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Masud, M., Mehta, P., Ternes, C. A., & Tortola, M. (2021). Non-standard neutrino oscillations: perspective from unitarity triangles. J. High Energy Phys., 05(5), 171–19pp.
Abstract: We formulate an alternative approach based on unitarity triangles to describe neutrino oscillations in presence of non-standard interactions (NSI). Using perturbation theory, we derive the expression for the oscillation probability in case of NSI and cast it in terms of the three independent parameters of the leptonic unitarity triangle (LUT). The form invariance of the probability expression (even in presence of new physics scenario as long as the mixing matrix is unitary) facilitates a neat geometric view of neutrino oscillations in terms of LUT. We examine the regime of validity of perturbative expansions in the NSI case and make comparisons with approximate expressions existing in literature. We uncover some interesting dependencies on NSI terms while studying the evolution of LUT parameters and the Jarlskog invariant. Interestingly, the geometric approach based on LUT allows us to express the oscillation probabilities for a given pair of neutrino flavours in terms of only three (and not four) degrees of freedom which are related to the geometric properties (sides and angles) of the triangle. Moreover, the LUT parameters are invariant under rephasing transformations and independent of the parameterization adopted.
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de Gouvea, A., De Romeri, V., & Ternes, C. A. (2020). Probing neutrino quantum decoherence at reactor experiments. J. High Energy Phys., 08(8), 049–17pp.
Abstract: We explore how well reactor antineutrino experiments can constrain or measure the loss of quantum coherence in neutrino oscillations. We assume that decoherence effects are encoded in the size of the neutrino wave-packet, sigma. We find that the current experiments Daya Bay and the Reactor Experiment for Neutrino Oscillation (RENO) already constrain sigma >1.0x10(-4) nm and estimate that future data from the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) would be sensitive to sigma <2.1x10(-3) nm. If the effects of loss of coherence are within the sensitivity of JUNO, we expect sigma to be measured with good precision. The discovery of nontrivial decoherence effects in JUNO would indicate that our understanding of the coherence of neutrino sources is, at least, incomplete.
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Srivastava, R., Ternes, C. A., Tortola, M., & Valle, J. W. F. (2018). Zooming in on neutrino oscillations with DUNE. Phys. Rev. D, 97(9), 095025–11pp.
Abstract: We examine the capabilities of the DUNE experiment as a probe of the neutrino mixing paradigm. Taking the current status of neutrino oscillations and the design specifications of DUNE, we determine the experiment's potential to probe the structure of neutrino mixing and CP violation. We focus on the poorly determined parameters theta(23) and delta(cp) and consider both two and seven years of run. We take various benchmarks as our true values, such as the current preferred values of theta(23) and delta(cp), as well as several theory-motivated choices. We determine quantitatively DUNE's potential to perform a precision measurement of theta(23), as well as to test the CP violation hypothesis in a model-independent way. We find that, after running for seven years, DUNE will make a substantial step in the precise determination of these parameters, bringing to quantitative test the predictions of various theories of neutrino mixing.
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De Romeri, V., Giunti, C., Stuttard, T., & Ternes, C. A. (2023). Neutrino oscillation bounds on quantum decoherence. J. High Energy Phys., 09(9), 097–24pp.
Abstract: We consider quantum-decoherence effects in neutrino oscillation data. Working in the open quantum system framework we adopt a phenomenological approach that allows to parameterize the energy dependence of the decoherence effects. We consider several phenomenological models. We analyze data from the reactor experiments RENO, Daya Bay and KamLAND and from the accelerator experiments NOvA, MINOS/MINOS+ and T2K. We obtain updated constraints on the decoherence parameters quantifying the strength of damping effects, which can be as low as Gamma ij less than or similar to 8 x 10-27 GeV at 90% confidence level in some cases. We also present sensitivities for the future facilities DUNE and JUNO.
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Aristizabal Sierra, D., De Romeri, V., & Ternes, C. A. (2024). Reactor neutrino background in next-generation dark matter detectors. Phys. Rev. D, 109(11), 115026–7pp.
Abstract: Third -generation dark matter detectors will be fully sensitive to the 8 B solar neutrino flux. Because of this, the characterization of such a background has been the subject of extensive analyses over the last few years. In contrast, little is known about the impact of reactor neutrinos. In this paper, we report on the implications of such a flux for dark matter direct -detection searches. We consider five potential detector deployment sites envisioned by the recently established XLZD Consortium: SURF, SNOLAB, Kamioka, LNGS, and Boulby. By using public reactor data, we construct five reactor clusters -involving about 100 currently operating commercial nuclear reactors each -and determine the net neutrino flux at each detector site. Assuming a xenon -based detector and a 50 ton -year exposure, we show that in all cases the neutrino event rate may be sizable, depending on energy recoil thresholds. Of all possible detector sites, SURF and LNGS are those with the smallest reactor neutrino background. On the contrary, SNOLAB and Boulby are subject to the strongest reactor neutrino fluxes, with Kamioka being subject to a more moderate background. Our findings demonstrate that reactor neutrino fluxes should be taken into account in the next round of dark matter searches. We argue that this background may be particularly relevant for directional detectors, provided they meet the requirements we have employed in this analysis.
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