The first hint of the neutrino mass hierarchy is believed to come from the long-baseline experiment NO$ν$A. Recent results from the NO$ν$A shows a mild preference towards the CP phase $δ_{13} = -90^\circ$ and normal hierarchy. Fortunately this is the favorable area of the parameter space which does not suffer from the hierarchy-$δ_{13}$ degeneracy and thus NO$ν$A can have good hierarchy sensitivity for this true combination of hierarchy and $δ_{13}$. Apart from the hierarchy-$δ_{13}$ degeneracy there is also the octant-$δ_{13}$ degeneracy. But this does not affect the favorable parameter space of NO$ν$A as this degeneracy can be resolved with a balanced neutrino and antineutrino run. However, ff we consider the existence of a light sterile neutrino then there may be additional degeneracies which can spoil the hierarchy sensitivity of NO$ν$A even in the favorable parameter space. In the present work we find that apart from the degeneracies mentioned above, there are additional hierarchy and octant degeneracies that appear with the new phase $δ_{14}$ in the presence of a light sterile neutrino in the eV scale. In contrast to the hierarchy and octant degeneracies appearing with $δ_{13}$, the parameter space for hierarchy-$δ_{14}$ degeneracy is different in neutrinos and antineutrinos though the octant-$δ_{14}$ degeneracy behaves similarly in neutrinos and antineutrinos. We study the effect of these degeneracies on the hierarchy sensitivity of NO$ν$A for the true normal hierarchy.
In sterile neutrino (3+1) parameterisation, we observe that sterile phases ($δ_{14},δ_{24}$) are always together in oscillation probability, even when the MSW effect is considered. We see that the difference between the sterile phases has a more dominating effect over event rates compared to small variations due to changes in individual values. In this work, we show the value of sterile phase difference ($δ_{14}-δ_{24}$) that least affects the parameter degeneracy resolution of $δ_{13},θ_{23}$ at long-baseline experiments.
We investigate the implications of a sterile neutrino on the physics potential of the proposed experiment DUNE and future runs of NO$ν$A using latest NO$ν$A results. Using combined analysis of the disappearance and appearance data, NO$ν$A reported preferred solutions at normal hierarchy (NH) with two degenerate best-fit points one in the lower octant (LO) and $δ_{13}$ = 1.48$π$ and other in higher octant (HO) and $δ_{13}$ = 0.74$π$. Another solution of inverted hierarchy (IH) which is 0.46$σ$ away from best fit was also reported. We discuss chances of resolving these degeneracies in the presen…
The first hint of neutrino mass hierarchy is expected to come from the NO$ν$A experiment in Fermilab as the present best-fit parameter space i.e., normal hierarchy and $δ_{CP}=-90^\circ$ is the favourable parameter space for NO$ν$A where there is no degeneracy. But this situation may change if the standard three flavour framework is not complete and there is existence of new physics. In this work we consider the presence of an extra light sterile neutrino at the eV scale and study the new degeneracies which are absent in the standard three flavour framework. We also study the effect of these n…
We construct a multiscalar and nonrenormalizable $B-L$ model with $A_4\times Z_3\times Z_4$ flavor symmetry which successfully explains the recent $3+1$ active-sterile neutrino data. The tiny neutrino mass the mass hierarchy are obtained by the type-I seesaw mechanism. The hierarchy of the lepton masses is satisfied by a factor of $v_H \left(\frac{v_l}Λ\right)^2 \sim 10^{-4}\, \mathrm{GeV}$ of the electron mass compared to the muon and tau masses of the order of $\frac{v_H v_l}Λ \sim 10^{-1}\, \mathrm{GeV}$. The recent $3+1$ active-sterile neutrino mixings are predicted to be $0.015 \leq|U_{e …
We study the possibility of simultaneously addressing neutrino phenomenology and the dark matter in the framework of inverse seesaw. The model is the extension of the standard model by the addition of two right handed neutrinos and three sterile fermions which leads to a light sterile state with the mass in the keV range along with three light active neutrino states. The lightest sterile neutrino can account for a feasible dark matter(DM) candidate. We present a $S_{4}$ flavor symmetric model which is further augmented by $Z_{4}\times Z_{3}$ symmetry to constrain the Yukawa Lagrangian. The str…
We evaluate the impact of sterile neutrino oscillations in the so-called 3+1 scenario on the proposed long baseline experiment in USA and Japan. There are two proposals for the Japan experiment which are called T2HK and T2HKK. We show the impact of sterile neutrino oscillation parameters on the expected sensitivity of T2HK and T2HKK to mass hierarchy, CP violation and octant of $θ_{23}$ and compare it against that expected in the case of standard oscillations. We add the expected ten years data from DUNE and present the combined expected sensitivity of T2HKK+DUNE to the oscillation parameters.…
In this paper we examine the sensitivity of the Long Baseline Neutrino Oscillation Experiment to the inclusion of two new sterile neutrino flavors with masses in the eV range. We implement a model with a modified Casas-Ibarra parametrization which can accommodate medium scale mass eigenstates and introduces a new complex mixing angle. We explore the new mixing angle parameter space and demonstrate how LBNE can be used to either provide evidence for or rule out a particular model of sterile neutrinos. Certain three-flavor CP-violation scenarios cannot be distinguished from the sterile neutrinos…
We present the approximated analytic expressions for the muon survival probability in a $3+1$ mixing scenario in the presence of matter effect using the S-matrix formalism. We find that all the individual terms contributing to the muon survival probability can significantly reduce to just three contributions. The leading order contribution comes from the three flavor muon survival probability followed by the two sub-leading contributions arising from active-sterile mixing. Furthermore, to more simplify the results we adopt the well known series expansion relations about mass-hierarchy paramete…
Future neutrino detectors will obtain high-statistics data from a nearby core-collapse supernova. We study the mixing with eV-mass sterile neutrinos in a supernova environment and its effects on the active neutrino fluxes as detected by Hyper-Kamiokande and IceCube. Using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo analysis, we make projections for how accurately these experiments will measure the active-sterile mixing angle $θ_s$ given that there are substantial uncertainties on the expected luminosity and spectrum of active neutrinos from a galactic supernova burst. We find that Hyper-Kamiokande can reconstr…
We study $S_{4}$ flavor symmetric inverse seesaw model which has the possibility of simultaneously addressing neutrino phenomenology, dark matter (DM) and baryon asymmetry of the universe (BAU) through leptogenesis. The model is the extension of the standard model by the addition of two right handed neutrinos and three sterile fermions leading to a keV scale sterile neutrino dark matter and two pairs of quasi-Dirac states. The CP violating decay of the lightest quasi- Dirac pair present in the model generates lepton asymmetry which then converts to baryon asymmetry of the universe. Thus this m…
In this paper we analyze the neutrinoless double beta decay predictions in some scenarios with admixture of pseudo-Dirac and Majorana neutrinos in the 3 and 3+1 neutrino frameworks. We found that some of the cases can be falsifiable in near-term and future generations of neutrinoless double beta decay experiments even for the normal neutrino mass hierarchy. In the 3+1 framework we consider the sterile neutrino with a mass of the order of 1 eV. The complementarity between cosmological constraints and the future sensitivity for the next generations of the neutrinoless double beta decay searches …
We explore the possibility of a single generation of $keV$ scale sterile neutrino ($m_S$) as a dark matter candidate within the minimal extended seesaw (MES) framework and it's influence in neutrinoless double beta decay ($0νββ$) study. Three hierarchical right-handed neutrinos were considered to explain neutrino mass. We also address baryogenesis via the mechanism of thermal leptogenesis considering the decay of the lightest RH neutrino to a lepton and Higgs doublet. A generic model based on $A_4\times Z_4\times Z_3$ flavor symmetry is constructed to explain both normal and inverted hierarchy…
Now that the NOvA experiment is approaching two years run time and has released some preliminary data, some constraints for the oscillation parameters can be inferred. Currently the best fits for NOvA are three separate results, the reason they are indistinct is that they produce almost degenerate probability curves. It has been postulated that these degeneracies can be resolved by running antineutrinos at NOvA and/or combining its data with T2K. However, this degeneracy resolution power can be compromised if sterile neutrinos are present due to additional degrees of freedom that can significa…
Seesaw mechanism constrains from below mixing between active and sterile neutrinos for fixed sterile neutrino masses. Signal events associated with sterile neutrino decays inside a detector at fixed target experiment are suppressed by the mixing angle to the power of four. Therefore sensitivity of experiments such as SHiP and DUNE should take into account minimal possible values of the mixing angles. We extend the previous study of this subject arXiv:1312.2887 to a more general case of non-zero CP-violating phases in the neutrino sector. Namely, we provide numerical estimate of minimal value o…
We propose a new production mechanism for keV sterile neutrino dark matter which relies neither on the oscillations between sterile and active neutrinos nor on the decay of additional heavier particles. The dark matter neutrinos are instead produced by thermal freeze-out, much like a typical WIMP. The challenge consists in balancing a large Yukawa coupling so that the sterile neutrinos thermalize in the early universe on the one hand, and a small enough Yukawa coupling such that they are stable on cosmological scales on the other. We solve this problem by implementing varying Yukawa couplings.…
Recent $ν_e$ appearance data from the Mini Booster Neutrino Experiment (MiniBooNE) are in support of the excess of events reported by the Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector (LSND), which provides an indirect hint for the existence of eV-scale sterile neutrino. As these sterile neutrinos can mix with the standard active neutrinos, in this paper we explore the effect of such active-sterile mixing on the determination of various oscillation parameters by the currently running long-baseline neutrino experiments T2K and NO$ν$A. We find that the existence of sterile neutrino can lead to new kind …
A phenomenological model with active and sterile neutrinos is used for calculations of neutrino oscillation characteristics at the normal mass hierarchy of active neutrinos. Taking into account the contributions of sterile neutrinos, appearance and survival probabilities for active neutrinos are calculated. Modified graphical dependencies for the probability of appearance of electron neutrinos/antineutrinos in muon neutrino/antineutrino beams as a function of the ratio of the distance to the neutrino energy and other model parameters are obtained. It is shown that in the case of a certain type…
This thesis address theoretical and phenomenological aspects of active and sterile mixing pattern within minimal extended seesaw frameworks. It consists of six chapters, where chapters one and six are dedicated to introduction and conclusion chapters, respectively. In chapter two, we study active-sterile phenomenology with a single generation of sterile neutrino ($m_S\sim \mathcal{O}$(eV)) along with the three active neutrinos. Three independent cases for sterile mass matrices are studied in both normal and inverted hierarchy mass ordering. Chapter three is an extension of the previous chapter…
We extend a simple and compact method for calculating the three flavor neutrino oscillation probabilities in uniform matter density to schemes with sterile neutrinos, with favorable features inherited. The only constraint of the extended method is that the scale of the matter potential is not significantly larger than the atmospheric $Δm^2$, which is satisfied by all the running and proposed accelerator oscillation experiments. Degeneracy of the zeroth order eigensystem around solar and atmospheric resonances are resolved. Corrections to the zeroth order results are restricted to no larger tha…
A sterile neutrino in the $3+1$ scheme, where the sterile accounts for neutrino anomalies not explained solely by the weak active neutrinos, arises as a natural source for the breaking of the $μ-τ$ symmetry suggested by oscillation neutrino data. We explore the predictions for the Dirac CP phases in this scenario, with and without sterile neutrino decay, and show that current limits on $δ_{CP}$ suggest a normal hierarchy and a lightest neutrino scale below 0.1~eV as the most plausible explanation for that, when Majorana phases are null. Other Dirac phases turn out to be non zero as well.
Models of neutrino mixing involving one or more sterile neutrinos have resurrected their importance in the light of recent cosmological data. In this case, reactor antineutrino experiments offer an ideal place to look for signatures of sterile neutrinos due to their impact on neutrino flavor transitions. In this work, we show that the high-precision data of the Daya Bay experi\-ment constrain the 3+1 neutrino scenario imposing upper bounds on the relevant active-sterile mixing angle $\sin^2 2 θ_{14} \lesssim 0.06$ at 3$σ$ confidence level for the mass-squared difference $Δm^2_{41}$ in the rang…
We investigate neutrinoless double beta ($0νββ$) decay rates in minimal left-right symmetric models in presence of relatively light right-handed neutrinos. By use of an effective field theory approach, we systematically include all contributions in the model as well as the dependence of the decay amplitude on the masses of right-handed neutrinos. In type-I and type-II seesaw scenarios, we analyze the impact of right-handed neutrinos heavier than about 10 MeV, showing that this effect can lead to a detection of $0νββ$ decay in the next-generation experiments even for the normal hierarchy and a …
Post LSND results, sterile neutrinos have drawn attention and motivated the high energy physics, astronomy and cosmology to probe physics beyond the standard model considering minimal 3+1 (3 active and 1 sterile) to 3+N neutrino schemes. The analytical equations for neutrino conversion probabilities are developed in this work for 3+1 neutrino scheme. Here, we have tried to explore the possible signals of T and CPT violations with four flavor neutrino scheme at neutrino factory. Values of sterile parameters considered in this analysis are taken from two different types of neutrino experiments v…
We derive the lower bound on absolute scale of lightest neutrino mass for normal hierarchy and inverted hierarchy pattern of light neutrinos by studying the new physics contributions to charged lepton flavour violating decays and neutrinoless double beta decay in the framework of a TeV scale left-right symmetric model. Neutrino mass is generated in the model via type-II seesaw dominance with the help of a heavy sterile neutrino. This scenario allows large light-heavy neutrino mixing and the mixing facilitates new channels for neutrinoless double beta decay and lepton flavour violating decays. …
We show that when sterile Majorana neutrino masses are generated non-perturbatively through instantonic interactions in certain classes of string compactifications (e.g. Type IIA orientifold models with intersecting D-branes), then the eigenvalue spectrum for the tree-level mass term $M_p$ can be within the preferred range of the Neutrino Option resolution to the electroweak (EW) hierarchy and neutrino mass problems of the Standard Model, i.e. $M_p \sim$ PeV. This mechanism holds without tuning for a broad range of string scales, thereby motivating a novel class of string-completed Neutrino Op…
A generalized phenomenological (3 + 2 + 1)-model with three active and three sterile neutrinos is considered for the calculation of the neutrino oscillation characteristics at normal mass hierarchy of active neutrinos and significant splitting between the mass of one sterile neutrino and the masses of other two sterile neutrinos. A new parametrization and a certain form of the general neutrino mixing matrix for active and sterile neutrinos are suggested taking into account the possible violation of CP invariance in the lepton sector. The test values of the neutrino masses and the mixing parame…
Left-Right symmetric theories solve the strong CP problem and explain the small Higgs quartic coupling at high energy scales via the Higgs Parity mechanism, which forces the Higgs quartic coupling to vanish at the Left-Right symmetry breaking scale. They also predict three right-handed neutrinos; one may be stable and provide dark matter, and another may decay and explain the baryon asymmetry of the universe through leptogenesis. For the dark matter abundance to arise from freeze-out, the required range of the Left-Right symmetry breaking scale is $10^{10}$-$10^{13}$ GeV, in remarkable agreeme…
