Scattering rates for leptogenesis: Damping of lepton flavour coherence and production of singlet neutrinos

Using the Closed Time Path (CTP) approach, we perform a systematic leading order calculation of the relaxation rate of flavour correlations of left-handed Standard Model leptons. This quantity is of pivotal relevance for flavoured leptogenesis in the Early Universe, and we find it to be 5.19×10−3T5.19×10−3T at T=107 GeVT=107 GeV and 4.83×10−3T4.83×10−3T at T=1013 GeVT=1013 GeV, in substantial agreement with estimates used in previous phenomenological analyses. These values apply to the Standard Model with a Higgs-boson mass of 125 GeV125 GeV. The dependence of the numerical coefficient on the temperature T is due to the renormalisation group running. The leading linear and logarithmic dependencies of the flavour relaxation rate on the gauge and top-quark couplings are extracted, such that the results presented in this work can readily be applied to extensions of the Standard Model. We also derive the production rate of light (compared to the temperature) sterile right-handed neutrinos, a calculation that relies on the same methods. We confirm most details of earlier results, but find a substantially larger contribution from the t-channel exchange of fermions.