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.     

Neutrino anomaly and ν-nucleus interactions

A review of various calculations of the inclusive quasi-elastic reactions and pion production processes in neutrino reactions for various nuclei at intermediate energies relevant to solar, atmospheric and accelerator neutrinos is presented     

Status of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

Solar neutrinos from the decay of ⁸B have been detected at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory via the charged-current (CC) and neutral-current (NC) reactions on deuterium and by the elastic scattering (ES) of electrons. The CCr eaction is sensitive exclusively to electron neutrinos, the NCr eaction is sensitive to all neutrino species, and the ES reaction also has a small sensitivity to muon and tau neutrinos. These measurements provided strong evidence that neutrinos change flavor as they propagate from the center of the Sun to the Earth at the 5.3σ level. It will also be shown that a global solar neutrino analysis of matter-enhanced neutrino oscillations of two active flavors strongly favors the large mixing angle solution.     

Neutrinos and explosive nucleosynthesis

Core-collapse supernovae produce a hot protoneutron star that cools emitting huge amounts of neutrinos of all flavors. The interaction of these neutrinos with the outer layers of the protoneutron star produces an outflow of matter whose composition is determined by the luminosities and energies of the emitted neutrinos and antineutrinos. The presence of light nuclei like deuterons and tritons can have a big impact in the average energies of the emitted antineutrinos and consequently in the neutron-richness of the ejected matter. Recent hydrodynamical models show that the ejected matter is in fact proton-rich and constitutes the site of the νp-process where antineutrino absorption reactions catalyze the nucleosynthesis of nuclei with A>64.     

The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory: Observation of flavor change for solar neutrinos

The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) experiment was constructed by an international scientific collaboration primarily to provide a clear determination of whether solar neutrinos change their flavor in transit from the core of the sun to the earth. The detector used 1000 tonnes of heavy water (>99.92% D2O) in an ultra‐clean location 2 km underground in INCO's Creighton mine near Sudbury, Canada to observe two separate reactions of neutrinos on deuterium. The first reaction was sensitive only to electron flavor neutrinos and the second reaction was equally sensitive to all neutrino flavors. The measurements by SNO showed clearly that the hypothesis of no neutrino flavor change was ruled out by more than 5.3 standard deviations. The observation of flavor change for neutrinos implies that they have a non‐zero mass. The measured total flux of active neutrinos from ⁸B decay in the sun was found to be in excellent agreement with the predictions of solar model calculations. This paper describes the history and scientific measurements of the SNO experiment. 2     

Neutrino flavor conversion in random magnetic fields

If massive neutrinos possess magnetic moments, a magnetic field can cause a spin flip. In the case of Dirac neutrinos the spin flip converts an active neutrino into a sterile one and vice versa. By constrast, if neutrinos are Majorana particles, a spin flip converts them to a neutrino of a different flavor. We examine the behavior of neutrinos in a random magnetic field as it occurs, for instance, in certain astronomical objects, such as an active galactic nucleus. Both Dirac and Majorana neutrinos behave ergodically: independently of their initial density matrix, they tend towards an equipartition of the helicity states. As a result, about half of the Dirac neutrinos produced becomes sterile. For Majorana neutrinos, there will be an approximate equipartition of flavors, independently of the production mechanism.     

Detection of supernova neutrinos at spallation neutron sources

After considering supernova shock effects, Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein effects, neutrino collective effects, and Earth matter effects, the detection of supernova neutrinos at the China Spallation Neutron Source is studied and the expected numbers of different flavor supernova neutrinos observed through various reaction channels are calculated with the neutrino energy spectra described by the Fermi-Dirac distribution and the "beta fit"distribution respectively. Furthermore, the numerical calculation method of supernova neutrino detection on Earth is applied to some other spallation neutron sources, and the total expected numbers of supernova neutrinos observed through different reactions channels are given.     

MiniBooNE overview and status

Recent discoveries in the neutrino sector have opened a new frontier in highenergy physics and cosmology. Evidence from neutrino oscillation experiments from around the world indicate that neutrinos oscillate between their different flavours and therefore may have mass. In addition, results from solar and atmospheric neutrino experiments as well as the accelerator neutrino experiment, LSND, cannot all be explained with the three standard model neutrinos. Is this new physics or is there some other explanation? The MiniBooNE experiment presently taking data at Fermilab is designed to address the LSND signal and answer this question. Progress on the MiniBooNE experiment will be presented and prospects for the future will be discussed.     

Different varieties of massive Dirac neutrinos

The concept of Majorana and Dirac massive neutrinos is discussed for the case in which there are several types, or flavors, of leptons. Different varieties of Dirac neutrinos are possible, distinguised by their magnetic moments and anomalous interactions with probabilities proportional to (m/E)².     

Neutrinos: precursors of new physics

Since neutrinos are the only elementary particles that interact only weakly, the study of their properties, albeit experimentally difficult, reflects the true nature of the Weak Interactions. We begin with a historical review, emphasizing the central role of neutrinos in the formulation of the Standard Model. We review the generalizations of the Standard Model needed to accommodate both Dirac and Majorana neutrino masses. The recent experimental findings which demonstrate that neutrinos have tiny masses are discussed. We argue that small neutrino masses as well as the unexpected mixing patterns between the three neutrino flavors give us a glimpse, through the Seesaw mechanism, of physics at or near the Planck scale. To cite this article: P. Ramond, C. R. Physique 6 (2005).     

Plasma-induced neutrino helicity flip in a supernova core and a constraint on the Dirac neutrino magnetic moment

We investigate the neutrino helicity flip under supernova core conditions, where the left-handed neutrinos being produced can be converted into right-handed neutrinos sterile with respect to weak interactions owing to the interaction of the magnetic moments with plasma electrons and protons. In calculating the probability for the conversion neutrino scattering by plasma components, we take into account the polarization effects attributable to both electrons and protons in the photon propagator. Based on realistic models with radial distributions and time evolution of physical parameters in a supernova core, we have obtained upper limits on the Dirac neutrino magnetic moment averaged over flavors and time from the condition that the influence of the right-handed neutrino emission on the total cooling time scale should be limited.     

On charm production at high energies

A number of new huge neutrino telescopes have been built, are being built, and are planned to be built all over the world. With these setups, cosmic neutrinos of high energies can be studied experimentally. Atmospheric neutrinos represent the main backgrounds to such experiments—namely, the atmospheric neutrinos determine how large a setup should be to measure diffuse cosmic neutrino fluxes or what angular resolution of a setup should be in order that searches for pointlike neutrino sources in the sky be successful. The atmospheric-neutrino fluxes are calculated in the present study. At high energies, the atmospheric-neutrino fluxes consist mostly of neutrinos produced in the atmosphere through charmed-particle decays. Three sources of information about charm production are used: (1) data obtained in accelerator experiments, (2) data on cosmicray muons, and (3) predictions of the NLO and QGSM QCD models for the charm-production at energies not available at modern accelerators. The uncertainties in the calculated fluxes of atmospheric neutrinos from charmed-particle decays are estimated to be at a level of 3–5 orders of magnitude.     

Supernova-neutrino studies with Mo

We show that supernova neutrinos can be studied by observing their charged-current interactions with ¹⁰⁰Mo, which has strong spin–isospin giant resonances. Information about both the effective temperature of the electron–neutrino sphere and the oscillation into electron neutrinos of other flavors can be extracted from the electron (inverse β) spectrum. We use measured hadronic charge-exchange spectra and the Quasiparticle Random Phase Approximation to calculate the charged-current response of ¹⁰⁰Mo to electron neutrinos from supernovae, with and without the assumption of oscillations. A scaled up version of the MOON detector for ββ and solar-neutrino studies could potentially be useful for spectroscopic studies of supernova neutrinos as well.     

High energy neutrinos from galactic sources

Analytical expressions are derived which allow to calculate flux densities of energetic neutrinos from hypothetical galactic sources, consisting of a proton accelerator and a dilute gas beam dump. The same formalism is used to calculate atmospheric muon and μ-neutrino fluxes. From the results, rates of upward going muons, both from the atmosphere and galactic sources, are computed and detection limits for neutrino emitters in the sky are established. Finally, the background in a surface detector, caused by scattered muons and charm decays in the rock, is estimated for the case of a flat surrounding.     

Towards the detection of light and heavy relic neutrinos

The standard Big Bang cosmology predicts that the universe is abundantly populated with neutrinos. As expected there are at least 114 neutrinos per cubic centimeter averaged over the whole space. Like the cosmic background radiation the cosmic neutrinos at present posses a very small kinetic energy due to expansion of the universe. This prediction is one of the cornerstones of modern cosmology. On the other hand the existence of cosmic neutrinos has not yet been confirmed by direct detection experiments. For now we only have a lower limit on the total mass of this free floating ghostly gas of neutrinos, but even so it is roughly equivalent to the total mass of all the visible stars in universe. There could be many more neutrinos at Earth because of condensation of neutrinos, now moving slowly under the gravitational pull of our galaxy. Here we discuss the possibility of detection of relic neutrinos in KATRIN and MARE experiments via neutrino capture on tritium and rhenium, respectively. We also examine single and double relic neutrino capture on double β-decaying nuclei which might be relevant in the context of the new generation double beta decay experiments. Further we explore feasibility of experiments for detection of heavy sterile neutrinos with masses in MeV region, which may have important astrophysical and cosmological implications.     

Recent developments in high energy physics

Recent results from experiments with solar, atmospheric and accelerator neutrinos are presented. Some of the important results from the LEP and TEVATRON colliders are summarised.     

The status of the study of solar CNO neutrinos in the Borexino experiment

Although less than 1% of solar energy is generated in the CNO cycle, it plays a critical role in astrophysics, since this cycle is the primary source of energy in certain more massive stars and at later stages of evolution of solar-type stars. Electron neutrinos are produced in the CNO cycle reactions. These neutrinos may be detected by terrestrial neutrino detectors. Various solar models with different abundances of elements heavier than helium predict different CNO neutrino fluxes. A direct measurement of the CNO neutrino flux could help distinguish between these models and solve several other astrophysical problems. No CNO neutrinos have been detected directly thus far, and the best upper limit on their flux was set in the Borexino experiment. The work on reducing the background in the region of energies of CNO neutrinos (up to 1.74 MeV) and developing novel data analysis methods is presently under way. These efforts may help detect the CNO neutrino flux in the Borexino experiment at the level predicted by solar models.     

AMANDA observations constrain the ultrahigh energy neutrino flux

A number of experimental techniques are currently being deployed in an effort to make the first detection of ultrahigh energy cosmic neutrinos. To accomplish this goal, techniques using radio and acoustic detectors are being developed, which are optimally designed for studying neutrinos with energies in the PeV-EeV range and above. Data from the AMANDA experiment, in contrast, have been used to place limits on the cosmic neutrino flux at less extreme energies (up to approximately 10 PeV). In this Letter, we show that by adopting a different analysis strategy, optimized for much higher energy neutrinos, the same AMANDA data can be used to place a limit competitive with radio techniques at EeV energies. We also discuss the sensitivity of the IceCube experiment, in various stages of deployment, to ultrahigh energy neutrinos.     

Investigation of neutrino oscillations in the T2k long-baseline accelerator experiment

High-sensitivity searches for transitions of muon neutrinos to electron neutrinos are the main task of the T2K (Tokai-to-Kamioka) second-generation long-baseline accelerator neutrino experiment. The present article is devoted to describing basic principles of T2K, surveying experimental apparatuses that it includes, and considering in detail the muon-range detector (SMRD) designed and manufactured by a group of physicists from the Institute of Nuclear Research (Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow). The results of the first measurements with a neutrino beam are presented, and plans for the near future are discussed.     

Solar neutrinos

Neutrinos are produced in large amounts by the nuclear reactions which take place in the interior of the Sun. Presently five dedicated experiments show a clear deficit of these neutrinos on Earth. Oscillations from one neutrino flavor to another are the most likely explanation of this deficit, implying that neutrinos have a mass.