Neutrino masses, mixing and hierarchy

We build a model to describe neutrinos based on strict hierarchy, incorporating as much as possible, the latest known data, for Δ_sol and Δ_atm, and for the mixing angles determined from neutrino oscillation experiments, including that from KamLAND. Since the hierarchy assumption is a statement about mass ratios, it lets us obtain all three neutrino masses. We obtain a mass matrix, M_ν and a mixing matrix, U, where both M_ν and U are given in terms of powers of Λ, the analog of the Cabibbo angle λ in the Wolfenstein representation, and two parameters, ρ and κ, each of order one. The expansion parameter, Λ, is defined by

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, and ρ expresses our ignorance of the lightest neutrino mass m₁, (m₁=ρΛ⁴m₃), while κ scales s₁₃ to the experimental upper limit, s₁₃=κΛ²≈0.16κ. These matrices are similar in structure to those for the quark and lepton families, but with Λ about 1.6 times larger than the λ for the quarks and charged leptons. The upper limit for the effective neutrino mass in double β-decay experiments is 4×10⁻³ eV if s₁₃=0 and 6×10⁻³ eV if s₁₃ is maximal. The model, which is fairly unique, given the hierarchy assumption and the data, is compared to supersymmetric extension and texture zero models of mass generation.     

Neutrino masses and mixing in the light of experimental data

All the possible schemes of neutrino mixing with four massive neutrinos inspired by the existing experimental indications in favour of neutrino mixing are considered. It is shown that the scheme with a neutrino mass hierarchy is not compatible with the experimental results, likewise all other schemes with the masses of three neutrinos close together and the fourth mass separated by a gap needed to incorporate the LSND neutrino oscillations. Only two schemes with two pairs of neutrinos with close masses separated by this gap of the order of 1 eV are in agreement with the results of all experiments. We carefully examine the arguments leading to this conclusion and also discuss experimental consequences of the two favoured neutrino schemes.     

Admixture of quasi-Dirac and Majorana neutrinos with tri-bimaximal mixing

We propose a realization of the so-called bimodal/schizophrenic model proposed recently. We assume S₄, the permutation group of four objects as flavor symmetry giving tri-bimaximal lepton mixing at leading order. In these models the second massive neutrino state is assumed quasi-Dirac and the remaining neutrinos are Majorana states. In the case of inverse mass hierarchy, the lower bound on the neutrinoless double beta decay parameter mee is about two times that of the usual lower bound, within the range of sensitivity of the next generation of experiments.     

具有整体代对称性的左右对称模型中的中微子质量

本文基于具有整体U(1)代对称性的SU(2)_L×SU(2)_R×U(1)模型推导了轻子的味混合矩阵,对中微子的质量问题进行了研究.在本文的模型中,产生轻子Dirac质量的汤川耦合拉格朗日密度具有整体U(1)代对称性,所以,模型中的带电轻子质量矩阵和中微子Dirac质量矩阵是Fritzsch形式的.但是,中微子除了具有Dirac质量,一般还具有Majorana质量,在这种一般情况下, 关键词： 中微子质量 轻子味混合矩阵 左右对称模型 代对称性     

Analysis of neutrino mass, mixing and flavor change

Established results on neutrino mass, mixing and flavor change (as of 2009) are briefly reviewed. Status and prospects of unknown neutrino properties (smallest mixing angle, Dirac/Majorana nature, absolute masses and their hierarchy) are also discussed.     

Models of neutrino masses and baryogenesis

Majorana masses of the neutrino implies lepton number violation and is intimately related to the lepton asymmetry of the universe, which gets related to the baryon asymmetry of the universe in the presence of the sphalerons during the electroweak phase transition. Assuming that the baryon asymmetry of the universe is generated before the electroweak phase transition, it is possible to discriminate different classes of models of neutrino masses. While see-saw mechanism and the triplet Higgs mechanism are preferred, the Zee-type radiative models and the R-parity breaking models requires additional inputs to generate baryon asymmetry of the universe during the electroweak phase transition.     

Neutrino spectrum from theory and experiments

The observed deficits in the solar and atmospheric neutrino fluxes along with the accelerator results on neutrino oscillations significantly constrain possible mass and mixing patterns among neutrinos. We discuss possible patterns emerging from the experimental results and review theoretical attempts to understand them.     

Germanium detector array — GERDA

GERDA will be a new experiment at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) to study neutrinoless double beta decay of ⁷⁶Ge at background levels <10⁻³ cts/(keV kg y) at , two orders of magnitude lower than in the previous experiments. Bare Ge-diodes, enriched to 86% in ⁷⁶Ge, are operated in liquid argon complemented by a water shield to reduce the external backgrounds. Intrinsic backgrounds will be suppressed by the pulse shape analysis and segmented electrodes. In GERDAs first phase, the detector array will consist of the existing and refurbished detectors of the previous Heidelberg-Moscow and IGEX experiments. After one year of measurement, the setup should allow us to scrutinize the claimed observation of 0νββ decay in ⁷⁶Ge. In its second phase, GERDA will use an additional set of new enriched ⁷⁶Ge crystals, as segmented or point contact detectors. After 100 kg y the sensitivity will be ; this corresponds to an effective Majorana mass range from 0.1 eV to 0.2 eV.     

Lepton family symmetries for neutrino masses and mixing

I review some of the recent progress (up to December 2005) in applying non-Abelian discrete symmetries to the family structure of leptons, with particular emphasis on the tribimaximal mixing ansatz of Harrison, Perkins and Scott.     

Double beta decay: A problem of particle, nuclear and atomic physics

A brief review of recent progress in the field of double beta decay is presented. Different aspects from particle, nuclear and atomic physics of both two-neutrino (2νββ) and neutrinoless (0νββ) modes of the double β decay are discussed. It is argued that the R-parity violating supersymmetry (SUSY) contributes to the 0νββ-decay predominantly via charged pion-exchange between decaying nucleons. Further, a problem of reliable determination of the 0νββ-decay nuclear matrix elements (NMEs) is addressed. It is manifested that the uncertainty associated with the calculation of the 0νββ-decay NMEs can be diminished by suitably chosen nuclear probes. A new possibility for the study of lepton number non-conservation is proposed, namely oscillations plus deexcitations of neutral atoms. A phenomenological analysis of this process leads to a resonant enhancement of the neutrinoless double electron capture, that has a Breit-Wigner form.     

在中微子振荡中的CP破坏

讨论了中微子味混合与中微子振荡的理论,定量地研究了在中微子振荡中的CP破坏效应.在一类超对称模型中,计算了真空中中微子振荡几率和 CP破坏效应.     

Neutrino masses and mixing in supersymmetric theories

It has been known for sometime that supersymmetric theories with R-parity violation provide a natural framework where small neutrino masses can be generated. We discuss neutrino masses and mixing in these theories in the presence of trilinear lepton number violating couplings. It will be shown that simultaneous solutions to solar and atmospheric neutrino problems can be realized in these models.     

Neutrinoless double beta decay with small and hierarchical neutrino mass

We construct a model where neutrino Majorana masses are small and hierarchical but where neutrinoless double beta decay occurs at an observable rate potentially detectable by present day experiments.     

Non-Hermitian perturbations to the Fritzsch textures of lepton and quark mass matrices

We show that non-Hermitian and nearest-neighbor-interacting perturbations to the Fritzsch textures of lepton and quark mass matrices can make both of them fit current experimental data very well. In particular, we obtain θ₂₃?45°${\theta }_{23}?45\text{°}$ for the atmospheric neutrino mixing angle and predict θ₁₃?3°${\theta }_{13}?3\text{°}$ to 6° for the smallest neutrino mixing angle when the perturbations in the lepton sector are at the 20% level. The same level of perturbations is required in the quark sector, where the Jarlskog invariant of CP violation is about 3.7×¹⁰⁻⁵$3.7\times {10}^{-5}$. In comparison, the strength of leptonic CP violation is possible to reach about 1.5×¹⁰⁻²$1.5\times {10}^{-2}$ in neutrino oscillations.     

Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay: Status of Evidence

The present experimental status in the search for neutrinoless double beta decay is reviewed, with emphasis on the first indication for neutrinoless double beta decay found in the HEIDELBERG-MOSCOW experiment, giving first evidence for lepton number violation and a Majorana nature of the neutrinos. Future perspectives of the field are briefly outlined.     

Knitting neutrino mass textures with or without Tri-Bi maximal mixing

The solar and baseline neutrino oscillation data suggest bimaximal neutrino mixing among the first two generations, and trimaximal mixing between all three neutrino flavors. It has been conjectured that this indicates the existence of an underlying symmetry for the leptonic fermion mass textures. The experimentally measured quantities, however, are associated to the latter indirectly and in a rather complicated way through the mixing matrices of the charged leptons and neutrinos. Motivated by these facts, we derive exact analytical expressions which directly link the charged lepton and neutrino mass and mixing parameters to measured quantities and obtain constraints on the parameter space. We discuss deviations from Tri-Bi mixing matrices and present minimal extensions of the Harrison, Perkins and Scott matrices capable of interpreting all neutrino data.     

中微子几何混合模型与轻子和重子数产生

在这一报告中将报告我和BABU教授合作的在hep-ph/0507217一文中有关中微子混合研究结果. 目前中微子实验数据所决定的混合角可归结为几何混合状况:sin²θ₁₂=1/3,sin²θ₂₃=1/2, 和sin²θ₁₃=0. 我们在这一工作中建立了能实现这一几何混合的可重整化模型. 模型以非阿贝尔非连续群A₄为描述中微子不同代混合的对称性. 这类模型对中微子质量有很强的限制. 而且能很自然地由轻子数破坏产生重子不对称的实验观测值. 很有趣的是这类模型中出现在轻子不守恒和无中微子双beta衰变中的相位是一样的.     

Bi-large Neutrino Mixing See-Saw Mass Matrix with Texture Zeros and Leptogenesis

We study constraints on neutrino properties for a class of bi-large mixing See-Saw mass matrices with texture zeros and with the related Dirac neutrino mass matrix to be proportional to a diagonal matrix of the form diag(ε,1,1). Texture zeros may occur in the light (class a) or in the heavy (class b) neutrino mass matrices. Each of these two classes has 5 different forms which can produce non-trivial three generation mixing with at least one texture zero. We find that two types of texture zero mass matrices in both class a and class b can be consistent with present data on neutrino masses and mixing. None of the neutrinos can have zero masses and the lightest of the light neutrinos has a mass larger than about 0.046 eV for class a and 0.0027 eV for class b. In these models although the CKM CP violating phase vanishes, the non-zero Majorana phases can exist and can play an important role in producing the observed baryon asymmetry in our universe through leptogenesis mechanism. The requirement of producing the observed baryon asymmetry can further distinguish different models and also restrict the See-Saw scale to be in the range of 10¹²～10¹⁵ GeV. We also discuss RG effects on V₁₃.     

Resonance enhancement of neutrinoless double electron capture

The process of neutrinoless double electron (0νECEC$0\nu \text{ECEC}$) capture is revisited for those cases where the two participating atoms are nearly degenerate in mass. The theoretical framework is the formalism of an oscillation of two atoms with different total lepton number (and parity), one of which can be in an excited state so that mass degeneracy is realized. In such a case and assuming light Majorana neutrinos, the two atoms will be in a mixed configuration with respect to the weak interaction. A resonant enhancement of transitions between such pairs of atoms will occur, which could be detected by the subsequent electromagnetic de-excitation of the excited state of the daughter atom and nucleus. Available data of atomic masses, as well as nuclear and atomic excitations are used to select the most likely candidates for the resonant transitions. Assuming an effective mass for the Majorana neutrino of 1 eV, some half-lives are predicted to be as low as 10²² years in the unitary limit. It is argued that, in order to obtain more accurate predictions for the 0νECEC$0\nu \text{ECEC}$ half-lives, precision mass measurements of the atoms involved are necessary, which can readily be accomplished by today?s high precision Penning traps. Further advancements also require a better understanding of high-lying excited states of the final nuclei (i.e. excitation energy, angular momentum and parity) and the calculation of the nuclear matrix elements.