Low-scale leptogenesis in the scotogenic model: Spectator processes and benchmark points

Abstract

We study leptogenesis from the decay of the lightest sterile neutrino in the scotogenic model with a scalar dark matter candidate. Our analysis focuses on the possible exponential suppression of washouts for sizable values of the inert Higgs mass and the crucial role of some spectator processes for this to happen. We show that leptogenesis can be successful for TeV-scale masses of the lightest sterile neutrino for both, thermal and zero, initial abundances of the neutrinos, without resorting to quasidegenerate neutrinos. Moreover, leptogenesis is viable for Yukawa couplings of the heavier sterile neutrinos large enough to yield observable charged lepton flavor violation (CLFV) processes in current and planned experiments. Published by the American Physical Society 2025