We consider localization of gravity on thick branes with a nontrivial structure. Double walls that generalize the thick Randall-Sundrum solution, and asymmetric walls that arise from a $Z_2$ symmetric scalar potential, are considered. We present a new asymmetric solution: a thick brane interpolating between two ${\mathrm{A}\mathrm{d}\mathrm{S}}_5$ spacetimes with different cosmological constants, which can be derived from a “fake supergravity” superpotential, and show that it is possible to confine gravity on such branes.

We study a scenario allowing a solution of the strong charge parity problem via the Peccei-Quinn mechanism, implemented in gravity with torsion. In this framework there appears a torsion-related pseudoscalar field known as the Kalb-Ramond axion. We compare it with the so-called Barbero-Immirzi axion recently proposed in the literature also in the context of the gravity with torsion. We show that they are equivalent from the viewpoint of the effective theory. The phenomenology of these torsion-descended axions is completely determined by the Planck scale without any additional model parameters. These axions are very light and very weakly interacting with ordinary matter. We briefly comment on their astrophysical and cosmological implications in view of the recent BICEP2 and Planck data.

For Majorana neutrino masses the lowest dimensional operator possible is the Weinberg operator at d = 5. Here we discuss the possibility that neutrino masses originate from higher dimensional operators. Specifically, we consider all tree-level decompositions of the d = 9, d = 11 and d = 13 neutrino mass operators. With renormalizable interactions only, we find 18 topologies and 66 diagrams for d = 9, and 92 topologies plus 504 diagrams at the d = 11 level. At d = 13 there are already 576 topologies and 4199 diagrams. However, among all these there are only very few genuine neutrino mass models: At d = (9, 11, 13) we find only (2,2,2) genuine diagrams and a total of (2,2,6) models. Here, a model is considered genuine at level d if it automatically forbids lower order neutrino masses without the use of additional symmetries. We also briefly discuss how neutrino masses and angles can be easily fitted in these high-dimensional models.

We study the Kaluza-Klein dimensional reduction of the Lovelock-Cartan theory in five-dimensional spacetime, with a compact dimension of $S^1$ topology. We find cosmological solutions of the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker class in the reduced spacetime. The torsion and the fields arising from the dimensional reduction induce a nonvanishing energy-momentum tensor in four dimensions. We find solutions describing expanding, contracting, and bouncing universes. The model shows a dynamical compactification of the extra dimension in some regions of the parameter space.

We study constraints on left-right symmetric models from searches of semileptonic decays of $D$, $D_s$, and $B$ mesons, mediated by heavy neutrinos $N$ with masses $m_N\sim \mathrm{GeV}$ that go on their mass shell leading to a resonant enhancement of the rates. Using these processes, we examine, as a function of $m_N$ and $M_{W_R}$, the physics reach of the recently proposed high-intensity beam dump experiment SHiP, which is expected to produce a large sample of $D_s$ mesons. We compare these results with the corresponding reach of neutrinoless double beta decay experiments, as well as like-sign dilepton searches with displaced vertices at the LHC. We conclude that the SHiP experiment has clear advantages in probing the left-right symmetric models for heavy neutrinos in the GeV mass range.

We show that the effective field equations for a recently formulated polynomial affine model of gravity, in the sector of a torsion-free connection, accept general Einstein manifolds—with or without cosmological constant—as solutions. Moreover, the effective field equations are partially those obtained from a gravitational Yang–Mills theory known as Stephenson–Kilmister–Yang theory. Additionally, we find a generalization of a minimally coupled massless scalar field in General Relativity within a ‘minimally’ coupled scalar field in this affine model. Finally, we present a brief (perturbative) analysis of the propagators of the gravitational theory, and count the degrees of freedom. For completeness, we prove that a Birkhoff-like theorem is valid for the analyzed sector.