- Physical Review Journals
All JournalsPhysics Magazine
Access Provided by Xinjiang University

Physical Review D

Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Open Access
  • Access by Xinjiang University

Probing leptogenesis and the minimal neutrino seesaw mechanism through gravitational waves

Arghyajit Datta1,* and Arunansu Sil2,†

  • *Contact author: arghyad053@gmail.com
  • †Contact author: asil@iitg.ac.in
PDF

Phys. Rev. D 114, 035040 – Published 25 August, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/dcl6-fl76

Abstract

We propose that a gravitational wave can be generated during leptogenesis in the early Universe, which occurs during heavy right-handed neutrino decay. Such a gravitational wave, as a remnant of leptogenesis, is shown to be associated with distinguishing signatures that not only act as a powerful probe to leptogenesis but also to the existence of heavy seesaw states, which otherwise remain difficult to validate despite their success in explaining the baryon asymmetry of the Universe, closely connected to the origin of neutrino mass.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Article Text

References (90)

  1. M. Fukugita and T. Yanagida, Phys. Lett. B 174, 45 (1986).
  2. M. A. Luty, Phys. Rev. D 45, 455 (1992).
  3. A. Pilaftsis, Phys. Rev. D 56, 5431 (1997).
  4. E. Ma and U. Sarkar, Phys. Rev. Lett. 80, 5716 (1998).
  5. T. Hambye, E. Ma, and U. Sarkar, Nucl. Phys. B602, 23 (2001).
  6. T. Hambye and G. Senjanovic, Phys. Lett. B 582, 73 (2004).
  7. P. Minkowski, Phys. Lett. 67B, 421 (1977).
  8. T. Yanagida, Conf. Proc. C 7902131, 95 (1979).
  9. T. Yanagida, Phys. Rev. D 20, 2986 (1979).
  10. M. Gell-Mann, P. Ramond, and R. Slansky, Conf. Proc. C 790927, 315 (1979).
  11. R. N. Mohapatra and G. Senjanovic, Phys. Rev. Lett. 44, 912 (1980).
  12. J. Schechter and J. W. F. Valle, Phys. Rev. D 22, 2227 (1980).
  13. J. Schechter and J. W. F. Valle, Phys. Rev. D 25, 774 (1982).
  14. A. Datta, R. Roshan, and A. Sil, Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 231801 (2021).
  15. G. Lazarides and Q. Shafi, Phys. Lett. B 258, 305 (1991).
  16. H. Murayama, H. Suzuki, T. Yanagida, and J. Yokoyama, Phys. Rev. Lett. 70, 1912 (1993).
  17. E. W. Kolb, A. D. Linde, and A. Riotto, Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 4290 (1996).
  18. T. Asaka, K. Hamaguchi, M. Kawasaki, and T. Yanagida, Phys. Lett. B 464, 12 (1999).
  19. F. Hahn-Woernle and M. Plumacher, Nucl. Phys. B806, 68 (2009).
  20. B. Barman, D. Borah, and R. Roshan, Phys. Rev. D 104, 035022 (2021).
  21. S. Davidson and A. Ibarra, Phys. Lett. B 535, 25 (2002).
  22. N. Seto, S. Kawamura, and T. Nakamura, Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 221103 (2001).
  23. B. P. Abbott et al. (KAGRA, LIGO Scientific, and Virgo Collaborations), Living Rev. Relativity 19, 1 (2016).
  24. P. Amaro-Seoane et al., arXiv:1702.00786.
  25. D. Reitze et al., Bull. Am. Astron. Soc. 51, 035 (2019).
  26. N. Herman, A. Füzfa, L. Lehoucq, and S. Clesse, Phys. Rev. D 104, 023524 (2021).
  27. A. Berlin, D. Blas, R. T. D’Agnolo, S. A. R. Ellis, R. Harnik, Y. Kahn, and J. Schütte-Engel, Phys. Rev. D 105, 116011 (2022).
  28. N. Herman, L. Lehoucq, and A. Fúzfa, Phys. Rev. D 108, 124009 (2023).
  29. A. Berlin, D. Blas, R. T. D’Agnolo, Sebastian A. R. Ellis, R. Harnik, Y. Kahn, J. Schütte-Engel, and M. Wentzel, Phys. Rev. D 108, 084058 (2023).
  30. A. Kosowsky and M. S. Turner, Phys. Rev. D 47, 4372 (1993).
  31. S. Matarrese, O. Pantano, and D. Saez, Phys. Rev. Lett. 72, 320 (1994).
  32. X. Martin and A. Vilenkin, Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 2879 (1996).
  33. U.-L. Pen and N. Turok, Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 131301 (2016).
  34. M. Hindmarsh, Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 071301 (2018).
  35. A. Ringwald, J. Schütte-Engel, and C. Tamarit, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 03 (2021) 054.
  36. G. Domènech, AAPPS Bull. 34, 4 (2024).
  37. B. Barman and A. Datta, Phys. Rev. D 109, 095029 (2024).
  38. R. Roshan and G. White, Rev. Mod. Phys. 97, 015001 (2025).
  39. G. Choi, W. Ke, and K. A. Olive, Phys. Rev. D 109, 083516 (2024).
  40. A. Datta, S. Khalil, R. K. Mandal, and A. Sil, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 02 (2026) 061.
  41. S. Y. Choi, J. S. Shim, and H. S. Song, Phys. Rev. D 51, 2751 (1995).
  42. B. R. Holstein, Am. J. Phys. 74, 1002 (2006).
  43. J. A. Casas and A. Ibarra, Nucl. Phys. B618, 171 (2001).
  44. S. Antusch and A. M. Teixeira, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 02 (2007) 024.
  45. A. Datta, R. Roshan, and A. Sil, Phys. Rev. Lett. 132, 061802 (2024).
  46. A. Datta, R. Roshan, and A. Sil, Phys. Rev. D 108, 035029 (2023).
  47. B. Barman, A. Datta, and M. R. Haque, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 06 (2025) 061.
  48. I. Esteban, M. C. Gonzalez-Garcia, M. Maltoni, T. Schwetz, and A. Zhou, J. High Energy Phys. 09 (2020) 178.
  49. N. Aghanim et al. (Planck Collaboration), Astron. Astrophys. 641, A6 (2020); 652, C4(E) (2021).
  50. J. A. Harvey and M. S. Turner, Phys. Rev. D 42, 3344 (1990).
  51. B. Barman, N. Bernal, Y. Xu, and O. Zapata, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 05 (2023) 019.
  52. S. Kanemura and K. Kaneta, Phys. Lett. B 855, 138807 (2024).
  53. S. Weinberg, Phys. Rev. 140, B516 (1965).
  54. A. Pilaftsis and T. E. J. Underwood, Nucl. Phys. B692, 303 (2004).
  55. K. Nakayama and Y. Tang, Phys. Lett. B 788, 341 (2019).
  56. A. Ghoshal, R. Samanta, and G. White, Phys. Rev. D 108, 035019 (2023).
  57. N. Bernal, S. Cléry, Y. Mambrini, and Y. Xu, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 01 (2024) 065.
  58. K.-Y. Choi, E. Lkhagvadorj, and S. Mahapatra, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 07 (2024) 064.
  59. Y. Xu, J. High Energy Phys. 10 (2024) 174.
  60. B. Barman, D. Borah, A. Dasgupta, and A. Ghoshal, Phys. Rev. D 106, 015007 (2022).
  61. J. A. Dror, T. Hiramatsu, K. Kohri, H. Murayama, and G. White, Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 041804 (2020).
  62. M. Chianese, S. Datta, G. Miele, R. Samanta, and N. Saviano, Phys. Rev. D 111, L041305 (2025).
  63. R. Watkins and L. M. Widrow, Nucl. Phys. B374, 446 (1992).
  64. T. Konstandin and G. Servant, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 07 (2011) 024.
  65. A. Falkowski and J. M. No, J. High Energy Phys. 02 (2013) 034.
  66. I. Baldes, S. Blasi, A. Mariotti, A. Sevrin, and K. Turbang, Phys. Rev. D 104, 115029 (2021).
  67. A. Dasgupta, P. S. Bhupal Dev, A. Ghoshal, and A. Mazumdar, Phys. Rev. D 106, 075027 (2022).
  68. M. Cataldi and B. Shakya, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 11 (2024) 047.
  69. D. J. Weir, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 376, 20170126 (2018); 381, 20230212(E) (2023).
  70. C. Caprini and D. G. Figueroa, Classical Quantum Gravity 35, 163001 (2018).
  71. K. J. Bae, A. Datta, R. Maji, and W.-I. Park, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 07 (2026) 009.
  72. M. Maggiore, Phys. Rep. 331, 283 (2000).
  73. M. C. Guzzetti, N. Bartolo, M. Liguori, and S. Matarrese, Riv. Nuovo Cimento 39, 399 (2016).
  74. T. Fujita, K. Kamada, and Y. Nakai, Phys. Rev. D 102, 103501 (2020).
  75. N. Aggarwal, G. P. Winstone, M. Teo, M. Baryakhtar, S. L. Larson, V. Kalogera, and A. A. Geraci, Phys. Rev. Lett. 128, 111101 (2022).
  76. C. H. Albright and S. M. Barr, Phys. Rev. D 69, 073010 (2004).
  77. S.-L. Chen and X.-G. He, Int. J. Mod. Phys. Conf. Ser. 01, 18 (2011).
  78. S. Khalil, Q. Shafi, and A. Sil, Phys. Rev. D 86, 073004 (2012).
  79. D. Aristizabal Sierra, M. Dhen, and T. Hambye, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 08 (2014) 003.
  80. T. Rink, W. Rodejohann, and K. Schmitz, Nucl. Phys. B972, 115552 (2021).
  81. A. Datta, R. Roshan, and A. Sil, Phys. Rev. D 105, 095032 (2022).
  82. D. Vatsyayan and S. Goswami, Phys. Rev. D 107, 035014 (2023).
  83. R. Pramanick, T. S. Ray, and A. Sil, Phys. Rev. D 109, 115011 (2024).
  84. G. Lazarides, Q. Shafi, and C. Wetterich, Nucl. Phys. B181, 287 (1981).
  85. R. N. Mohapatra and G. Senjanovic, Phys. Rev. D 23, 165 (1981).
  86. C. Wetterich, Nucl. Phys. B187, 343 (1981).
  87. R. Foot, H. Lew, X. G. He, and G. C. Joshi, Z. Phys. C 44, 441 (1989).
  88. D. Bhandari, A. Datta, and A. Sil, Phys. Rev. D 110, 115008 (2024).
  89. A. Denner, H. Eck, O. Hahn, and J. Kublbeck, Nucl. Phys. B387, 467 (1992).
  90. H. Murayama, B. Noether, and J. Schütte-Engel, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 12 (2025) 027.

Outline

Information

Phys. Rev. D 114, 035040– Published 25 August, 2026
  • Received 10 October 2024
  • Accepted 3 August 2026
Crossmark - Check for updates button
Creative Commons Logo

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article’s title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP3.

Published by the American Physical Society

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation