The Baikal Neutrino Experiment: Status and beyond

The present status of the Baikal Neutrino Experiment and the present results of a search for upward going atmospheric neutrinos, WIMPs, and magnetic monopoles obtained with the NT-200 detector are reviewed. The results of a search for very high-energy neutrinos are presented as well. An upper limit on the ν _e +ν _e +ν _τ neutrino diffuse flux of E ²Φ(E)<1.3×10⁻⁶ cm⁻² s⁻¹ sr⁻¹ GeV within a neutrino energy range of 10⁴–10⁷ GeV is obtained, assumingan E ⁻² behavior of the neutrino spectrum and a flavor ratio ν _e :ν _π :ν _τ =1:1:1. We also describe the moderate upgrade of the NT-200 planned for the next few years and present a possible detector on the Gigaton scale. From Yadernaya Fizika, Vol. 67, No. 6, 2004, pp. 1186–1194. Original English Text Copyright ? 2004 by Aynutdinov, Balkanov, Belolaptikov, Bezrukov, Budnev, Chensky, Chernov, Danilchenko, Dzhilkibaev, Domogatsky, Dyachok, Gaponenko, O. Gress, T. Gress, Klabukov, Klimov, Klimushin, Konischev, Koshechkin, Kulepov, Kuzmichev, Kuznetzov, Lubsandorzhiev, Mikheyev, Milenin, Mirgazov, Moiseiko, Osipova, Panfilov, G. Pan'kov, L. Pan'kov, Parfenov, Pavlov, Pliskovsky, Pokhil, Polecshuk, Popova, Prosin, Rosanov, Rubtzov, Semeney, Shaibonov, Spiering, Streicher, Tarashansky, Vasiliev, Vyatchin, Wischnewski, Yashin, Zhukov. This article was submitted by the authors in English.     

Recent Results from the ANTARES Neutrino Telescope

The ANTARES detector, located 40 km off the French coast, is the largest deep-sea neutrino telescope in the world. It consists of an array of 885 photomultipliers detecting the Cherenkov light induced by charged leptons produced by neutrino interactions in and around the detector. The primary goal of ANTARES is to search for astrophysical neutrinos in the TeV–PeV range. This comprises generic searches for any diffuse cosmic neutrino flux as well as more specific searches for astrophysical sources such as active galactic nuclei or galactic sources. The search program also includes multi-messenger analyses based on time and/or space coincidences with other cosmic probes. The ANTARES observatory is sensitive to a wide range of other phenomena, from atmospheric neutrino oscillations to dark matter annihilation or potential exotics such as nuclearites and magnetic monopoles. The most recent results are reported.     

Neutrino signal at Baikal from dark matter in the Galactic Center

We discuss neutrinos originating from dark matter in the Galactic Center and present sensitivity of Baikal Gigaton Volume Detector to this signal.     

Search for High-Energy Neutrinos from GW170817 with the Baikal-GVD Neutrino Telescope

JETP Letters - The Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory and Advanced Virgo observatories recently discovered gravitational waves from a binary neutron star inspiral. A short...     

Neutrino

Neutrinos are the only fundamental fermions which have no electric charges. Because of that neutrinos have no direct electromagnetic interaction and at relatively small energies they can take part only in weak processes with virtual W ^± and Z ⁰ bosons. Neutrino masses are many orders of magnitude smaller than masses of charged leptons and quarks. These two circumstances make neutrinos unique, special particles. The history of the neutrino is very interesting, exciting and instructive. We try here to follow the main stages of the neutrino history starting from the famous Pauli letter and finishing with the discovery and study of neutrino oscillations. Outstanding contribution to the neutrino physics of Bruno Pontecorvo is discussed in some details.     

The Mass Operator and Neutrino Oscillations

Recent work in parametrized relativistic quantum theory (PRQT) has shown that oscillations between mass states are predicted by an alternative formulation of relativistic quantum theory that uses an invariant evolution parameter. A PRQT model of flavor transitions is compared to the standard model. The resulting PRQT expression for the probability of survival of an incident neutrino differs significantly from the standard neutrino oscillation model. Neutrino oscillation measurements provide an experimental testing ground for two theories that are based on fundamentally different concepts of temporal evolution.     

The Lake Baikal neutrino experiment

We review the present status of the Baikal neutrino experiment. The structure and parameters of the neutrino telescope NT-200, which was put into operation in April 1998, are described. Selected methodological results are presented. Physics results cover separating up-going muons from atmospheric neutrinos, searches for neutrino events from WIMP annihilation, searches for magnetic monopoles, and high-energy neutrinos. From Yadernaya Fizika, Vol. 66, No. 3, 2003, pp. 530–535. Original English Text Copyright ? 2003 by Balkanov, Belolaptikov, Bezrukov, Budnev, Chensky, Danilchenko, Dzhilkibaev, Domogatsky, Fialkovsky, Gaponenko, O. Gress, T. Gress, Il'yasov, Klabukov, Klimov, Klimushin, Koshechkin, Konischev, Kulepov, Kuzmichev, Kuznetsov, Lubsandorzhiev, Micheev, Milenin, Mirgazov, Moseiko, Osipova, Panfilov, Pan'kov Parfenov, Pavlov, Pliskovsky, Pokhil, Poleshuk, Popova, Prosin, Rosanov, Rubzov, Semenei, Spiering, Streicher, Tarashansky, Vasiliev, Wischnewski, Yashin, Zhukov. This article was submitted by the authors in English.     

Neutrino masses

A status report about experimental searches for neutrino masses is given. Direct mass experiments for the three different neutrino flavours are discussed. Under the assumption of neutrino mixing results of experiments looking for neutrino decay and distortions in spectra of weak decays are reported.     

Neutrino unification

Present neutrino data are consistent with neutrino masses arising from a common seed at some "neutrino unification" scale M(X). Such a simple theoretical ansatz naturally leads to quasidegenerate neutrinos that could lie in the electron-volt range with neutrino mass splittings induced by renormalization effects associated with supersymmetric thresholds. In such a scheme the leptonic analog of the Cabibbo angle straight theta(middle dot in circle) describing solar neutrino oscillations is nearly maximal. Its exact value is correlated with the smallness of straight theta(reactor). The two leading mass-eigenstate neutrinos present in nu(e) form a pseudo-Dirac neutrino, avoiding conflict with neutrinoless double beta decay.     

Neutrino cosmology

Cosmological data are reviewed questioning whether the universe may be open and dominated by neutrinos and gravitons rather than by baryons. The thermal history of the Lepton Era is investigated incorporating the effects of neutral currents, additional neutrinos, and a small neutrino mass. In the canonical version of Big Bang cosmology (equal numbers of neutrinos and antineutrinos), the neutrino number and energy density is, like that of photons, gravitationally insignificant unless the neutrino has a small mass (10 eV). The neutrino sea can be cosmologically significant if it is degenerate (so that the net leptonic or muonic charge is nonzero) with7×10 ⁵ neutrinos (or antineutrinos) per cm.³ This density homogeneously spread out is still so low that even the most energetic cosmic ray protons will not be stopped, even if neutral currents exist with the usual weak strength. If these degenerate neutrinos have a small mass (0.5 eV), they will condense into degenerate neutrino superstars of the size and mass of galactic clusters. If neutral currents make the (ev) (ev) coupling five times greater than what it is in V — A theory, nucleosynthesis commences a little earlier than conventionally assumed. This increases the cosmological He⁴ abundance predicted only slightly from Y= 0.27 to Y= 0.29. An appendix reviews the effect of neutral currents on neutrino processes in stars.Supported in part by the U.S.A.E.C.     

Neutrino cosmology

We present a class of non-stationary cosmological solutions of coupled Einstein-Dirac equations which correspond to an Universe filled solely with neutrinos of right and/or left helicity.     

Neutrino superfluidity

It is shown that Dirac-type neutrinos display BCS superfluidity for any nonzero mass. The Cooper pairs are formed by attractive scalar Higgs boson exchange between left- and right-handed neutrinos; in the standard SU(2) x U(1) theory, right-handed neutrinos do not couple to any other boson. The value of the gap, the critical temperature, and the Pippard coherence length are calculated for arbitrary values of the neutrino mass and chemical potential. Although such a superfluid could conceivably exist, detecting it would be a major challenge.