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Aparici, A., Herrero-Garcia, J., Rius, N., & Santamaria, A. (2011). Neutrino masses from new generations. J. High Energy Phys., 07(7), 122.
Abstract: We reconsider the possibility that Majorana masses for the three known neutrinos are generated radiatively by the presence of a fourth generation and one right-handed neutrino with Yukawa couplings and a Majorana mass term. We find that the observed light neutrino mass hierarchy is not compatible with low energy universality bounds in this minimal scenario, but all present data can be accommodated with five generations and two right-handed neutrinos. Within this framework, we explore the parameter space regions which are currently allowed and could lead to observable effects in neutrinoless double beta decay, mu-e conversion in nuclei and μ-> e gamma experiments. We also discuss the detection prospects at LHC.
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Mondragon, A., Mondragon, M., & Peinado, E. (2011). Neutrino Masses, Mixings, and FCNC's in an S(3) Flavor Symmetric Extension of the Standard Model. Phys. Atom. Nuclei, 74(7), 1046–1054.
Abstract: By introducing three Higgs fields that are SU(2) doublets and a flavor permutational symmetry, S(3), in the theory, we extend the concepts of flavor and generations to the Higgs sector and formulate a Minimal S(3)-Invariant Extension of the Standard Model. The mass matrices of the neutrinos and charged leptons are re-parameterized in terms of their eigenvalues, then the neutrino mixing matrix, V(PMNS), is computed and exact, explicit analytical expressions for the neutrino mixing angles as functions of the masses of neutrinos and charged leptons are obtained in excellent agreement with the latest experimental data. We also compute the branching ratios of some selected flavor-changing neutral current (FCNC) processes, as well as the contribution of the exchange of neutral flavor-changing scalars to the anomaly of the magnetic moment of the muon, as functions of the masses of charged leptons and the neutral Higgs bosons. We find that the S(3) x Z(2) flavor symmetry and the strong mass hierarchy of the charged leptons strongly suppress the FCNC processes in the leptonic sector, well below the present experimental bounds by many orders of magnitude. The contribution of FCNC's to the anomaly of the muon's magnetic moment is small, but not negligible.
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Meloni, D., Morisi, S., & Peinado, E. (2011). Neutrino phenomenology and stable dark matter with A(4). Phys. Lett. B, 697(4), 339–342.
Abstract: We present a model based on the A(4) non-Abelian discrete symmetry leading to a predictive five-parameter neutrino mass matrix and providing a stable dark matter candidate. We found an interesting correlation among the atmospheric and the reactor angles which predicts theta(23) similar to pi/4for very small reactor angle and deviation from maximal atmospheric mixing for large theta(13). Only normal neutrino mass spectrum is possible and the effective mass entering the neutrinoless double beta decay rate is constrained to be vertical bar m(ee)vertical bar > 4 x 10(-4) eV.
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Agarwalla, S. K., Blennow, M., Fernandez-Martinez, E., & Mena, O. (2011). Neutrino probes of the nature of light dark matter. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 09(9), 004–19pp.
Abstract: Dark matter particles gravitationally trapped inside the Sun may annihilate into Standard Model particles, producing a flux of neutrinos. The prospects of detecting these neutrinos in future multi-kt neutrino detectors designed for other physics searches are explored here. We study the capabilities of a 34/100 kt liquid argon detector and a 100 kt magnetized iron calorimeter detector. These detectors are expected to determine the energy and the direction of the incoming neutrino with unprecedented precision allowing for tests of the dark matter nature at very low dark matter masses, in the range of 10-25 GeV. By suppressing the atmospheric background with angular cuts, these techniques would be sensitive to dark matter-nucleon spin-dependent cross sections at the fb level, reaching down to a few ab for the most favorable annihilation channels and detector technology.
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n_TOF Collaboration(Cano-Ott, D. et al), Domingo-Pardo, C., & Tain, J. L. (2011). Neutron Capture Measuremetns on Minor Actinides at the n_TOF Facility at CERN: Past, Present and Future. J. Korean Phys. Soc., 59(2), 1809–1812.
Abstract: The successful development of advanced nuclear systems for sustainable energy production and nuclear waste management depends on high quality nuclear data libraries. Recent sensitivity studies and reports [1-3] have identified the need for substantially improving the accuracy of neutron cross-section data for minor actinides. The n_TOF collaboration has initiated an ambitious experimental program for the measurement of neutron capture cross sections of minor actinides. Two experimental setups have been constructed for this purpose: a Total Absorption Calorimeter (TAC) [4] for measuring neutron capture cross-sections of low-mass and/or radioactive samples and a set of two low neutron sensitivity C(6)D(6) detectors for the less radioactive materials.
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n_TOF Collaboration, Gunsing, F., Berthoumieux, E., Borella, A., Belgya, T., Szentmiklosi, L., et al. (2011). Neutron Capture on (209)Bi: Determination of the Production Ratio of (210m)Bi/(210g)Bi. J. Korean Phys. Soc., 59(2), 1670–1675.
Abstract: Neutron capture on (209)Bi produces either an isomeric state (210m)Bi with a half life of 3 x 106 years, or the ground state (210g)Bi which decays with a half life of 5 days to the alpha emitter (210)Po. Therefore the neutron capture cross section ratio (209)Bi(n,gamma)(210m)Bi/(210g)Bi plays an important role in predicting the short- and long-term radio-toxicity produced by (209)Bi under neutron irradiation. This ratio is dependent on the neutron energy. We have measured this ratio for cold neutrons at the cold neutron beam facility of the Budapest Neutron Centre by observing the population of the ground-and the metastable state using high resolution gamma-ray spectroscopy. The same technique has been used at the pulsed white neutron source GELINA of the IRMM, Geel in combination with the neutron time-of-flight technique. Results for the neutron-energy dependent branching ratio will be presented. In addition we performed simulations using a statistical decay code.
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n_TOF Collaboration(Tagliente, G. et al.), Domingo-Pardo, C., & Tain, J. L. (2011). Neutron capture on (94)Zr: Resonance parameters and Maxwellian-averaged cross sections. Phys. Rev. C, 84(1), 015801–9pp.
Abstract: The neutron capture cross sections of the Zr isotopes play an important role in nucleosynthesis studies. The s-process reaction flow between the Fe seed and the heavier isotopes passes through the neutron magic nucleus (90)Zr and through (91,92,93,94)Zr, but only part of the flow extends to (96)Zr because of the branching point at (95)Zr. Apart from their effect on the s-process flow, the comparably small isotopic (n, gamma) cross sections make Zr also an interesting structural material for nuclear reactors. The (94)Zr (n, gamma) cross section has been measured with high resolution at the spallation neutron source n_TOF at CERN and resonance parameters are reported up to 60 keV neutron energy.
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n_TOF Collaboration, Kappeler, F., Mengoni, A., Mosconi, M., Fujii, K., Heil, M., et al. (2011). Neutron Studies for Dating the Universe. J. Korean Phys. Soc., 59(2), 2094–2099.
Abstract: The neutron capture cross sections of (186)Os and (187)Os are of key importance for defining the 8-process abundance of (187)Os at the formation of the solar system. This quantity can be used to determine the radiogenic abundance component of (187)Os from the decay of (187)Re (t(1/2) = 41.2 Gyr) and to infer the time-duration of the nucleosynthesis in our galaxy (Re/Os cosmochronometer). The neutron capture cross sections of (186)Os, (187)Os, and (188)Os have been measured at the CERN nTOF facility from 1 eV to 1 MeV, covering the entire energy range of astrophysical interest. From these data Maxwellian averaged capture cross sections have been calculated with uncertainties between 3.3 and 4.7%. Additional information was obtained by measuring the inelastic scattering cross section of (187)Os at the Karlsruhe 3.7 MV Van de Graaff accelerator and by neutron resonance analyses of the nTOF capture data to establish a comprehensive experimental basis for the Hauser-Feshbach statistical model. Consistent I-IF calculations for the capture and inelastic reaction channels were performed to determine the stellar enhancement factors, which are required to correct the Maxwellian averaged cross sections for the effect of thermally populated excited states. The consequences of this analysis for the s-process component of the (187)Os abundance and the related impact on the evaluation of the time-duration of Galactic nucleosynthesis via the Re/Os cosmo-chronometer are discussed.
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n_TOF Collaboration(Tarrio D. et al.), Domingo-Pardo, C., & Tain, J. L. (2011). Neutron-induced fission cross section of Pb-nat and Bi-209 from threshold to 1 GeV: An improved parametrization. Phys. Rev. C, 83(4), 044620–9pp.
Abstract: Neutron-induced fission cross sections for Pb-nat and Bi-209 were measured with a white-spectrum neutron source at the CERN Neutron Time-of-Flight (n_TOF) facility. The experiment, using neutrons from threshold up to 1 GeV, provides the first results for these nuclei above 200 MeV. The cross sections were measured relative to U-235 and U-238 in a dedicated fission chamber with parallel plate avalanche counter detectors. Results are compared with previous experimental data. Upgraded parametrizations of the cross sections are presented, from threshold energy up to 1 GeV. The proposed new sets of fitting parameters improve former results along the whole energy range.
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n_TOF Collaboration(Belloni, F. et al), Domingo-Pardo, C., & Tain, J. L. (2011). Neutron-induced fission cross-section of U-233 in the energy range 0.5 < E-n < 20 MeV. Eur. Phys. J. A, 47(1), 2–7pp.
Abstract: The neutron-induced fission cross-section of U-233 has been measured at the CERN nTOF facility relative to the standard fission cross-section of U-235 between 0.5 and 20MeV. The experiment was performed with a fast ionization chamber for the detection of the fission fragments and to discriminate against alpha-particles from the natural radioactivity of the samples. The high instantaneous flux and the low background of the nTOF facility result in data with uncertainties of approximate to 3%, which were found in good agreement with previous experiments. The high quality of the present results allows to improve the evaluation of the U-233(n, f) cross-section and, consequently, the design of energy systems based on the Th/U cycle.
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