Top Quark as a Dark Portal and Neutrino Mass Generation

TL;DR

This paper proposes a new model linking dark matter and neutrino masses through extended scalar sectors and quark portals, with implications for collider and lepton flavor violation constraints.

Contribution

It introduces a novel radiative neutrino mass model with a dark matter candidate involving scalar extensions and quark portals, connecting dark matter, neutrino masses, and collider phenomenology.

Findings

Dark matter abundance can match experimental data in benchmark scenarios.

Neutrino masses are generated in the milli-electronvolt range.

Constraints from lepton flavor violation and collider data limit model parameters.

Abstract

We present a new model for radiatively generating Majorana active neutrino masses while incorporating a viable dark matter candidate. This is possible by extending the Standard Model with a single Majorana neutrino endowed with a dark parity, a colour electroweak singlet scalar, as well as a colour electroweak triplet scalar. Within this framework, the $up$-type quarks play a special role, serving as a portal for dark matter, and a messenger for neutrino mass generation. We consider three benchmark scenarios where the abundance of dark matter can match the latest experimental results, while generating neutrino masses in the milli-electronvolt range. We show how constraints from lepton flavour violation, in particular the branching fraction of $\mu\to e\gamma$, can place lower bounds on the coupling between our dark matter candidate and top quarks. Furthermore, we show that this coupling can also be constrained using collider data from the Tevatron and the LHC.