Testability of Type I Seesaw at the CERN LHC: Revealing the Existence of the B-L Symmetry
Abstract
We study the possibility to test the Type I seesaw mechanism for neutrino masses at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The inclusion of three generations of right-handed neutrinos (Ni) provides an attractive option of gauging the B-L accidental symmetry in the Standard Model (as well as an extended symmetry X=Y-5(B-L)/4). The production mechanisms for the right-handed neutrinos through the Z' gauge boson in the U(1)B-L and U(1)X extensions of the Standard Model are studied. We discuss the flavor combinations of the charged leptons from the decays of Ni in the Delta L=2 channels. We find that the clean channels with dilepton plus jets and possible secondary vertices of the N decay could provide conclusive signals at the LHC in connection with the hierarchical pattern of the light neutrino masses and mixing properties within the Type I seesaw mechanism.