The Minimal Massive Majoron Seesaw Model

Abstract

A convincing explanation of the smallness of neutrino masses is represented by the Type-I Seesaw mechanism, where the two measured neutrino mass differences can be generated by introducing at least two right-handed neutrinos. In an ultraviolet complete model, it is possible to dynamically generate the heavy Majorana scale through the spontaneous symmetry breaking of a global Abelian symmetry and the most economical realisation consists in coupling the two exotic neutral leptons to a singlet complex scalar field. The associated Goldstone boson is often dubbed as Majoron, which may achieve a non-vanishing mass by means of a small term that explicitly breaks the Abelian symmetry. In a generic model, the neutrino and Majoron mass generation mechanisms are completely uncorrelated. In this paper, instead, we reduce the landscape of possible models proposing a unique, minimal and predictive framework in which these two types of masses are strictly tied and arise from the same source. Bounds from various terrestrial and astrophysical experiments are discussed.

Comments: 38 pages, 7 figures, 3 appendices. V2: matches published version