A proposed search for a fourth neutrino with a PBq antineutrino source

Several observed anomalies in neutrino oscillation data can be explained by a hypothetical fourth neutrino separated from the three standard neutrinos by a squared mass difference of a few eV^2. We show that this hypothesis can be tested with a PBq (ten kilocurie scale) 144Ce or 106Ru antineutrino beta-source deployed at the center of a large low background liquid scintillator detector. In particular, the compact size of such a source could yield an energy-dependent oscillating pattern in event spatial distribution that would unabiguously determine neutrino mass differences and mixing angles.Comment: 4 pages ; 1 table ; 4 figures - Add energy spectrum shape only analysis + referee comments/suggestion

Reactor Monitoring with Neutrinos

The fundamental knowledge on neutrinos acquired in the recent years open the possibility of applied neutrino physics. Among it the automatic and non intrusive monitoring of nuclear reactor by its antineutrino signal could be very valuable to IAEA in charge of the control of nuclear power plants. Several efforts worldwide have already started.Comment: 5 pages - XXII International Conference On Neutrino Physics And Astrophysics (Neutrino 2006

Right-handed Neutrinos in Low-Energy Neutrino-Electron Scattering

In this paper a scenario admitting the participation of the exotic scalar coupling of the right-handed neutrinos in addition to the standard vector and axial couplings of the left-handed neutrinos in the weak interactions is considered. The research is based on the low-energy $(\nu_{\mu} e^{-})$ and $(\nu_{e} e^{-})$ scattering processes. The main goal is to show how the presence of the right-handed neutrinos in the above processes changes the laboratory differential cross section in relation to the Standard Model prediction. Both processes are studied at the level of the four-fermion point interaction. Neutrinos are assumed to be polarized Dirac fermions and to be massive. In the laboratory differential cross section, the new interference term between the standard vector coupling of the left-handed neutrinos and exotic scalar coupling of the right-handed neutrinos appears which does not vanish in the limit of massless neutrino. This additional contribution, including information about the transverse components of neutrino polarization, generates the azimuthal asymmetry in the angular distribution of the recoil electrons. This regularity would be a signature of the participation of the right-handed neutrinos in the neutrino-electron scattering. The future low-energy high-precision neutrino-electron scattering experiments using the strong and polarized artificial neutrino source would allow to search for the exotic effects coming from the R-handed neutrinos.Comment: REVTeX, 9 pages, 5 eps figures; published in Phys. Lett. B 555, 215-226 (2003

Les mystères des neutrinos

Les neutrinos, dont la découverte en 1956 vient d'être récompensée par la prix Nobel de physique 1995, restent les particules les plus mystérieuses. Témoins de la vie et de la mort des étoiles, ce sont de véritables passe-murailles que les détecteurs ont beaucoup de mal à piéger