Non-unitarity of the leptonic mixing matrix: Present bounds and future sensitivities

TL;DR

This paper assesses current experimental bounds and future sensitivities on the non-unitarity of the leptonic mixing matrix, which signals physics beyond the Standard Model involving sterile neutrinos, using a model-independent effective field theory approach.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive global fit of the Minimal Unitarity Violation scheme parameters and evaluates the potential of future experiments to detect non-unitarity effects.

Findings

Current data constrain leptonic non-unitarity parameters.

Future FCC-ee/TLEP can probe non-unitarity for singlet masses up to ~60 TeV.

Muon-to-electron conversion experiments could explore singlet masses up to ~0.3 PeV.

Abstract

The non-unitarity of the effective leptonic mixing matrix at low energies is a generic signal of extensions of the Standard Model (SM) with extra fermionic singlet particles, i.e. sterile or right-handed neutrinos, to account for the observed neutrino masses. The low energy effects of such extensions can be described in a model-independent way by the Minimal Unitarity Violation (MUV) scheme, an effective field theory extension of the SM. We perform a global fit of the MUV scheme parameters to the present experimental data, which yields the up-to-date constraints on leptonic non-unitarity. Furthermore, we investigate the sensitivities and discovery prospects of future experiments. In particular, FCC-ee/TLEP would be a powerful probe of flavour-conserving non-unitarity for singlet masses up to ~ 60 TeV. Regarding flavour-violating non-unitarity, future experiments on muon-to-electron conversion in nuclei could even probe extensions with singlet masses up to ~ 0.3 PeV.