Delayed Charged Lepton Yukawa Equilibration in Minimal Seesaw

Abstract

While most studies of the \textit{minimal type-I seesaw} neglect the heaviest decoupled right-handed neutrino, assuming negligible contributions to neutrino masses and leptogenesis, we demonstrate that its cosmological role can be significant. When long-lived, the presence of this particle can substantially modify the charged lepton Yukawa equilibration temperature in the early universe, necessitating reassessment of lepton flavor effects in thermal leptogenesis and potentially shifting flavor regime boundaries. Additionally, we identify experimental probes, including neutrino oscillation measurements and gravitational wave observations to investigate this scenario. More broadly, the resulting modification of the cosmic expansion history carries implications beyond leptogenesis, impacting dark matter production and evolution, the matter-antimatter asymmetry generation, and the primordial gravitational wave spectrum.

Version accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters. 7 pages, 3 captioned figures