On neutrino-atom scattering in searches for neutrino magnetic moments
Konstantin A. Kouzakov, Alexander I. Studenikin, Mikhail B. Voloshin
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1 page, to appear in Nuclear Physics B Proceedings Supplement 2011 (Proceedings of the XXIV International Conference on Neutrino Physics and Astrophysics, Athens, June 14-19, 2010)
In the experimental searches for neutrino magnetic moments using germanium detectors one studies the ionization channel in the neutrino-atom scattering. We find that the so-called stepping approximation to the neutrino-impact ionization is exact in the semiclassical limit, and that the deviations from this approximation are very small.
Anomalies in short baseline experiments have been interpreted as evidence for additional neutrino mass states with large mass splittings from the known, active flavors. This explanation mandates a corresponding signature in the muon neutrino disappearance channel, which has yet to be observed. Searches for muon neutrino disappearance at the IceCube neutrino telescope presently provide the strongest limits in the space of mixing angles for eV-scale sterile neutrinos. This proceeding for the Very Large Volume Neutrino Telescopes (VLVnT) Workshop summarizes the IceCube analyses that have searched…
These proceedings present the LHCb results on Majorana neutrino searches and direct production of exotic particles using the data collected during Run I of LHC. For the former, Majorana neutrinos are searched for both on-shell and off-shell in $B$ and $D$ decays to final states with two same-sign muons. For the latter, different types of new particles are studied profiting the unique coverage of LHCb with respect to other detectors.
Sterile neutrinos with masses in the range (1-100) GeV, have been searched for in a variety of experiments. Here, we discuss the prospects to search for sterile neutrinos at the LHC using displaced vertices. Two different cases are discussed: (i) the standard model extended with sterile neutrinos and (ii) right-handed neutrinos in a left-right symmetric extension of the standard model. A dedicated displaced vertex search will allow to probe parts of the parameter space not accessible to other searches, but will require large luminosity in both cases.
Heavy neutrinos at the TeV scale have been searched for at the LHC in the context of left-right models, under the assumption that they couple to the electron, the muon, or both. We show that current searches are also sensitive to heavy neutrinos coupling predominantly to the tau lepton, and present limits can significantly constrain the parameter space of general flavour mixing.
We investigate features of the sterile neutrinos in the presence of a light gauge boson $X^μ$ that couples to the neutrino sector. The novel bounds on the active-sterile neutrino mixings $| U_{\ell 4} |^2$, especially for tau flavor ($l = τ$), from various collider and fixed target experiments are explored. Also, taking into account the additional decay channel of the sterile neutrino into a light gauge boson ($ν_4 \to ν_\ell e^+ e^-$), we explore and constrain a parameter space for low energy excess in neutrino oscillation experiments.
The Standard Model (SM) describes particle physics with great precision. However, it does not account for the generation of neutrino masses, whose nature we do not understand. Both a Dirac and a Majorana mass term could intervene, leading to the existence of heavy partners of the SM neutrinos, presumably more massive and nearly sterile. For suitable choices of parameters, heavy neutrinos can also provide dark matter candidates, and generate the observed baryon asymmetry of the universe. Heavy neutrinos can be searched for at beam dump facilities such as the proposed SHiP experiment if their ma…
We study the sensitivity of displaced vertex searches for heavy neutrinos produced in W boson decays in the LHC detectors ATLAS, CMS and LHCb. We also propose a new search that uses the muon chambers to detect muons from heavy neutrino decays outside the tracker. The sensitivity estimates are based on benchmark models in which the heavy neutrinos mix exclusively with one of the three Standard Model generations. In the most sensitive mass regime the displaced vertex searches can improve existing constraints on the mixing with the first two Standard Model generations by more than four orders of …
Accurate neutrino-nucleus interaction modeling is an essential requirement for the success of the accelerator-based neutrino program. As no satisfactory description of cross sections exists, experiments tune neutrino-nucleus interactions to data to mitigate mis-modeling. In this work, we study how the interplay between near detector tuning and cross section mis-modeling affects new physics searches. We perform a realistic simulation of neutrino events and closely follow NOvA's tuning, the first published of such procedures in a neutrino experiment. We analyze two illustrative new physics scena…
The scattering of a neutrino on atomic electrons is considered in the situation where the energy transferred to the electrons is comparable to the characteristic atomic energies, as relevant to the current experimental search for neutrino magnetic moment. The process is contributed by the standard electroweak interaction as well as by the possible neutrino magnetic moment. Quantum mechanical sum rules are derived for the inclusive cross section at a fixed energy deposited in the atomic system, and it is shown that the differential over the energy transfer cross section is given, modulo very sm…
The ionization of atomic electrons by scattering of neutrinos is revisited. This process is the one studied in the experimental searches for a neutrino magnetic moment using germanium detectors. Current experiments are sensitive to the ionization energy comparable with the atomic energies, and the effects of the electron binding should be taken into account. We find that the so-called stepping approximation to the neutrino-impact ionization is in fact exact in the semiclassical limit and also that the deviations from this approximation are very small already for the lowest bound Coulomb states…
We study the possibilities offered by muon storage rings for tau-neutrino appearance experiments due to nu_mu to nu_tau and nu_e to nu_tau oscillations. Tau event rates for such experiments are first discussed with a view to examining their variation prior to the inclusion of experimental cuts, in order to better understand how baselines, beam energies, forward peaking of decay neutrinos with increasing energies and average fluxes intercepted by detectors of various sizes can affect their optimization. Subsequently, event rates implementing cuts are computed for hadronic and wrong-sign lepton …
Light sterile neutrinos have been motivated by anomalies observed in short-baseline neutrino experiments.Among them, radioactive-source and reactor experiments have provided evidence and constraints, respectively, for electron neutrino disappearance compatible with an eV-scale neutrino. The results from these observations are seemingly in conflict. This letter brings into focus the assumption that the neutrino wave packet can be approximated as a plane wave, which is adopted in all analyses of such experiments. We demonstrate that the damping of oscillations, e.g., due to a finite wave packet …
Superluminal neutrinos are expected to lose energy due to bremstrauhlung. It is dominated by e+e--pair production if kinematically allowed. The same signature was used in searches for 3-body decays of hypothetical heavy sterile neutrinos. From the absence of these processes in CERN PS191 and CHARM experiments we set upper limits on the neutrino velocity in the energy range from 0.2 GeV to 280 GeV. Our limits are well below the neutrino velocity favored by the recent OPERA results. For energy-independent neutrino velocity the limits obtained in this paper are stronger than those coming from ICA…
We investigate the ability of the upcoming Hyper-Kamiokande (Hyper-K) neutrino experiment to detect new physics phenomena beyond the standard, three-massive-neutrinos paradigm; namely the existence of a fourth, sterile neutrino or weaker-than-weak, non-standard neutrino interactions. With both beam-based neutrinos from the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC) and atmospheric neutrinos, Hyper-K is capable of exploring new ranges of parameter space in these new-physics scenarios. We find that Hyper-K has comparable capability to the upcoming Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DU…
The current status of neutrino oscillation searches with reactors and accelerators is reviewed. An outlook, especially on future long baseline neutrino oscillation projects, is given.
A Novel Approach to Short Baseline Oscillation Searches Using Neutrino Tagging with nuSCOPE
Laboratoire de Physique Nucléaire et de Hautes Énergies (LPNHE), CNRS/IN2P3, Sorbonne Université, Université Paris Cité(核物理与高能物理实验室(LPNHE),CNRS/IN2P3,索邦大学,巴黎西岱大学);European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN)(欧洲核子研究组织(CERN))
This topical group focuses on searches for signals from physics Beyond the Standard Model (BSM), both from a theoretical and experimental perspective, including neutrino-related BSM and searches for BSM in other sectors using neutrino facilities.
The present status of neutrino oscillation searches with reactors and accelerators is reviewed. An outlook, especially on future long baseline neutrino oscillation projects, is given.
A variety of new physics scenarios allow for neutrinos to up-scatter into a heavy neutral lepton state. For a range of couplings and neutrino energies, the heavy neutrino may travel some distance before decaying to visible final states. When both the up-scattering and decay occur within the detector volume, these "double bang" events produce distinctive phenomenology with very low background. In this work, we first consider the current sensitivity at Super-Kamiokande via the atmospheric neutrino flux, and find current data may already provide new constraints. We then examine projected future s…
The current status of direct terrestrial neutrino mass searches is presented. This includes direct kinematical searches, double beta decay and the search for a magnetic moment.
The current status of neutrino oscillation searches with reactors and accelerators is reviewed. An outlook, especially on future long baseline neutrino oscillation projects, is given.
The current status of non-accelerator based searches for effects of a non-vanishing neutrino mass is reviewed. Beside the direct kinematical methods this includes searches for magnetic moments and a discussion of the solar neutrino problem. Double beta decay is not included.
We present calculations of the magnetic moment contribution to neutrino electron scattering in large extra dimension brane-bulk models (LED) with three bulk neutrinos. We discuss the cases with two and three large extra dimensions of sizes $R$. The calculations are done using reactor flux from Uranium, $^{235}U$ as the neutrino source. We find that if the electron neutrino mass is chosen to be in the range of one eV, the differential cross section for $\barν-e$ scattering for low electron recoil energy can be of the same order as the presently explored values in reactor experiments. Furthermor…
The MiniBooNE Experiment has contributed substantially to beyond standard model searches in the neutrino sector. The experiment was originally designed to test the $Δm^2$~1 eV$^2$ region of the sterile neutrino hypothesis by observing $ν_e$ ($\barν_e$) charged current quasi-elastic signals from a $ν_μ$ ($\barν_μ$) beam. MiniBooNE observed excesses of $ν_e$ and $\barν_e$-candidate events in neutrino and anti-neutrino mode, respectively. To date, these excesses have not been explained within the neutrino Standard Model ($ν$SM), the Standard Model extended for three massive neutrinos. Confirmatio…
The highly successful Standard Model is not complete. It does not explain the baryonic asymmetry in the Universe, the existence of dark matter or the non-zero masses of the neutrinos. Extensions of the Standard Model that propose the existence of additional Heavy Neutral Leptons (HNLs) are well-motivated and can explain several of these phenomena. In addition, light sterile neutrinos of $\mathcal{O}(\text{eV}/c^{2})$ can explain experimentally observed oscillation anomalies. The Neutrino Minimal Standard Model proposes HNLs with masses $\mathcal{O}(\text{keV}/c^{2} - \text{GeV}/c^{2})$, while …
Baryon number conservation is not guaranteed by any fundamental symmetry within the Standard Model, and therefore has been a subject of experimental and theoretical scrutiny for decades. So far, no evidence for baryon number violation has been observed. Large underground detectors have long been used for both neutrino detection and searches for baryon number violating processes. The next generation of large neutrino detectors will seek to improve upon the limits set by past and current experiments and will cover a range of lifetimes predicted by several Grand Unified Theories. In this White Pa…
A sterile neutrino is a well motivated minimal new physics model that leaves an imprint in neutrino oscillations. Over the last two decades, a number of hints pointing to a sterile neutrino have emerged, many of which are pointing near $m_4\sim1$ eV. Here we show how MicroBooNE data can be used to search for electron neutrino disappearance using each of their four analysis channels. We find a hint for oscillations with the highest single channel significance of $2.4σ$ (using the Feldman-Cousins approach) coming from the Wire-Cell analysis and a simplified treatment of the experimental systemat…
We study discovery prospects for long-lived sterile neutrinos at the LHC with multitrack displaced vertices, with masses below the electroweak scale. We reinterpret current displaced vertex searches making use of publicly available, parametrized selection efficiencies for modeling the detector response to displaced vertices. We focus on production of right-handed $W_{R}$ bosons and neutrinos $N$ in a left-right symmetric model, and find poor sensitivity. After proposing a different trigger strategy (considering the prompt lepton accompanying the neutrino displaced vertex) and optimized cuts in…
We systematically investigate the prospects of testing new physics with tau sensitive near detectors at neutrino oscillation facilities. For neutrino beams from pion decay, from the decay of radiative ions, as well as from the decays of muons in a storage ring at a neutrino factory, we discuss which effective operators can lead to new physics effects. Furthermore, we discuss the present bounds on such operators set by other experimental data currently available. For operators with two leptons and two quarks we present the first complete analysis including all relevant operators simultaneously …
The neutrino masses and flavor mixings, which are missing in the Standard Model (SM), can be naturally incorporated in the type-I seesaw extension of the SM with heavy Majorana neutrinos being singlet under the SM gauge group. If the heavy Majorana neutrinos are around the electroweak scale and their mixings with the SM neutrinos are sizable, they can be produced at high energy colliders, leaving characteristic signatures with lepton-number violations. Employing the general parametrization for the neutrino Dirac mass matrix in the minimal seesaw scenario, we perform a parameter scan and identi…
Future neutrino and cosmological experiments will perform powerful searches for new light particles. After a general introduction we discuss how a new light fermion (`sterile neutrino') could manifest.
Tagged kaon beams are attractive neutrino sources, which would provide flavor pure $ν_e$-beams with exactly measured normalization. We point out that this also leads to an anti-tagged flavor pure $ν_μ$-beam, with equally well known normalization. Exposing a 1 kt liquid argon detector at a baseline of 1 km to this combination of unique beams allows to decisively test recent indications by IceCube and Neutrino-4 of sterile neutrino oscillations in the multi-eV range.
We show that single photon searches at LEP constrain the tau neutrino magnetic moment to be less than ${\cal O}(10^{-6})~μ_B$. This bound is competitive with low energy ($s\simeq (30~GeV)^2$) single photon searches.
We analyze the capacity of future $Z$-factories to search for heavy neutrinos with their mass from 10 to 85 GeV. The heavy neutrinos $N$ are considered to be produced via the process $e^+e^-\to Z\to νN$ and to decay into an electron or muon and two jets. By means of Monte Carlo simulation of such signal events and the Standard Model background events, we obtain the upper bounds on the cross sections $σ(e^+e^-\to νN\to ν\ell jj)$ given by the $Z$-factories with integrated luminosities of 0.1, 1 and 10 ab$^{-1}$ if no signal events are observed. Under the assumption of a minimal extension of the…
Direct constraints on the agnostic $ν$SMEFT from heavy-neutrino searches at the LHC
Instituto de Física, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de la República(乌拉圭共和国大学理学院物理研究所);Instituto de Física, Facultad Ingeniería, Universidad de la República(乌拉圭共和国大学工程学院物理研究所)
We examine relation between neutrino oscillation parameters and prediction of lepton flavor violation, in light of deviations from tri-bimaximal mixing. Our study shows that upcoming experimental searches for lepton flavor violation process can provide useful implications for neutrino mass spectrum and mixing angles. With simple structure of heavy right-handed neutrino and supersymmetry breaking sectors, the discovery of tau \to mu gamma decay determines neutrino mass hierarchy if large (order 0.1) reactor angle is established.
The coherent contribution of all neutrons in neutrino nucleus scattering due to the neutral current is examined considering the boron solar neutrinos. These neutrinos could potentially become a source of background in the future dark matter searches aiming at nucleon cross sections in the region well below the few events per ton per year.
Searches for pseudoscalar axion-like-particles (ALPs) typically rely on their decay in beam dumps or their conversion into photons in haloscopes and helioscopes. We point out a new experimental direction for ALP probes through their production via the Primakoff process or Compton-like scattering off of electrons or nuclei. We consider ALPs produced by the intense gamma ray flux available from megawatt-scale nuclear reactors at neutrino experiments through Primakoff-like or Compton-like channels. Low-threshold detectors in close proximity to the core will have visibility to ALP decays and inver…
We study the pair production of fourth generation neutrinos from the decay of an on-shell Higgs produced by gluon fusion. In a fourth generation scenario, the Higgs branching fraction into fourth generation neutrinos may be quite large. In the case that the unstable heavy neutrinos are a mixed Majorana and Dirac state, neutrinos pair-produced from Higgs decay will yield a substantial number of like-sign dilepton events. In this article we use inclusive like-sign dilepton searches from hadron colliders to constrain the theoretical parameter space of fourth generation leptons.
One natural way to understand the excess of the measured $H\toγγ$ rate over the standard model (SM) expectation at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is to have charged scalar bosons, existing in most of the SM extensions. Motivated by this LHC result, we explore if it also sheds light on solving the small neutrino mass generation problem. We concentrate on a class of models with high dimensional representations of scalars to realize Majorana neutrino masses at two-loop level without imposing any new symmetry. In these models, multi scalars with the electric charges higher than two are naturally …
We explore the sensitivity of displaced vertex searches at LHCb for testing sterile neutrino extensions of the Standard Model towards explaining the observed neutrino masses. We derive estimates for the constraints on sterile neutrino parameters from a recently published displaced vertex search at LHCb based on run 1 data. They yield the currently most stringent limit on active-sterile neutrino mixing in the sterile neutrino mass range between 4.5 GeV and 10 GeV. Furthermore, we present forecasts for the sensitivities that could be obtained from the run 2 data and also for the high-luminosity …
The coherent contribution of all neutrons in neutrino nucleus scattering due to the neutral current is examined considering the boron solar neutrinos. These neutrinos could potentially become a source of background in the future dark matter searches aiming at nucleon cross sections in the region well below the few events per ton per year.
Neutrino Oscillation, in which a given flavour of neutrino transforms into another is a powerful tool for probing small neutrino masses. The intrinsic neutrino properties involved are neutrino mass squared difference $Δm^2$ and the mixing angle in vacuum $θ$. In this talk I will summarize the progress that we have achieved in our search for neutrino oscillation with special emphasis on the recent results from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) on the measurement of solar neutrino fluxes. I will outline the current bounds on the neutrino masses and mixing parameters and discuss the major ph…
Future dark matter (DM) direct detection searches will be subject to irreducible neutrino backgrounds that will challenge the identification of an actual WIMP signal in experiments without directionality sensitivity. We study the impact of neutrino-quark non-standard interactions (NSI) on this background, assuming the constraints from neutrino oscillations and the recent COHERENT experiment data, which are relevant for NSI mediated by light mediators, $m_{\rm med} \lesssim{\cal O}$(GeV). We calculate the expected number of neutrino-nucleus elastic scattering events in a Xe-based ton-size dark …
The potential of future high statistics atmospheric neutrino experiments is considered, having in mind currently discussed huge detectors of various technologies (water Cerekov, magnetized iron, liquid Argon). I focus on the possibility to use atmospheric data to determine the octant of $θ_{23}$ and the neutrino mass hierarchy. The sensitivity to the $θ_{23}$-octant of atmospheric neutrinos is competitive (or even superior) to long-baseline experiments. I discuss the ideal properties of a fictitious atmospheric neutrino detector to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy.
Electron proton (ep) colliders could provide particle collisions at TeV energies with large data rates while maintaining the clean and pile~up-free environment of lepton colliders, which makes them very attractive for heavy neutrino searches. Heavy (mainly sterile) neutrinos with masses around the electroweak scale are proposed in low scale seesaw models for neutrino mass generation. In this paper, we analyse two of the most promising signatures of heavy neutrinos at ep colliders, the lepton-flavour violating (LFV) lepton-trijet signature and the displaced vertex signature. In the considered b…
We investigate the potential of near-future neutrino telescopes like NESTOR for searches for exotic processes in ultrahigh energy neutrino-quark scattering. (NESTOR is the acronym for NEutrinos, from Supernovae and TeV sources, Ocean Range ... a water Cherenkov detector to be constructed in the Mediterranean off the coast of Greece). We consider signatures such as muon bundles and/or contained cascades from the nonperturbative production of multiple weak gauge bosons in the Standard Model, compositeness and leptoquark production.
Sterile neutrinos are among the most attractive extensions of the SM to generate the light neutrino masses observed in neutrino oscillation experiments. When the sterile neutrinos are subject to a protective symmetry, they can have masses around the electroweak scale and potentially large neutrino Yukawa couplings, which makes them testable at planned future particle colliders. We systematically discuss the production and decay channels at electron-positron, proton-proton and electron-proton colliders and provide a complete list of the leading order signatures for sterile neutrino searches. Am…
Unlike the relic photons, relic neutrinos have not so far been observed. The Cosmic Neutrino Background (C$ν$B) is the oldest relic from the Big Bang, produced a few seconds after the Bang itself. Due to their impact in cosmology, relic neutrinos may be revealed indireclty in the near future through cosmological observations. In this talk we concentrate on other proposals, made in the last 30 years, to try to detect the C$ν$B directly, either in laboratory searches (through tiny accelerations they produce on macroscopic targets) or through astrophysical observations (looking for absorption dip…
We focus on the implications of the oscillations for the shape of nuclear beta-spectrum (=direct search for nu mass). This is of interest because of the existing bound, m_(nu_e)<2.2 eV, that could improve by one order of magnitude with future experiments. We stress important connections with the results of Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector, nu_e disappearance experiments, supernova neutrinos and neutrinoless double beta decay.
We analyze the energy and zenith angle distributions of the latest 2-year IceCube dataset of upward going atmospheric neutrinos to constrain sterile neutrinos at the eV scale in the 3+1 scenario. We find that the parameters favored by a combination of LSND and MiniBooNE data are excluded at more than the 99% C.L. We explore the impact of nonstandard matter interactions on this exclusion, and find that the exclusion holds for nonstandard interactions (NSI) that are within the stringent model-dependent bounds set by collider and neutrino scattering experiments. However, for large NSI parameters …
I give a brief review of a few recent developments and future directions in the search for dark matter using high-energy neutrinos from the Sun. This includes the ability to recast neutrino telescope limits on nuclear scattering of dark matter to arbitrary new theories, and new calculations of the solar atmospheric background relevant to such searches. I also touch on applications to global searches for new physics, and prospects for improving searches for asymmetric dark matter in the Sun.
We show that study of the atmospheric neutrinos in the 10--100 GeV energy range by DeepCore sub-array of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory can substantially constrain the mixing of sterile neutrinos of mass $\sim 1$ eV with active neutrinos. In the scheme with one sterile neutrino we calculate $ν_μ-$ and $\barν_μ-$ oscillation probabilities as well as zenith angle distributions of $ν_μ^{CC}$ events in different energy intervals in DeepCore. The distributions depend on the mass hierarchy of active neutrinos. Therefore, in principle, the hierarchy can be identified, if $ν_s$ exists. After a few y…