Cosmological Unification, Dark Energy and the Origin of Neutrino Mass

TL;DR

This paper proposes a cosmological model where vacuum energy explains neutrino masses and the universe's accelerated expansion, linking dark energy with neutrino physics through a symmetry-based framework.

Contribution

It introduces a unification model based on $SO(1,1)$ symmetry that connects dark energy, inflation, and neutrino mass generation in a novel way.

Findings

The model naturally links quintessence to neutrino mass generation.

It predicts negligible contributions to relativistic degrees of freedom at late times.

The framework is consistent with current cosmological observations.

Abstract

We suggest that quintessential vacuum energy could be the source of right handed neutrino masses that feed the seesaw mechanism, which may provide observed small masses to light standard neutrinos. This idea is naturally implemented in the Cosmological Unification model based on the global $SO(1,1)$ symmetry, where early inflation and late accelerated expansion of the Universe are driven by the degrees of freedom of a doublet scalar field. In this model, the $SO(1,1)$ custodial symmetry naturally provides the quintessence to standard model singlet fermion couplings that source neutrino masses. We also show that the model predicts a highly suppressed contribution to relativistic degrees of freedom from quintessential quanta at any late Universe epoch, ensuring the consistency of the model.