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PTOLEMY Collaboration(Betti, M. G. et al), Gariazzo, S., & Pastor, S. (2019). Neutrino physics with the PTOLEMY project: active neutrino properties and the light sterile case. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 07(7), 047–31pp.
Abstract: The PTOLEMY project aims to develop a scalable design for a Cosmic Neutrino Background (CNB) detector, the first of its kind and the only one conceived that can look directly at the image of the Universe encoded in neutrino background produced in the first second after the Big Bang. The scope of the work for the next three years is to complete the conceptual design of this detector and to validate with direct measurements that the non-neutrino backgrounds are below the expected cosmological signal. In this paper we discuss in details the theoretical aspects of the experiment and its physics goals. In particular, we mainly address three issues. First we discuss the sensitivity of PTOLEMY to the standard neutrino mass scale. We then study the perspectives of the experiment to detect the CNB via neutrino capture on tritium as a function of the neutrino mass scale and the energy resolution of the apparatus. Finally, we consider an extra sterile neutrino with mass in the eV range, coupled to the active states via oscillations, which has been advocated in view of neutrino oscillation anomalies. This extra state would contribute to the tritium decay spectrum, and its properties, mass and mixing angle, could be studied by analyzing the features in the beta decay electron spectrum.
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Mertsch, P., Parimbelli, G., de Salas, P. F., Gariazzo, S., Lesgourgues, J., & Pastor, S. (2020). Neutrino clustering in the Milky Way and beyond. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 01(1), 015–23pp.
Abstract: The standard cosmological model predicts the existence of a Cosmic Neutrino Background, which has not yet been observed directly. Some experiments aiming at its detection are currently under development, despite the tiny kinetic energy of the cosmological relic neutrinos, which makes this task incredibly challenging. Since massive neutrinos are attracted by the gravitational potential of our Galaxy, they can cluster locally. Neutrinos should be more abundant at the Earth position than at an average point in the Universe. This fact may enhance the expected event rate in any future experiment. Past calculations of the local neutrino clustering factor only considered a spherical distribution of matter in the Milky Way and neglected the influence of other nearby objects like the Virgo cluster, although recent N-body simulations suggest that the latter may actually be important. In this paper, we adopt a back-tracking technique, well established in the calculation of cosmic rays fluxes, to perform the first three-dimensional calculation of the number density of relic neutrinos at the Solar System, taking into account not only the matter composition of the Milky Way, but also the contribution of the Andromeda galaxy and the Virgo cluster. The effect of Virgo is indeed found to be relevant and to depend non-trivially on the value of the neutrino mass. Our results show that the local neutrino density is enhanced by 0.53% for a neutrino mass of 10 meV, 12% for 50 meV, 50% for 100 meV or 500% for 300 meV.
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Bennett, J. J., Buldgen, G., de Salas, P. F., Drewes, M., Gariazzo, S., Pastor, S., et al. (2021). Towards a precision calculation of the effective number of neutrinos N-eff in the Standard Model. Part II. Neutrino decoupling in the presence of flavour oscillations and finite-temperature QED. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 04(4), 073–33pp.
Abstract: We present in this work a new calculation of the standard-model benchmark value for the effective number of neutrinos, N-eff(SM), that quantifies the cosmological neutrinoto-photon energy densities. The calculation takes into account neutrino flavour oscillations, finite-temperature effects in the quantum electrodynamics plasma to O(e(3)), where e is the elementary electric charge, and a full evaluation of the neutrino-neutrino collision integral. We provide furthermore a detailed assessment of the uncertainties in the benchmark N(eff)(SM )value, through testing the value's dependence on (i) optional approximate modelling of the weak collision integrals, (ii) measurement errors in the physical parameters of the weak sector, and (iii) numerical convergence, particularly in relation to momentum discretisation. Our new, recommended standard-model benchmark is N-eff(SM) 3.0440 +/- 0.0002, where the nominal uncertainty is attributed predominantly to errors incurred in the numerical solution procedure (vertical bar delta N-eff vertical bar similar to 10(-4)), augmented by measurement errors in the solar mixing angle sin(2) theta(12) (vertical bar delta N-eff vertical bar similar to 10(-4)).
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Gariazzo, S., Martinez-Mirave, P., Mena, O., Pastor, S., & Tortola, M. (2023). Non-unitary three-neutrino mixing in the early Universe. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 03(3), 046–18pp.
Abstract: Deviations from unitarity in the three-neutrino mixing canonical picture are expected in many physics scenarios beyond the Standard Model. The mixing of new heavy neutral leptons with the three light neutrinos would in principle modify the strength and flavour structure of charged-current and neutral-current interactions with matter. Non-unitarity effects would therefore have an impact on the neutrino decoupling processes in the early Universe and on the value of the effective number of neutrinos, Neff. We calculate the cosmological energy density in the form of radiation with a non-unitary neutrino mixing matrix, addressing the possible interplay between parameters. Highly accurate measurements of Neff from forthcoming cosmological observations can provide independent and complementary limits on the departures from unitarity. For completeness, we relate the scenario of small deviations from unitarity to non-standard neutrino interactions and compare the forecasted constraints to other existing limits in the literature.
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Pierre Auger Collaboration(Abreu, P. et al), & Pastor, S. (2011). The Pierre Auger Observatory scaler mode for the study of solar activity modulation of galactic cosmic rays. J. Instrum., 6, P01003–16pp.
Abstract: Since data-taking began in January 2004, the Pierre Auger Observatory has been recording the count rates of low energy secondary cosmic ray particles for the self-calibration of the ground detectors of its surface detector array. After correcting for atmospheric effects, modulations of galactic cosmic rays due to solar activity and transient events are observed. Temporal variations related with the activity of the heliosphere can be determined with high accuracy due to the high total count rates. In this study, the available data are presented together with an analysis focused on the observation of Forbush decreases, where a strong correlation with neutron monitor data is found.
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