Lepton Number Violation: Seesaw Models and Their Collider Tests

• Published in: Frontiers in physics Vol. 6
• Main Authors: Cai, Yi, Han, Tao, Li, Tong, Ruiz, Richard
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Frontiers Research Foundation 09.05.2018; Frontiers Media S.A
• Subjects: 1711.02180; collider physics; lepton number violation; Majorana neutrinos; neutrino mass models; PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS; seesaw mechanisms
• ISSN: 2296-424X; 2296-424X
• DOI: 10.3389/fphy.2018.00040

The Majorana nature of neutrinos is strongly motivated from the theoretical and phenomenological point of view. A plethora of neutrino mass models, known collectively as Seesaw models, exist that could generate both a viable neutrino mass spectrum and mixing pattern. They can also lead to rich, new phenomenology, including lepton number non-conservation as well as new particles, that may be observable at collider experiments. It is therefore vital to search for such new phenomena and the mass scale associated with neutrino mass generation at high energy colliders. In this review, we consider a number of representative Seesaw scenarios as phenomenological benchmarks, including the characteristic Type I, II, and III Seesaw mechanisms, their extensions and hybridizations, as well as radiative constructions. We present new and updated predictions for analyses featuring lepton number violation and expected coverage in the theory parameter space at current and future colliders. We emphasize new production and decay channels, their phenomenological relevance and treatment across different facilities in e+e-, e-p, and pp collisions, as well as the available Monte Carlo tools available for studying Seesaw partners in collider environments.