Searches for muon-to-electron (anti) neutrino flavor change

Employing an 800 MeV, high-intensity proton beam, the LSND experiment performed a sensitive search for neutrino oscillations and obtained evidence for flavor change. Although the KARMEN experiment observed no such evidence, a joint analysis of the two experiments shows that the data sets are compatible with neutrino oscillations occurring either in a band from 0.2 to 1 eV ² or in a region around 7 eV ². The MiniBooNE experiment at Fermilab was designed to test the LSND evidence for neutrino oscillations [C. Athanassopoulos et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 75, 2650 (1995); 77, 3082 (1996); 81, 1774 (1998); A. Aguilar et al., Phys. Rev. D 64, 112007 (2001)]. The MiniBooNE oscillation result in neutrino mode [A. Aguilar-Arevalo et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 231801 (2007); A. Aguilar-Arevalo et al. arXiv:0812.2243] shows no significant excess of events at higher energies (), although a sizeable excess is observed at lower energies (). The lack of a significant excess at higher energies allows MiniBooNE to rule out simple 2−ν oscillations as an explanation of the LSND signal. However, the low-energy excess is presently unexplained. Additional antineutrino data and NuMI data may allow the collaboration to determine whether the excess is due, for example, to a neutrino neutral-current radiative interaction or to neutrino oscillations involving sterile neutrinos and whether the excess is related to the LSND signal. If the excess is consistent with being due to sterile neutrinos or other new physics, then future experiments at FNAL (MicroBooNE & BooNE) or ORNL (OscSNS) or with the Low-Energy Neutrino Spectrometer (LENS) detector could confirm their existence.     

Flavour transitions of Dirac-Majorana neutrinos

From a phenomenological point of view, we study active-active and active-sterile flavour-changing (and flavour-conserving) oscillations of Dirac-Majorana neutrinos both in vacuum and in matter. The general expressions for the transition probabilities in vacuum are reported. We then investigate some interesting consequences following from particular simple forms of the neutrino mass matrices, and for the envisaged scenarios we discuss in detail neutrino propagation in matter. Special emphasis is given to the problem of occurrence of resonant enhancement of active-active and active-sterile neutrino oscillations in a medium. The peculiar novel features related to the Dirac-Majorana nature of neutrinos are particularly pointed out. Received: 20 February 1998 / Published online: 5 June 1998     

Parametric resonance in neutrino oscillations in periodically varying electromagnetic fields

It is shown that a parametric resonance may arise in neutrino oscillations in varying electromagnetic fields. For two types of electromagnetic fields—an amplitude-modulated electromagnetic wave and a transverse magnetic field that is constant in time, but which has an amplitude periodically varying in space—the probabilities of the ν _i ? ν _j neutrino transitions are found, and it is shown that the probability amplitudes increase with time for a specific choice of the parameters of external electromagnetic fields.     

Neutrino indirect detection of neutralino dark matter in the CMSSM

We study potential signals of neutralino dark matter indirect detection by neutrino telescopes in a wide range of CMSSM parameters. We also compare with direct detection potential signals taking into account in both cases present and future experiment sensitivities. Only models with neutralino annihilation into gauge bosons can satisfy cosmological constraints and current neutrino indirect detection sensitivities. For both direct and indirect detection, only next generation experiments will be able to really test this kind of models. Received: 12 April 2002 / Revised version: 16 July 2002 / Published online: 18 October 2002 RID="a" ID="a" e-mail: bertin@cppm.in2p3.fr RID="b" ID="b" e-mail: nezri@in2p3.fr RID="c" ID="c" e-mail: orloff@in2p3.fr     

Corrections to the fluxes of a neutrino factory

To reach their physical goals, future neutrino factories using muon decay aim at an overall flux precision of or better. We analytically study the QED radiative corrections to the neutrino differential distributions from muon decay. Kinematic uncertainties due to the divergence of the muon beam are considered as well. The resulting corrections to the neutrino flux turn out to be of order , safely below the required precision. Received: 10 September 2002 / Revised version: 4 April 2003 / Published online: 2 June 2003 RID="a" ID="a" e-mail: alicia@delta.ft.uam.es RID="b" ID="b" e-mail: mena@delta.ft.uam.es     

Gravitational interaction of neutrinos in models with large extra dimensions

Whenever fields are allowed to propagate in different portions of space-time, the four-dimensional theory exhibits an effective violation of the principle of equivalence. We discuss the conditions under which such an effect is relevant for neutrino physics. In the simplest case of compactification on a flat manifold, the effect of gravity is many orders of magnitude too weak and plays no role for solar neutrino oscillations. Instead, it could be important in the study of ultra high energy neutrinos in cosmic rays. Gravity could also be relevant for lower energy neutrino processes involving bulk sterile states, if the mechanism of compactification is more subtle than that on torii. Received: 12 September 2002 / Revised version: 6 November 2002 / Published online: 24 January 2003     

ANTARES—deep undersea neutrino observatory: Status report

The ANTARES project aims at the construction of an array of 900 optical modules to form a high-energy neutrino detector with an effective area of about 0.1 km² (ANTARES Collab., astro-ph/9907432; http://antares.in2p3.fr/). The detector will be built in the Mediterranean Sea, 40 km off the coast near Toulon (France) at a depth of 2400 m. The detector has the following main physics goals: measuring the high-energy neutrino flux in the TeV-PeV range with a good pointing resolution, studying atmospheric neutrino oscillations in the region of the parameter space favored by Super-Kamiokande, and searching for supersymmetric dark matter in a region of model parameters of interest in cosmology and particle physics.     

On neutrino oscillations and the time-energy uncertainty relation

We consider neutrino oscillations as a nonstationary phenomenon based on the Schrödinger evolution equation and mixed neutrino states with definite flavor. We demonstrate that for such states, invariance under translations in time does not take place. We show that the time-energy uncertainty relation plays a crucial role in neutrino oscillations. We compare neutrino oscillations with K ⁰ ? -K ⁰, B _d ⁰ ? B _d ⁰ , and other oscillations.     

π-Meson decay in an arbitrary plane wave electromagnetic field

In this work we study the leptonic-decay processes of a -meson in a field that is a superposition of a crossed field and the field of a plane electromagnetic wave. Expressions for the decay probability are obtained that take into account a non-zero neutrino mass. The dependence of the probabilities on the spin of the created lepton is investigated. The values of the parameters of the external field are indicated for which it is possible to isolate the decay process depending on the neutrino mass, which may be of interest for the solution of the problem of the existence of the neutrino mass.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 9, pp. 82–86, September, 1985.     

Neutrino Oscillations with Nil Mass

An alternative neutrino oscillation process is presented as a counterexample for which the neutrino may have nil mass consistent with the standard model. The process is developed in a quantum trajectories representation of quantum mechanics, which has a Hamilton–Jacobi foundation. This process has no need for mass differences between mass eigenstates. Flavor oscillations and \(\nu ,\bar{\nu }\) oscillations are examined.     

Spin-flavor oscillations of neutrinos in rapidly varying external fields

Spin-flavor oscillations of neutrinos in rapidly varying external fields are studied. A method for describing neutrino oscillations in arbitrary rapidly varying external fields is developed. An effective Hamiltonian that describes the evolution of the averaged neutrino wave function is obtained. Neutrino oscillations in rapidly varying magnetic fields are considered on the basis of the general formalism developed in this study. Neutrino transitions in a superposition of a constant and a rotating (in space) magnetic field that are transverse with respect to the neutrino velocity are studied. The probabilities of transitions in spin-flavor oscillations of neutrinos in the magnetic fields of the Sun are estimated. Numerical solutions to the Schrödinger equation for the Hamiltonian that describes neutrino interaction with a constant and a rotating (in space) magnetic field are given. It is shown that the approximate analytic formula obtained in the present study for the probability of neutrino transitions is consistent with the respective numerical solution to the evolution equation at high frequencies of the rotating magnetic fields.     

MINOS experiment at Fermilab

MINOS is a two-detector experiment to study neutrino oscillations in the NuMI high-intensity neutrino beam at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Results on ν_μ disappearance, ν_e appearance, sterile neutrino mixing (ν neutral current ‘disappearance’), and disappearance are summarized for an exposure of ≈3×10²⁰ protons on target. Data from a 7×10²⁰ POT exposure already in hand are being analyzed.     

Oscillation properties of active and sterile neutrinos and neutrino anomalies at short distances

A generalized phenomenological (3 + 2 + 1) model featuring three active and three sterile neutrinos that is intended for calculating oscillation properties of neutrinos for the case of a normal activeneutrino mass hierarchy and a large splitting between the mass of one sterile neutrino and the masses of the other two sterile neutrinos is considered. A new parametrization and a specific form of the general mixing matrix are proposed for active and sterile neutrinos with allowance for possible CP violation in the lepton sector, and test values are chosen for the neutrino masses and mixing parameters. The probabilities for the transitions between different neutrino flavors are calculated, and graphs representing the probabilities for the disappearance of muon neutrinos/antineutrinos and the appearance of electron neutrinos/antineutrinos in a beam of muon neutrinos/antineutrinos versus the distance from the neutrino source for various values of admissible model parameters at neutrino energies not higher than 50 MeV, as well as versus the ratio of this distance to the neutrino energy, are plotted. It is shown that the short-distance accelerator anomaly in neutrino data (LNSD anomaly) can be explained in the case of a specific mixing matrix for active and sterile neutrinos (which belongs to the a₂ type) at the chosen parameter values. The same applies to the short-distance reactor and gallium anomalies. The theoretical results obtained in the present study can be used to interpret and predict the results of ground-based neutrino experiments aimed at searches for sterile neutrinos, as well as to analyze some astrophysical observational data.     

CPT-Odd resonances in neutrino oscillations

We consider the consequences for future neutrino factory experiments of small CPT-odd interactions in neutrino oscillations. The nu(&mgr;)-->nu(&mgr;) and nu;(&mgr;)-->nu;(&mgr;) survival probabilities at a baseline L = 732 km can test for CPT-odd contributions at orders of magnitude better sensitivity than present neutrino sector limits. Interference between the CPT-violating interaction and CPT-even mass terms in the Lagrangian can lead to a resonant enhancement of the oscillation amplitude. For oscillations in matter, a simultaneous enhancement of both neutrino and antineutrino oscillation amplitudes is possible.     

Mass and CKM matrices of quarks and leptons, the leptonic CP-phase in neutrino oscillations

A general approach for construction of quark and lepton mass matrices is formulated. The hierarchy of quarks and charged leptons (“electrons”) is large, it leads using the experimental values of mixing angles to the hierarchical mass matrix slightly deviating from the ones suggested earlier by Stech and including naturally the CP-phase.

The same method based on the rotation of generation numbers in the diagonal mass matrix is used in the electron–neutrino sector of theory, where neutrino mass matrix is determined by the Majorano see-saw approach. The hierarchy of neutrino masses, much smaller than for quarks, was used including all existing (even preliminary) experimental data on neutrino mixing.

The leptonic mass matrix found in this way includes the unknown value of the leptonic CP-phase. It leads to large ν_μν_τ oscillations and suppresses the ν_eν_τ and also ν_eν_μ oscillations. The explicit expressions for the probabilities of neutrino oscillation were obtained in order to specify the role of leptonic CP-phase. The value of time reversal effect (proportional to sin δ′) was found to be small 1%. However, a dependence of the values of ν_eν_μ,ν_eν_τ transition probabilities, averaged over oscillations, on the leptonic CP-phase has found to be not small – of order of ten percent.     

Low-energy weak-interaction studies

An overview is given of the present status of low-energy tests of the Standard Model in nuclear beta-decay and neutron decay, covering the unitarity problem, searches for right-handed currents, scalar- and tensor-type currents, tests of time-reversal violation, as well as experiments to set the neutrino mass scale. In view of the large amount of ongoing and planned experiments in this sector, many new results can be expected in the coming decade. Received: 21 March 2002 / Accepted: 16 May 2002 / Published online: 31 October 2002 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: nathal.severijns@fys.kuleuven.ac.be     

Three-flavoured neutrino oscillations and the Leggett–Garg inequality

Three-flavoured neutrino oscillations are investigated in the light of the Leggett–Garg inequality (LGI). The results obtained are: (a) The maximum violation of the LGI is 2.17036 for neutrino path length \(L_{1}=140.15 \) km and \(\Delta L=1255.7 \) km. (b) The presence of the mixing angle \(\theta _{13}\) enhances the maximum violation of LGI by \(4.6\%\). (c) The currently known mass hierarchy parameter \(\alpha = 0.0305\) increases the maximum violation of LGI by \(3.7\%\). (d) The presence of a CP-violating phase parameter enhances the maximum violation of LGI by \(0.24\%\), thus providing an alternative indicator of CP violation in three-flavoured neutrino oscillations. The outline of an experimental proposal is suggested whereby the findings of this investigation may be verified.     

A flavor symmetry for quasi-degenerate neutrinos: L_\mu - L_\tau

We consider the flavor symmetry for the neutrino mass matrix. The most general neutrino mass matrix conserving predicts quasi-degenerate neutrino masses with one maximal and two zero mixing angles. The presence of can also be motivated by the near-bimaximal form of the neutrino mixing matrix. Furthermore, it is a special case of symmetric mass matrices. Breaking the flavor symmetry by adding a small flavor-blind term to the neutrino mass matrix and/or by applying radiative corrections is shown to reproduce the observed neutrino oscillation phenomenology. Both the normal and inverted mass ordering can be accommodated within this scheme. Moderate cancellation for neutrinoless double beta decay is expected. The observables |U _e3|² and are proportional to the inverse of the fourth power of the common neutrino mass scale. We comment on whether the atmospheric neutrino mixing is expected to lie above or below . We finally present a model based on the see-saw mechanism which generates a light neutrino mass matrix with an (approximate) flavor symmetry. This is a minimal model with just one standard Higgs doublet and three heavy right-handed neutrinos. It needs only small values for the soft breaking terms to reproduce the phenomenological viable mass textures analyzed.Received: 18 November 2004, Revised: 13 December 2004, Published online: 15 February 2005     

O(5)×U(1) electroweak gauge theory and the neutrino oscillations in matter

A study is made of the groupO(5)×U(1). The group is economical in the number of gauge bosons, which we associate with each of its generators, and is anomaly-free. The left-handed leptonsL _L ^T (v _e ,e,,v ) _L are assigned to the four-dimensional spinorial representations ofO(5). The right-handed particles are taken to be the singlets of the group. The theory has three sets of gauge bosons: (1) analogues of the GWS model, (2) additional charged gauge bosons, and (3) a set of three additional neutral gauge bosons as compared to the GWS model. We introduce neutrino mixing by mixing the additional charged gauge bosons. We develope a theory of neutrino oscillations in matter in such a way that in the absence of matter the scattering length reduces to the usual scattering length in vacuum. Even if the neutrino masses are equal or the neutrinos are massless, we still have neutrino oscillations in matter, a result already noted by Wolfenstein.