Neutrino t-channels at Colliders: When Light Neutrinos Matter

Abstract

Heavy Neutral Lepton (HNL)-mediated t-channel processes provide a unique opportunity to probe mass scales beyond the kinematic reach of direct production at high-energy colliders. We revisit these processes using the vector boson scattering channel $WW\to\ell\ell$ at the LHC as a case study, highlighting the essential role of the light neutrinos in restoring the proper high-energy unitary behavior of the scattering amplitude. Their inclusion, overlooked in some previous studies, leads to destructive interference that strongly suppresses lepton number violating signatures, demonstrating that a consistent treatment of the full seesaw spectrum qualitatively alters the phenomenology of t-channel HNL searches. This motivates the exploration of lepton number conserving but lepton flavor violating final states instead. We present a detailed analysis of the $pp\to eμjj$ channel and show that it provides a promising probe of TeV-scale HNLs in low-scale seesaw scenarios with sizable active-sterile mixing, extending the LHC sensitivity beyond existing direct searches.