Leptogenesis with a dynamical seesaw scale

TL;DR

This paper investigates how new interactions affecting right-handed neutrino annihilations influence leptogenesis, revealing conditions that enhance or suppress the resulting baryon asymmetry in models with spontaneous lepton number violation.

Contribution

It provides a model-independent analysis of right-handed neutrino annihilation effects on leptogenesis, highlighting the impact of scattering rates on efficiency and initial condition independence.

Findings

Weak washout regime can significantly enhance efficiency.

Efficiency becomes independent of initial conditions.

Fast annihilations suppress $B-L$ asymmetry, potentially halting leptogenesis.

Abstract

In the simplest type-I seesaw leptogenesis scenario right-handed neutrino annihilation processes are absent. However, in the presence of new interactions these processes are possible and can affect the resulting $B-L$ asymmetry in an important way. A prominent example is provided by models with spontaneous lepton number violation, where the existence of new dynamical degrees of freedom can play a crucial role. In this context, we provide a model-independent discussion of the effects of right-handed neutrino annihilations. We show that in the weak washout regime, as long as the scattering processes remain slow compared with the Hubble expansion rate throughout the relevant temperature range, the efficiency can be largely enhanced, reaching in some cases maximal values. Moreover, the $B-L$ asymmetry yield turns out to be independent upon initial conditions, in contrast to the "standard" case. On the other hand, when the annihilation processes are fast, the right-handed neutrino distribution tends to a thermal one down to low temperatures, implying a drastic suppression of the efficiency which in some cases can render the $B-L$ generation mechanism inoperative.