Mass bounds for baryogenesis from particle decays and the inert doublet model

In models for thermal baryogenesis from particle decays, the mass of the decaying particle is typically many orders of magnitude above the TeV scale. We will discuss different ways to lower the energy scale of baryogenesis and present the corresponding lower bounds on the particle's mass. This is done specifically for the inert doublet model with heavy Majorana neutrinos and then we indicate how to extrapolate the results to other scenarios. We also revisit the question of whether or not dark matter, neutrino masses, and the cosmic baryon asymmetry can be explained simultaneously at low energies in the inert doublet model.Comment: 25 pages - 5 figures - typos corrected and references added - accepted for publication in JCA

On baryogenesis from dark matter annihilation

We study in detail the conditions to generate the baryon asymmetry of the universe from the annihilation of dark matter. This scenario requires a low energy mechanism for thermal baryogenesis, hence we first discuss some of these mechanisms together with the specific constraints due to the connection with the dark matter sector. Then we show that, contrary to what stated in previous studies, it is possible to generate the cosmological asymmetry without adding a light sterile dark sector, both in models with violation and with conservation of B-L. In addition, one of the models we propose yields some connection to neutrino masses.Comment: 30 pages, 9 artistic figures. V2 minor changes, matches published version in JCA

On Higgs and sphaleron effects during the leptogenesis era

We discuss the effects of various processes that can be active during the leptogenesis era, and present the Boltzmann equations that take them into account appropriately. A non-vanishing Higgs number asymmetry is always present, enhancing the washout of the lepton asymmetry. This is the main new effect when leptogenesis takes place at $T>10^{12}$ GeV, reducing the final baryon asymmetry and tightening the leptogenesis bound on the neutrino masses. If leptogenesis occurs at lower temperatures, electroweak sphalerons partially transfer the lepton asymmetry to a baryonic one, while Yukawa interactions and QCD sphalerons partially transfer the asymmetries of the left-handed fields to the right-handed ones, suppressing the washout processes. Depending on the specific temperature range in which leptogenesis occurs, the final baryon asymmetry can be enhanced or suppressed by factors of order 20%--40% with respect to the case when these effects are altogether ignored.Comment: one reference adde

Leptogenesis with small violation of B-L

We analyze leptogenesis in the context of seesaw models with almost conserved lepton number, focusing on the L-conserving contribution to the flavoured CP asymmetries. We find that, contrary to previous claims, successful leptogenesis is feasible for masses of the lightest heavy neutrino as low as M-1 similar to 10(6) GeV, without resorting to the resonant enhancement of the CP asymmetry for strongly degenerate heavy neutrinos. This lower limit renders thermal leptogenesis compatible with the gravitino bound in supersymmetric scenarios

Leptogenesis in GeV-scale seesaw models

We revisit the production of leptonic asymmetries in minimal extensions of the Standard Model that can explain neutrino masses, involving extra singlets with Majorana masses in the GeV scale. We study the quantum kinetic equations both analytically, via a perturbative expansion up to third order in the mixing angles, and numerically. The analytical solution allows us to identify the relevant CP invariants, and simplifies the exploration of the parameter space. We find that sizeable lepton asymmetries are compatible with non-degenerate neutrino masses and measurable active-sterile mixings

Protein phosphorylation in yeast mitochondria

We describe the identification and submitochondrial localization of four protein kinases and of their target proteins in derepressed yeast mitochondria. The activity of one of the kinases depends on the presence of cyclic AMP (cAMP). It is soluble and localized in the mitochondrial intermembrane space. Its natural target is a polypeptide of 40 kDa molecular mass, which is bound to the inner membrane. Besides this natural target this kinase phosphorylates acidic heterologous proteins, like casein, with high efficiency. The other protein kinases identified so far are cAMP-independent. At least one is localized in the matrix having its natural substrates (49 and 24 kDa) in the same compartment. Two others are firmly bound to the inner membrane phosphorylating target proteins in the inner membrane (52·5 kDa) and in the intermembrane space (17·5 kDa), respectively

Leptogenesis without violation of B-L

We study the possibility of generating the observed baryon asymmetry via leptogenesis in the decay of heavy Standard Model singlet fermions which carry lepton number, in a framework without Majorana masses above the electroweak scale. Such scenario does not contain any source of total lepton number violation besides the Standard Model sphalerons, and the baryon asymmetry is generated by the interplay of lepton flavour effects and the sphaleron decoupling in the decay epoch.Comment: V2 (published version): 21 pages, 4 figures. Some explanations have been adde

Flavour Issues in Leptogenesis

We study the impact of flavour in thermal leptogenesis, including the quantum oscillations of the asymmetries in lepton flavour space. In the Boltzmann equations we find different numerical factors and additional terms which can affect the results significantly. The upper bound on the CP asymmetry in a specific flavour is weaker than the bound on the sum. This suggests that -- when flavour dynamics is included -- there is no model-independent limit on the light neutrino mass scale,and that the lower bound on the reheat temperature is relaxed by a factor ~ (3 - 10).Comment: 19 pages, corrected equations for flavour oscillation

The importance of flavor in leptogenesis

We study leptogenesis from the out-of-equilibrium decays of the lightest heavy neutrino $N_1$ in the medium (low) temperature regime, T\lsim 10^{12} GeV ($10^{10}$ GeV), where the rates of processes mediated by the $\tau$ (and $\mu$) Yukawa coupling are non negligible, implying that the effects of lepton flavors must be taken into account. We find important quantitative and qualitative differences with respect to the case where flavor effects are ignored: (i) The cosmic baryon asymmetry can be enhanced by up to one order of magnitude; (ii) The sign of the asymmetry can be opposite to what one would predict from the sign of the total lepton asymmetry $\epsilon_1$; (iii) Successful leptogenesis is possible even with $\epsilon_1=0$.Comment: 27 pages, 2 figures. Added 3 reference