Superkamiokande and solar antineutrinos

We propose to exploit the angular distribution of the positrons emitted in the inverse beta decay to extract a possible antineutrino signal from the Superkamiokande background. From the statistics collected in just 101.9 days one obtains a model independent upper bound on the antineutrino flux (for energy greater than 8.3 MeV) Phi < 9*10^4 cm^-2 s^-1 at the 95% C.L. By assuming the same energy spectrum as for the 8B neutrinos, the 95% C.L. bound is Phi < 6*10^4 cm^-2 s^-1. Within three years of data taking, the sensitivity to neutrino-antineutrino transition probability will reach the 1% level, thus providing a stringent test of hybrid oscillation models.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, Late

Towards the Theory of Non--Abelian Tensor Fields I

We present a triangulation--independent area--ordering prescription which naturally generalizes the well known path ordering one. For such a prescription it is natural that the two--form ``connection'' should carry three ``color'' indices rather than two as it is in the case of the ordinary one--form gauge connection. To define the prescription in question we have to define how to {\it exponentiate} a matrix with three indices. The definition uses the fusion rule structure constants.Comment: 22 pages, 18 figure

Quantum field theoretic approach to neutrino oscillations in matter

We consider neutrino oscillations in non-uniform matter in a quantum field theoretic (QFT) approach, in which neutrino production, propagation and detection are considered as a single process. We find the conditions under which the oscillation probability can be sensibly defined and demonstrate how the properly normalized oscillation probability can be obtained in the QFT framework. We derive the evolution equation for the oscillation amplitude and discuss the conditions under which it reduces to the standard Schr\"odinger-like evolution equation. It is shown that, contrary to the common usage, the Schr\"odinger-like evolution equation is not applicable in certain cases, such as oscillations of neutrinos produced in decays of free pions provided that sterile neutrinos with $\Delta m^2\gtrsim 1$ eV$^2$ exist.Comment: LaTeX, 24 pages + 16 pages of appendices, 1 figure. V2: typos correcte

Analysis of Gamma Radiation from a Radon Source: Indications of a Solar Influence

This article presents an analysis of about 29,000 measurements of gamma radiation associated with the decay of radon in a sealed container at the Geological Survey of Israel (GSI) Laboratory in Jerusalem between 28 January 2007 and 10 May 2010. These measurements exhibit strong variations in time of year and time of day, which may be due in part to environmental influences. However, time-series analysis reveals a number of periodicities, including two at approximately 11.2 year$^{-1}$ and 12.5 year$^{-1}$. We have previously found these oscillations in nuclear-decay data acquired at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) and at the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), and we have suggested that these oscillations are attributable to some form of solar radiation that has its origin in the deep solar interior. A curious property of the GSI data is that the annual oscillation is much stronger in daytime data than in nighttime data, but the opposite is true for all other oscillations. This may be a systematic effect but, if it is not, this property should help narrow the theoretical options for the mechanism responsible for decay-rate variability.Comment: 9 pages, 21 figure

De Sitter space and perpetuum mobile

We give general arguments that any interacting non--conformal {\it classical} field theory in de Sitter space leads to the possibility of constructing a perpetuum mobile. The arguments are based on the observation that massive free falling particles can radiate other massive particles on the classical level as seen by the free falling observer. The intensity of the radiation process is non-zero even for particles with any finite mass, i.e. with a wavelength which is within the causal domain. Hence, we conclude that either de Sitter space can not exist eternally or that one can build a perpetuum mobile.Comment: 11 pages revtex, no figures. Added discussion to strengthen conclusio

Reheat temperature in supersymmetric hybrid inflation models

The allowed range of parameters for supersymmetric hybrid inflation and its extensions are investigated. The lower bound on the reheat temperature T_r in these models with hierarchical right handed neutrinos is found to be 3*10^7 GeV. (T_r as low as 100 GeV is possible for quasi degenerate right handed neutrinos.) We also present revised estimates for the scalar spectral index and the symmetry breaking scale associated with inflation.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, revtex4. v2: minor changes, matches published versio

Supernova prompt neutronization neutrinos and neutrino magnetic moments

It is shown that the combined action of spin-flavor conversions of supernova neutrinos due to the interactions of their Majorana-type transition magnetic moments with the supernova magnetic fields and flavor conversions due to the mass mixing can lead to the transformation of \nu_e born in the neutronization process into their antiparticles \bar{\nu}_e. Such an effect would have a clear experimental signature and its observation would be a smoking gun evidence for the neutrino transition magnetic moments. It would also signify the leptonic mixing parameter |U_{e3}| in excess of 10^{-2}.Comment: LaTex, 25 pages, 3 figures. v4: Discussion section expanded, references added. Matches the published versio

Mass hierarchy, 2-3 mixing and CP-phase with Huge Atmospheric Neutrino Detectors

We explore the physics potential of multi-megaton scale ice or water Cherenkov detectors with low ($\sim 1$ GeV) threshold. Using some proposed characteristics of the PINGU detector setup we compute the distributions of events versus neutrino energy $E_\nu$ and zenith angle $\theta_z$, and study their dependence on yet unknown neutrino parameters. The $(E_\nu - \theta_z)$ regions are identified where the distributions have the highest sensitivity to the neutrino mass hierarchy, to the deviation of the 2-3 mixing from the maximal one and to the CP-phase. We evaluate significance of the measurements of the neutrino parameters and explore dependence of this significance on the accuracy of reconstruction of the neutrino energy and direction. The effect of degeneracy of the parameters on the sensitivities is also discussed. We estimate the characteristics of future detectors (energy and angle resolution, volume, etc.) required for establishing the neutrino mass hierarchy with high confidence level. We find that the hierarchy can be identified at $3\sigma$ -- $10\sigma$ level (depending on the reconstruction accuracies) after 5 years of PINGU operation.Comment: 39 pages, 21 figures. Description of Fig.3 correcte