χ^2min , we find that in these IDE models the normal hierarchy case is slightly preferred over the inverted hierarchy case;for example, △χ^2= 2.720 is given in the IHDE+∑mν model. In addition, we also find that in the Iw CDM+∑mν model β = 0 is consistent with current observational data inside the 1σ range, and in the IHDE+∑mν model β > 0 is favored at more than 2σ level.     

Fundamental uncertainty in the BAO scale from isocurvature modes

Small fractions of isocurvature perturbations correlated with the dominant adiabatic mode are shown to be a significant primordial systematic for Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) surveys which must be accounted for in future surveys. Isocurvature modes distort the standard ruler distance by broadening and shifting the peak in the galaxy correlation function. While a single isocurvature mode does not significantly degrade dark energy constraints, the general case with multiple isocurvature modes leads to biases that exceed 7σ on average in the dark energy parameters even for isocurvature amplitudes undetectable by Planck. Accounting for all isocurvature modes corrects for this bias but degrades the dark energy figure of merit by at least 50% in the case of the Boss experiment. However the BAO data in turn provides significantly stronger constraints on the nature of the primordial perturbations. Future large galaxy surveys will thus be powerful probes of exotic physics in the early Universe in addition to helping pin down the nature of dark energy.     

Baryogenesis via B−L violation in SO(10) unified models

We discuss the problem of baryon number generation in the framework of a class of SO(10) grand unified models with an intermediate mass scale. In these theories the neutrino mass spectrum allows for the τ neutrino to be a good candidate for the hot component of the dark matter and, at the same time, an implementation of the MSW mechanism is possible. We show that an adequate matter-antimatter asymmetry is achievable through the interplay of B−L violating decays of scalar bosons into massive right-handed neutrinos with the anomalous B+L violating processes mediated by sphalerons.     

The νMSM,inflation, and dark matter

We show how to enlarge the νMSM (the minimal extension of the Standard Model by three right-handed neutrinos) to incorporate inflation and provide a common source for electroweak symmetry breaking and for right-handed neutrino masses. In addition to inflation, the resulting theory can explain simultaneously dark matter and the baryon asymmetry of the Universe; it is consistent with experiments on neutrino oscillations and with all astrophysical and cosmological constraints on sterile neutrino as a dark matter candidate. The mass of inflaton can be much smaller than the electroweak scale.     

Leptogenesis and dark matter unified in a non-SUSY model for neutrino masses

We propose a unified explanation for the origin of dark matter and baryon number asymmetry on the basis of a non-supersymmetric model for the neutrino masses. Neutrino masses are generated in two distinct ways, that is, a tree-level seesaw mechanism with a single right-handed neutrino, and one-loop radiative effects by a new additional doublet scalar. A spontaneously broken U(1)^′ brings about a Z₂ symmetry which restricts couplings of this new scalar and controls the neutrino masses. It also guarantees the stability of a CDM candidate. We examine two possible candidates for the CDM. We also show that the decay of a heavy right-handed neutrino related to the seesaw mechanism can generate baryon number asymmetry through leptogenesis.     

Majorana neutrinos as the dark matters in the cold plus hot dark matter model

A simple model of the Majorana neutrino with the see-saw mechanism is studied, assuming that two light neutrinos are the hot dark matter each with a mass of 2.4 eV in the cold plus hot dark matter model of cosmology. We find that the heavy neutrino, which is the see-saw partner with the remaining one light neutrino, can be the cold dark matter, if the light neutrino is exactly massless. This cold dark matter neutrino is allowed to have a mass in the wide range from 5.9 × 10² eV to 2.2 × 10⁷ eV.     

Bounds on the neutrino mass from the dark matter in the universe

Summary The problem of the missing matter in the Universe is reviewed and discussed in terms of massive neutrinos. The primordial abundances of light elements produced during the big bang nucleosynthesis can be used to determine firm bounds on the number of neutrino flavours and on the ratio of baryon to photon densities in the Universe. These limits imply that nonbaryonic matter is the dominant constituent of large-scale cosmic structures, being massive neutrinos the best guess for such a matter. In order that the Universe be closed, a value of the neutrino rest mass is derived, which agrees with the bounds obtained from the dynamics of galaxies and clusters of galaxies. It is also shown that density perturbations can hardly grow in a nucleon-dominated Universe, and massive neutrinos may be the seed for nucleon condensations. All these astrophysical and cosmological considerations suggest a lower and an upper bound of the neutrino rest mass. Paper presented at the Congress ?Galactic and Extragalactic Dark Matter?, Roma, 28 to 30 June 1983.     

Flux of Scalar Neutrino Dark Matter

Recently the exotic event observed at the Yunnan Cosmic Ray Station (YCRS) is reinterpreted as a neutral supersymmetric (SUSY) particle bombarding on proton to produce a charged SUSY particle which decays afterwards. The kinematics analysis determines the lower bounds of its mass and lifetime. Taking this bounds as inputs and following recent literatures to assume the scalar neutrino (sneutrino) as the main constituent of the cold SUSY dark matter, we calculate the flux of sneutrino at the earth detector in terms of the standard rate equation of cosmic matter.     

Entropy, baryon asymmetry and dark matter from heavy neutrino decays

The origin of the hot phase of the early universe remains so far an unsolved puzzle. A viable option is entropy production through the decays of heavy Majorana neutrinos whose lifetimes determine the initial temperature. We show that baryogenesis and the production of dark matter are natural by-products of this mechanism. As is well known, the cosmological baryon asymmetry can be accounted for by leptogenesis for characteristic neutrino mass parameters. We find that thermal gravitino production then automatically yields the observed amount of dark matter, for the gravitino as the lightest superparticle and typical gluino masses. As an example, we consider the production of heavy Majorana neutrinos in the course of tachyonic preheating associated with spontaneous B−L breaking. A quantitative analysis leads to constraints on the superparticle masses in terms of neutrino masses: For a light neutrino mass of ¹⁰−5 eV the gravitino mass can be as small as 200 MeV, whereas a lower neutrino mass bound of 0.01 eV implies a lower bound of 9 GeV on the gravitino mass. The measurement of a light neutrino mass of 0.1 eV would rule out heavy neutrino decays as the origin of entropy, visible and dark matter.     

Discrimination of neutrino mass models

We consider the Majorana CP violating phases derived from right-handed Majorana mass matrices to estimate the baryon asymmetry of the universe, for different neutrino mass models, namely degenerate, inverted hierarchical and normal hierarchical models, with tri-bimaximal mixings. Considering three possible diagonal forms of Dirac neutrino mass matrix as charged-lepton, up-quark or down-quark mass matrix within the framework of left-right symmetric GUT models, the right-handed Majorana mass matrices are constructed from the light Majorana neutrino mass matrix through the inverse seesaw formula. These light neutrino mass matrices have already been tested to provide good predictions on neutrino mass parameters and mixing angles. They are again applied to predict baryon asymmetry of the universe in the present work. The normal hierarchical model gives the best prediction for baryon asymmetry, consistent with observation. The analysis may serve as additional information in the discrimination of the presently available neutrino mass models.     

Sterile neutrinos, dark matter, and pulsar velocities in models with a Higgs singlet

We identify the range of parameters for which the sterile neutrinos can simultaneously explain the cosmological dark matter and the observed velocities of pulsars. To satisfy all cosmological bounds, the relic sterile neutrinos must be produced sufficiently cold. This is possible in a class of models with a gauge-singlet Higgs boson coupled to the neutrinos. Sterile dark matter can be detected by the x-ray telescopes. The presence of the singlet in the Higgs sector can be tested at the CERN Large Hadron Collider.     

Warped unification, proton stability, and dark matter

We show that solving the problem of baryon-number violation in nonsupersymmetric grand unified theories (GUT's) in warped higher-dimensional spacetime can lead to a stable Kaluza-Klein particle. This exotic particle has gauge quantum numbers of a right-handed neutrino, but carries fractional baryon number and is related to the top quark within the higher-dimensional GUT. A combination of baryon number and SU(3) color ensures its stability. Its relic density can easily be of the right value for masses in the 10 GeV-few TeV range. An exciting aspect of these models is that the entire parameter space will be tested at near future dark matter direct detection experiments. Other exotic GUT partners of the top quark are also light and can be produced at high energy colliders with distinctive signatures.     

R-parity breaking via type II seesaw,decaying gravitino dark matter and PAMELA positron excess

We propose a new class of R-parity violating extension of MSSM with type II seesaw mechanism for neutrino masses where an unstable gravitino is the dark matter of the Universe. It decays predominantly into three leptons final states, thereby providing a natural explanation of the positron excess but no antiproton excess in the PAMELA experiment. The model can explain neutrino masses without invoking any high scale physics while keeping the pre-existing baryon asymmetry of the universe in tact.     

Leptogenesis with left-right domain walls

The presence of domain walls separating regions of unbrokenSU(2)_L andSU(2)_R is shown to provide necessary conditions for leptogenesis which converts later to the observed baryon asymmetry. The strength of lepton number violation is related to the Majorana neutrino mass and hence related to current bounds on light neutrino masses. Thus the observed neutrino masses and the baryon asymmetry can be used to constrain the scale of left-right symmetry breaking.     

Higgs characterisation via vector-boson fusion and associated production: NLO and parton-shower effects

We suggest two types of extension of the standard model, which are the so-called next to new minimal standard model type-II and -III. They can achieve gauge coupling unification as well as suitable dark matter abundance, small neutrino masses, baryon asymmetry of the universe, inflation, and dark energy. The gauge coupling unification can be realized by introducing two or three extra new fields, and they could explain charge quantization. We also show that there are regions in which the vacuum stability, coupling perturbativity, and correct dark matter abundance can be realized with current experimental data at the same time.     

Narrowing the window for millicharged particles by CMB anisotropy

We calculate the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy spectrum in models with millicharged particles of electric charge q～10^?6?10^?1 in units of electron charge. We find that a large region of the parameter space for the millicharged particles exists where their effect on the CMB spectrum is similar to the effect of baryons. Using WMAP data on the CMB anisotropy and assuming the Big Bang nucleosynthesis value for the baryon abundance, we find that only a small fraction of cold dark matter, Ω_mcp<0.007 (at 95% CL), may consist of millicharged particles with the parameters (charge and mass) from this region. This bound significantly narrows the allowed range of the parameters of millicharged particles. In models without paraphotons, millicharged particles are now excluded as a dark matter candidate. We also speculate that recent observation of 511-keV γ rays from the Galactic bulge may be an indication that a (small) fraction of cold dark matter is comprised of millicharged particles.     

Dirac neutrinos in superstring models with an intermediate scale

We discuss neutrino masses in superstring-inspired models. We present a model possessing an intermediate scale ∼ 10⁸–10⁹ GeV which gives rise to Dirac neutrinos with masses in a range that can account both for the dark matter and the solar neutrino puzzle through the MSW effect. It also accounts for the observed baryon asymmetry through the out-of-equilibrium decay of heavy colored fields at temperatures close to the electroweak scale. Although baryon- and lepton-number symmetries are explicitly broken there are no observable low-energy baryon- or lepton-number-violating effects due to the presence of an accidental unbroken global U(1)_2B−L symmetry.     

Magnetic dipole moment and keV neutrino dark matter

We study magnetic dipole moments of right-handed neutrinos in a keV neutrino dark matter model. This model is a simple extension of the standard model with only right-handed neutrinos and a pair of charged particles added. One of the right-handed neutrinos is the candidate of dark matter with a keV mass. Some bounds on the dark matter magnetic dipole moment and model parameters are obtained from cosmological observations.     

The Evolution for Various Matter Perturbations in the Expanding Universe

We present a systematic treatment of the linear theory of scalar gravitational perturbations of various matter (including baryons, cold dark matter, photons, massless neutrinos,and massive neutrino) for the flat, open and close universes, concentrating on the treatment of the massive neutrino component which has been either ignored or approximated crudely for the nonflat universe in previous literatures.