Yao, D. L., Alvarez-Ruso, L., Hiller Blin, A. N., & Vicente Vacas, M. J. (2018). Weak pion production off the nucleon in covariant chiral perturbation theory. Phys. Rev. D, 98(7), 076004–25pp.
Abstract: Weak pion production off the nucleon at low energies has been systematically investigated in manifestly relativistic baryon chiral perturbation theory with explicit inclusion of the Delta(1232) resonance. Most of the involved low-energy constants have been previously determined in other processes such as pion-nucleon elastic scattering and electromagnetic pion production off the nucleon. For numerical estimates, the few remaining constants are set to be of natural size. As a result, the total cross sections for single pion production on neutrons and protons, induced either by neutrino or antineutrino, are predicted. Our results are consistent with the scarce existing experimental data except in the nu(mu)n -> mu(-)n pi(+) channel, where higher-order contributions might still be significant. The Delta resonance mechanisms lead to sizeable contributions in all channels, especially in nu(mu)p -> mu(-) p pi(+), even though the considered energies are close to the production threshold. The present study provides a well-founded low-energy benchmark for phenomenological models aimed at the description of weak pion production processes in the broad kinematic range of interest for current and future neutrino-oscillation experiments.
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NEXT Collaboration(Martinez-Lema, G. et al), Palmeiro, B., Botas, A., Laing, A., Renner, J., Simon, A., et al. (2018). Calibration of the NEXT-White detector using Kr-83m decays. J. Instrum., 13, P10014–21pp.
Abstract: The NEXT-White (NEW) detector is currently the largest radio-pure high-pressure xenon gas time projection chamber with electroluminescent readout in the world. It has been operating at Laboratorio Subterraneo de Canfranc (LSC) since October 2016. This paper describes the calibrations performed using Kr-83m decays during a long run taken from March to November 2017 (Run II). Krypton calibrations are used to correct for the finite drift-electron lifetime as well as for the dependence of the measured energy on the event transverse position which is caused by variations in solid angle coverage both for direct and reflected light and edge effects. After producing calibration maps to correct for both effects we measure an excellent energy resolution for 41.5 keV point-like deposits of (4.553 +/- 0.010 (stat.) +/- 0.324 (sys.)) % FWHM in the full chamber and (3.804 +/- 0.013 (stat.) +/- 0.112 (sys.)) % FWHM in a restricted fiducial volume. Using naive 1/root E scaling, these values translate into resolutions of (0.5916 +/- 0.0014 (stat.) +/- 0.0421 (sys.)) % FWHM and (0.4943 +/- 0.0017 (stat.) +/- 0.0146 (sys.)) % FWHM at the Q(beta beta) energy of xenon double beta decay (2458 keV), well within range of our target value of 1%.
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de Salas, P. F., Gariazzo, S., Mena, O., Ternes, C. A., & Tortola, M. (2018). Neutrino Mass Ordering From Oscillations and Beyond: 2018 Status and Future Prospects. Front. Astron. Space Sci., 5, 36–50pp.
Abstract: The ordering of the neutrino masses is a crucial input for a deep understanding of flavor physics, and its determination may provide the key to establish the relationship among the lepton masses and mixings and their analogous properties in the quark sector. The extraction of the neutrino mass ordering is a data-driven field expected to evolve very rapidly in the next decade. In this review, we both analyse the present status and describe the physics of subsequent prospects. Firstly, the different current available tools to measure the neutrino mass ordering are described. Namely, reactor, long-baseline (accelerator and atmospheric) neutrino beams, laboratory searches for beta and neutrinoless double beta decays and observations of the cosmic background radiation and the large scale structure of the universe are carefully reviewed. Secondly, the results from an up-to-date comprehensive global fit are reported: the Bayesian analysis to the 2018 publicly available oscillation and cosmological data sets provides strong evidence for the normal neutrino mass ordering vs. the inverted scenario, with a significance of 3.5 standard deviations. This preference for the normal neutrino mass ordering is mostly due to neutrino oscillation measurements. Finally, we shall also emphasize the future perspectives for unveiling the neutrinomass ordering. In this regard, apart from describing the expectations from the aforementioned probes, we also focus on those arising from alternative and novel methods, as 21 cm cosmology, core-collapse supernova neutrinos and the direct detection of relic neutrinos.
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De Romeri, V., Patel, K. M., & Valle, J. W. F. (2018). Inverse seesaw mechanism with compact supersymmetry: Enhanced naturalness and light superpartners. Phys. Rev. D, 98(7), 075014–15pp.
Abstract: We consider the supersymmetric inverse seesaw mechanism for neutrino mass generation within the context of a low-energy effective theory where supersymmetry is broken geometrically in an extra dimensional theory. It is shown that the effective scale characterizing the resulting compact supersymmetric spectrum can be as low as 500-600 GeV for moderate values of tan beta. The potentially large neutrino Yukawa couplings, naturally present in inverse seesaw schemes, enhance the Higgs mass and allow the superpartners to be lighter than in compact supersymmetry without neutrino masses. The inverse seesaw structure also implies a novel spectrum profile and couplings, in which the lightest supersymmetric particle can be an admixture of isodoublet and isosinglet sneutrinos. Dedicated collider as well as dark matter studies should take into account such specific features.
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NEXT Collaboration(Renner, J. et al), Martinez-Lema, G., Alvarez, V., Benlloch-Rodriguez, J. M., Botas, A., Carcel, S., et al. (2018). Initial results on energy resolution of the NEXT-White detector. J. Instrum., 13, P10020–14pp.
Abstract: One of the major goals of the NEXT-White (NEW) detector is to demonstrate the energy resolution that an electroluminescent high pressure xenon TPC can achieve for high energy tracks. For this purpose, energy calibrations with Cs-137 and Th-232 sources have been carried out as a part of the long run taken with the detector during most of 2017. This paper describes the initial results obtained with those calibrations, showing excellent linearity and an energy resolution that extrapolates to approximately 1% FWHM at Q(beta beta).
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