|
|
Donini, A., Hernandez, P., Lopez-Pavon, J., & Maltoni, M. (2011). Minimal models with light sterile neutrinos. J. High Energy Phys., 07(7), 105.
Abstract: We study the constraints imposed by neutrino oscillation experiments on the minimal extensions of the Standard Model (SM) with n(R) gauge singlet fermions (“right-handed neutrinos”), that can account for neutrino masses. We consider the most general coupling of the new fields to the SM fields, in particular those that break lepton number and we do not assume any a priori hierarchy in the mass parameters. We proceed to analyze these models starting from the lowest level of complexity, defined by the number of extra fermionic degrees of freedom. The simplest choice that has enough free parameters in principle (i.e. two mass differences and two angles) to explain the confirmed solar and atmospheric oscillations corresponds to n(R) = 1. This minimal choice is shown to be excluded by data. The next-to-minimal choice corresponds to n(R) = 2. We perform a systematic study of the full parameter space in the limit of degenerate Majorana masses by requiring that at least two neutrino mass differences correspond to those established by solar and atmospheric oscillations. We identify several types of spectra that can fit long-baseline reactor and accelerator neutrino oscillation data, but fail in explaining solar and/or atmospheric data. The only two solutions that survive are the expected seesaw and quasi-Dirac regions, for which we set lower and upper bounds respectively on the Majorana mass scale. Solar data from neutral current measurements provide essential information to constrain the quasi-Dirac region. The possibility to accommodate the LSND/MiniBoone and reactor anomalies, and the implications for neutrinoless double-beta decay and tritium beta decay are briefly discussed.
|
|
|
|
Coloma, P., Donini, A., Lopez-Pavon, J., & Minakata, H. (2011). Non-standard interactions at a neutrino factory: correlations and CP violation. J. High Energy Phys., 08(8), 036–41pp.
Abstract: We explore the potential of several Neutrino Factory (NF) setups to constrain, discover and measure new physics effects due to Non-Standard Interactions (NSI) in propagation through Earth matter. We first study the impact of NSI in the measurement of theta(13): we find that these could be large due to strong correlations of theta(13) with NSI parameters in the golden channel, and the inclusion of a detector at the magic baseline is crucial in order to reduce them as much as possible. We present, then, the sensitivity of the considered NF setups to the NSI parameters, paying special attention to correlations arising between them and the standard oscillation parameters, when all NSI parameters are introduced at once. Off-diagonal NSI parameters could be tested down to the level of 10(-3), whereas the diagonal combinations (epsilon(ee) – epsilon(tau tau)) and (epsilon(mu mu) – epsilon(tau tau)) can be tested down to 10(-1) and 10(-2), respectively. The possibilities of observing CP violation in this context are also explored, by presenting a first scan of the CP discovery potential of the NF setups to the phases phi(e mu), phi(e tau) and delta. We study separately the case where CP violation comes only from non-standard sources, and the case where it is entangled with the standard source, delta. In case delta turns out to be CP conserving, the interesting possibility of observing CP violation for reasonably small values of the NSI parameters emerges.
|
|
|
|
Coloma, P., Donini, A., Fernandez-Martinez, E., & Hernandez, P. (2012). Precision on leptonic mixing parameters at future neutrino oscillation experiments. J. High Energy Phys., 06(6), 073–27pp.
Abstract: We perform a comparison of the different future neutrino oscillation experiments based on the achievable precision in the determination of the fundamental parameters theta(13) and the CP phase, delta, assuming that theta(13) is in the range indicated by the recent Daya Bay measurement. We study the non-trivial dependence of the error on delta on its true value. When matter effects are small, the largest error is found at the points where CP violation is maximal, and the smallest at the CP conserving points. The situation is different when matter effects are sizable. As a result of this effect, the comparison of the physics reach of different experiments on the basis of the CP discovery potential, as usually done, can be misleading. We have compared various proposed super-beam, beta-beam and neutrino factory setups on the basis of the relative precision of theta(13) and the error on delta. Neutrino factories, both high-energy or low-energy, outperform alternative beam technologies. An ultimate precision on theta(13) below 3% and an error on delta of <= 7 degrees at 1 sigma (1 d.o.f.) can be obtained at a neutrino factory.
|
|
|
|
Donini, A., Hernandez, P., Lopez-Pavon, J., Maltoni, M., & Schwetz, T. (2012). The minimal 3+2 neutrino model versus oscillation anomalies. J. High Energy Phys., 07(7), 161–20pp.
Abstract: We study the constraints imposed by neutrino oscillation experiments on the minimal extension of the Standard Model that can explain neutrino masses, which requires the addition of just two singlet Weyl fermions. The most general renormalizable couplings of this model imply generically four massive neutrino mass eigenstates while one remains massless: it is therefore a minimal 3+2 model. The possibility to account for the confirmed solar, atmospheric and long-baseline oscillations, together with the LSND/MiniBooNE and reactor anomalies is addressed. We find that the minimal model can fit oscillation data including the anomalies better than the standard 3 nu model and similarly to the 3 + 2 phenomenological models, even though the number of free parameters is much smaller than in the latter. Accounting for the anomalies in the minimal model favours a normal hierarchy of the light states and requires a large reactor angle, in agreement with recent measurements. Our analysis of the model employs a new parametrization of seesaw models that extends the Casas-Ibarra one to regimes where higher order corrections in the light-heavy mixings are significant.
|
|
|
|
Edgecock, T. R. et al, Agarwalla, S. K., Cervera-Villanueva, A., Donini, A., Ghosh, T., Gomez-Cadenas, J. J., et al. (2013). High intensity neutrino oscillation facilities in Europe. Phys. Rev. Spec. Top.-Accel. Beams, 16(2), 021002–18pp.
Abstract: The EUROnu project has studied three possible options for future, high intensity neutrino oscillation facilities in Europe. The first is a Super Beam, in which the neutrinos come from the decay of pions created by bombarding targets with a 4 MW proton beam from the CERN High Power Superconducting Proton Linac. The far detector for this facility is the 500 kt MEMPHYS water Cherenkov, located in the Frejus tunnel. The second facility is the Neutrino Factory, in which the neutrinos come from the decay of mu(+) and mu(-) beams in a storage ring. The far detector in this case is a 100 kt magnetized iron neutrino detector at a baseline of 2000 km. The third option is a Beta Beam, in which the neutrinos come from the decay of beta emitting isotopes, in particular He-6 and Ne-18, also stored in a ring. The far detector is also the MEMPHYS detector in the Frejus tunnel. EUROnu has undertaken conceptual designs of these facilities and studied the performance of the detectors. Based on this, it has determined the physics reach of each facility, in particular for the measurement of CP violation in the lepton sector, and estimated the cost of construction. These have demonstrated that the best facility to build is the Neutrino Factory. However, if a powerful proton driver is constructed for another purpose or if the MEMPHYS detector is built for astroparticle physics, the Super Beam also becomes very attractive.
|
|
