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Cepedello, R., Hirsch, M., & Helo, J. C. (2018). Lepton number violating phenomenology of d=7 neutrino mass models. J. High Energy Phys., 01(1), 009–24pp.
Abstract: We study the phenomenology of d = 7 1-loop neutrino mass models. All models in this particular class require the existence of several new SU(2)(L) multiplets, both scalar and fermionic, and thus predict a rich phenomenology at the LHC. The observed neutrino masses and mixings can easily be fitted in these models. Interestingly, despite the smallness of the observed neutrino masses, some particular lepton number violating (LNV) final states can arise with observable branching ratios. These LNV final states consists of leptons and gauge bosons with high multiplicities, such as 4/ + 4W, 6/ + 2W etc. We study current constraints on these models from upper bounds on charged lepton flavour violating decays, existing lepton number conserving searches at the LHC and discuss possible future LNV searches.
Keywords: Beyond Standard Model; Neutrino Physics
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ANTARES Collaboration(Albert, A. et al), Barrios-Marti, J., Coleiro, A., Hernandez-Rey, J. J., Illuminati, G., Lotze, M., et al. (2018). All-flavor Search for a Diffuse Flux of Cosmic Neutrinos with Nine Years of ANTARES Data. Astrophys. J. Lett., 853(1), L7–5pp.
Abstract: The ANTARES detector is at present the most sensitive neutrino telescope in the northern hemisphere. The highly significant cosmic neutrino excess observed by the Antarctic IceCube detector can be studied with ANTARES, exploiting its complementing field of view, exposure, and lower energy threshold. Searches for an all-flavor diffuse neutrino signal, covering nine years of ANTARES data taking, are presented in this Letter. Upward-going events are used to reduce the atmospheric muon background. This work includes for the first time in ANTARES both track-like (mainly nu mu) and shower-like (mainly nu(e)) events in this kind of analysis. Track-like events allow for an increase of the effective volume of the detector thanks to the long path traveled by muons in rock and/ or sea water. Shower-like events are well reconstructed only when the neutrino interaction vertex is close to, or inside, the instrumented volume. A mild excess of high-energy events over the expected background is observed in nine years of ANTARES data in both samples. The best fit for a single power-law cosmic neutrino spectrum, in terms of perflavor flux at 100 TeV, is Phi(1f)(0) (100 TeV) = (1.7 +/- 1.0) x 10(-18) GeV-1 cm(-2) s(-1) sr(-1) with spectral index Gamma = 2.4(-0.4)(+0.5) .The null cosmic flux assumption is rejected with a significance of 1.6 sigma .
Keywords: astroparticle physics; neutrinos
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Double Chooz collaboration(Abrahao, T. et al), & Novella, P. (2018). Novel event classification based on spectral analysis of scintillation waveforms in Double Chooz. J. Instrum., 13, P01031–26pp.
Abstract: Liquid scintillators are a common choice for neutrino physics experiments, but their capabilities to perform background rejection by scintillation pulse shape discrimination is generally limited in large detectors. This paper describes a novel approach for a pulse shape based event classification developed in the context of the Double Chooz reactor antineutrino experiment. Unlike previous implementations, this method uses the Fourier power spectra of the scintillation pulse shapes to obtain event-wise information. A classification variable built from spectral information was able to achieve an unprecedented performance, despite the lack of optimization at the detector design level. Several examples of event classification are provided, ranging from differentiation between the detector volumes and an efficient rejection of instrumental light noise, to some sensitivity to the particle type, such as stopping muons, ortho-positronium formation, alpha particles as well as electrons and positrons. In combination with other techniques the method is expected to allow for a versatile and more efficient background rejection in the future, especially if detector optimization is taken into account at the design level.
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Bernabeu, J., & Segarra, A. (2018). Stimulated transitions in resonant atom Majorana mixing. J. High Energy Phys., 02(2), 017–16pp.
Abstract: Massive neutrinos demand to ask whether they are Dirac or Majorana particles. Majorana neutrinos are an irrefutable proof of physics beyond the Standard Model. Neutrinoless double electron capture is not a process but a virtual Delta L = 2 mixing between a parent (A)Z atom and a daughter (A)(Z – 2) excited atom with two electron holes. As a mixing between two neutral atoms and the observable signal in terms of emitted two-hole X-rays, the strategy, experimental signature and background are different from neutrinoless double beta decay. The mixing is resonantly enhanced for almost degeneracy and, under these conditions, there is no irreducible background from the standard two-neutrino channel. We reconstruct the natural time history of a nominally stable parent atom since its production either by nature or in the laboratory. After the time periods of atom oscillations and the decay of the short-lived daughter atom, at observable times the relevant 'stationary" states are the mixed metastable long-lived state and the non-orthogonal short-lived excited state, as well as the ground state of the daughter atom. We find that they have a natural population inversion which is most appropriate for exploiting the bosonic nature of the observed atomic transitions radiation. Among different observables of the atom Majorana mixing, we include the enhanced rate of stimulated X-ray emission from the long-lived metastable state by a high-intensity X-ray beam: a gain factor of 100 can be envisaged at current XFEL facilities. On the other hand, the historical population of the daughter atom ground state can be probed by exciting it with a current pulsed optical laser, showing the characteristic absorption lines: the whole population can be excited in a shorter time than typical pulse duration.
Keywords: Neutrino Physics; Beyond Standard Model; Global Symmetries
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Chun, E. J., Cvetic, G., Dev, P. S. B., Drewes, M., Fong, C. S., Garbrecht, B., et al. (2018). Probing leptogenesis. Int. J. Mod. Phys. A, 33(5-6), 1842005–99pp.
Abstract: The focus of this paper lies on the possible experimental tests of leptogenesis scenarios. We consider both leptogenesis generated from oscillations, as well as leptogenesis from out-of-equilibrium decays. As the Akhmedov-Rubakov-Smirnov (ARS) mechanism allows for heavy neutrinos in the GeV range, this opens up a plethora of possible experimental tests, e.g. at neutrino oscillation experiments, neutrinoless double beta decay, and direct searches for neutral heavy leptons at future facilities. In contrast, testing leptogenesis from out-of-equilibrium decays is a quite difficult task. We comment on the necessary conditions for having successful leptogenesis at the TeV-scale. We further discuss possible realizations and their model specific testability in extended seesaw models, models with extended gauge sectors, and supersymmetric leptogenesis. Not being able to test high-scale leptogenesis directly, we present a way to falsify such scenarios by focusing on their washout processes. This is discussed specifically for the left-right symmetric model and the observation of a heavy W-R, as well as model independently when measuring Delta L = 2 washout processes at the LHC or neutrinoless double beta decay.
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Abada, A., De Romeri, V., Lucente, M., Teixeira, A. M., & Toma, T. (2018). Effective Majorana mass matrix from tau and pseudoscalar meson lepton number violating decays. J. High Energy Phys., 02(2), 169–57pp.
Abstract: An observation of any lepton number violating process will undoubtedly point towards the existence of new physics and indirectly to the clear Majorana nature of the exchanged fermion. In this work, we explore the potential of a minimal extension of the Standard Model via heavy sterile fermions with masses in the [0.1-10] GeV range concerning an extensive array of “neutrinoless” meson and tau decay processes. We assume that the Majorana neutrinos are produced on-shell, and focus on three-body decays. We conduct an update on the bounds on the active-sterile mixing elements, vertical bar U-l alpha 4,U-l beta 4 vertical bar, taking into account the most recent experimental bounds (and constraints) and new theoretical inputs, as well as the effects of a finite detector, imposing that the heavy neutrino decay within the detector. This allows to establish up-to-date comprehensive constraints on the sterile fermion parameter space. Our results suggest that the branching fractions of several decays are close to current sensitivities (likely within reach of future facilities), some being already in conflict with current data (as is the case of K-broken vertical bar -> l(alpha)(broken vertical bar)+l(beta)(+)pi(-), and tau(-)->mu(broken vertical bar)pi(-)pi(-)). We use these processes to extract constraints on all entries of an enlarged definition of a 3 x 3 “effective” Majorana neutrino mass matrix m(v)(alpha beta).
Keywords: Beyond Standard Model; Neutrino Physics
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de Salas, P. F., Gariazzo, S., Laveder, M., Pastor, S., Pisanti, O., & Truong, N. (2018). Cosmological bounds on neutrino statistics. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 03(3), 050–18pp.
Abstract: We consider the phenomenological implications of the violation of the Pauli exclusion principle for neutrinos, focusing on cosmological observables such as the spectrum of Cosmic Microwave Background anisotropies, Baryon Acoustic Oscillations and the primordial abundances of light elements. Neutrinos that behave (at least partly) as bosonic particles have a modified equilibrium distribution function that implies a different influence on the evolution of the Universe that, in the case of massive neutrinos, can not be simply parametrized by a change in the effective number of neutrinos. Our results show that, despite the precision of the available cosmological data, only very weak bounds can be obtained on neutrino statistics, disfavouring a more bosonic behaviour at less than 2 sigma.
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Bonilla, C., Lamprea, J. M., Peinado, E., & Valle, J. W. F. (2018). Flavour-symmetric type-II Dirac neutrino seesaw mechanism. Phys. Lett. B, 779, 257–261.
Abstract: We propose a Standard Model extension with underlying A(4) flavour symmetry where small Dirac neutrino masses arise from a Type-II seesaw mechanism. The model predicts the “golden” flavour-dependent bottom-tau mass relation, requires an inverted neutrino mass ordering and non-maximal atmospheric mixing angle. Using the latest neutrino oscillation global fit[ 1] we derive restrictions on the oscillation parameters, such as a correlation between delta(CP) and m(nu lightest).
Keywords: Neutrino masses and mixing; Flavour physics
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Alvarez-Ruso, L. et al, & Nieves, J. (2018). NuSTEC White Paper: Status and challenges of neutrino-nucleus scattering. Prog. Part. Nucl. Phys., 100, 1–68.
Abstract: The precise measurement of neutrino properties is among the highest priorities in fundamental particle physics, involving many experiments worldwide. Since the experiments rely on the interactions of neutrinos with bound nucleons inside atomic nuclei, the planned advances in the scope and precision of these experiments require a commensurate effort in the understanding and modeling of the hadronic and nuclear physics of these interactions, which is incorporated as a nuclear model in neutrino event generators. This model is essential to every phase of experimental analyses and its theoretical uncertainties play an important role in interpreting every result. In this White Paper we discuss in detail the impact of neutrino-nucleus interactions, especially the nuclear effects, on the measurement of neutrino properties using the determination of oscillation parameters as a central example. After an Executive Summary and a concise Overview of the issues, we explain how the neutrino event generators work, what can be learned from electron-nucleus interactions and how each underlying physics process – from quasi-elastic to deep inelastic scattering – is understood today. We then emphasize how our understanding must improve to meet the demands of future experiments. With every topic we find that the challenges can be met only with the active support and collaboration among specialists in strong interactions and electroweak physics that include theorists and experimentalists from both the nuclear and high energy physics communities.
Keywords: Neutrino; Nucleus; Scattering; Nuclear; Model; Oscillations
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Simpson, F., Jimenez, R., Pena-Garay, C., & Verde, L. (2018). Dark energy from the motions of neutrinos. Phys. Dark Universe, 20, 72–77.
Abstract: Ordinarily, a scalar field may only play the role of dark energy if it possesses a potential that is either extraordinarily flat or extremely fine-tuned. Here we demonstrate that these restrictions are lifted when the scalar field undergoes persistent energy exchange with another fluid. In this scenario, the field is prevented from reversing its direction of motion, and instead may come to rest while displaced from the local minimum of its potential. Therefore almost any scalar potential is capable of initiating a prolonged phase of cosmic acceleration. If the rate of energy transfer is modulated via a derivative coupling, the field undergoes a rapid process of freezing, after which the field's equation of state mimicks that of a cosmological constant. We present a physically motivated realisation in the form of a neutrino-majoron coupling, which avoids the dynamical instabilities associated with mass-varying neutrino models. Finally we discuss possible means by which this model could be experimentally verified.
Keywords: Neutrinos; Dark energy; Interactions in the dark sector
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