LHC signatures of sterile neutrinos in a minimal radiative extended seesaw framework

TL;DR

This paper proposes a minimal radiative extended seesaw model with two right-handed neutrinos, predicting observable displaced vertices at the LHC, which could serve as signatures of sterile neutrinos in future collider experiments.

Contribution

It introduces a novel minimal radiative extended seesaw framework with potential collider signatures, linking neutrino mass generation to observable LHC phenomena.

Findings

Right-handed neutrinos can produce displaced vertices at the LHC.

The model's neutrino masses can resemble type-I seesaw under certain conditions.

Potential for future exploration of vertex signatures for heavier particles.

Abstract

The presence of small neutrino masses and flavour mixings can be accounted for naturally in various models about extensions of the standard model, particularly in the seesaw mechanism models. In this work, we present a minimally extended seesaw framework with two right-handed neutrinos, where the active neutrino masses are derived in the radiative regime. Using the framework it can be shown that within certain mass limits, the light neutrino mass term can approach a form that is similar to its form under the type-I seesaw mechanism. Apart from this, we show that the decay width of right-handed neutrinos (produced through the decay of W boson in a particle collider) is short enough to cause a sufficiently long lifetime for the particles, thus ensuring an observable displacement in the LHC between the production and decay vertices. We comment on the fact that these displaced vertex signatures thus can serve as a means to verify the existence of these right-handed neutrinos in future experiments. Lastly, we line up the possibility of our future work where the vertex signatures of particles greater than the mass of W boson can be worked upon.