Godbole, R. M., Maharathy, S. P., Mandal, S., Mitra, M., & Sinha, N. (2021). Interference effect in lepton number violating and conserving meson decays for a left-right symmetric model. Phys. Rev. D, 104(9), 095009–22pp.
Abstract: We study the effect of interference on the lepton number violating (LNV) and lepton number conserving (LNC) three-bodymeson decaysM(1)(+)-> l(i) (+) l(j)(+)pi(+/-) that arise in a TeV-scale left-right symmetric model (LRSM) with degenerate or nearly degenerate right-handed (RH) neutrinos. The LRSM contains three RH neutrinos and a RH gauge boson. The RH neutrinos with masses in the range of M-N similar to (MeV-few GeV) can give resonant enhancement in the semileptonic LNV and LNC meson decays. In the case where only one RH neutrino contributes to these decays, the predicted new physics branching ratios of semileptonic LNV and LNC meson decaysM(1)(+)-> l(i)(+) l(j)(+) pi(-) andM(+) 1 -> l(i)(+)l(j)(-) pi(+) are equal. We find that with at least two RH neutrinos contributing to the process, the LNV and LNC decay rates can differ. Depending on the neutrino mixing angles and CP-violating phases, the branching ratios of LNVand LNC decay channelsmediated by the heavy neutrinos can be either enhanced or suppressed, and the ratio of these two rates can differ from unity.
|
Coloma, P., Huber, P., & Schwetz, T. (2021). Statistical interpretation of sterile neutrino oscillation searches at reactors. Eur. Phys. J. C, 81(1), 2–13pp.
Abstract: A considerable experimental effort is currently under way to test the persistent hints for oscillations due to an eV-scale sterile neutrino in the data of various reactor neutrino experiments. The assessment of the statistical significance of these hints is usually based on Wilks' theorem, whereby the assumption is made that the log-likelihood is chi 2-distributed. However, it is well known that the preconditions for the validity of Wilks' theorem are not fulfilled for neutrino oscillation experiments. In this work we derive a simple asymptotic form of the actual distribution of the log-likelihood based on reinterpreting the problem as fitting white Gaussian noise. From this formalism we show that, even in the absence of a sterile neutrino, the expectation value for the maximum likelihood estimate of the mixing angle remains non-zero with attendant large values of the log-likelihood. Our analytical results are then confirmed by numerical simulations of a toy reactor experiment. Finally, we apply this framework to the data of the Neutrino-4 experiment and show that the null hypothesis of no-oscillation is rejected at the 2.6 sigma level, compared to 3.2 sigma obtained under the assumption that Wilks' theorem applies.
|
DUNE Collaboration(Abi, B. et al), Antonova, M., Barenboim, G., Cervera-Villanueva, A., De Romeri, V., Fernandez Menendez, P., et al. (2021). Supernova neutrino burst detection with the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment. Eur. Phys. J. C, 81(5), 423–26pp.
Abstract: The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), a 40-kton underground liquid argon time projection chamber experiment, will be sensitive to the electron-neutrino flavor component of the burst of neutrinos expected from the next Galactic core-collapse supernova. Such an observation will bring unique insight into the astrophysics of core collapse as well as into the properties of neutrinos. The general capabilities of DUNE for neutrino detection in the relevant few- to few-tens-of-MeV neutrino energy range will be described. As an example, DUNE's ability to constrain the nu(e) spectral parameters of the neutrino burst will be considered.
|
T2K Collaboration(Abe, K. et al), Antonova, M., & Cervera-Villanueva, A. (2021). T2K measurements of muon neutrino and antineutrino disappearance using 3.13 x 10(21) protons on target. Phys. Rev. D, 103(1), L011101–9pp.
Abstract: We report measurements by the T2K experiment of the parameters theta(23) and Delta m(32)(2), which govern the disappearance of muon neutrinos and antineutrinos in the three-flavor PMNS neutrino oscillation model at T2K's neutrino energy and propagation distance. Utilizing the ability of the experiment to run with either a mainly neutrino or a mainly antineutrino beam, muon-like events from each beam mode are used to measure these parameters separately for neutrino and antineutrino oscillations. Data taken from 1.49 x 10(21) protons on target (POT) in neutrino mode and 1.64 x 10(21) POT in antineutrino mode are used. The best-fit values obtained by T2K were sin(2)(theta(23)) = 0.51(-0.07)(+0.06) (0.43(-0.05)(+0.21)) and Delta m(32)(2) = 2.47(-0.09)(+0.08) (2.50(-0.13)(+0.18)) x 10(-3) eV(2)/c(4) for neutrinos (antineutrinos). No significant differences between the values of the parameters describing the disappearance of muon neutrinos and antineutrinos were observed. An analysis using an effective two-flavor neutrino oscillation model where the sine of the mixing angle is allowed to take nonphysical values larger than 1 is also performed to check the consistency of our data with the three-flavor model. Our data were found to be consistent with a physical value for the mixing angle.
|
ATLAS Collaboration(Aad, G. et al), Aparisi Pozo, J. A., Bailey, A. J., Cabrera Urban, S., Cardillo, F., Castillo, F. L., et al. (2021). Search for type-III seesaw heavy leptons in dilepton final states in pp collisions at root s=13TeV with the ATLAS detector. Eur. Phys. J. C, 81(3), 218–30pp.
Abstract: A search for the pair production of heavy leptons as predicted by the type-III seesaw mechanism is presented. The search uses proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of 13TeV, corresponding to 139 fb-1 of integrated luminosity recorded by the ATLAS detector during Run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider. The analysis focuses on the final state with two light leptons (electrons or muons) of different flavour and charge combinations, with at least two jets and large missing transverse momentum. No significant excess over the Standard Model expectation is observed. The results are translated into exclusion limits on heavy-lepton masses, and the observed lower limit on the mass of the type-III seesaw heavy leptons is 790GeV at 95% confidence level.
|
