1,324 research outputs found
Super-Kamiokande atmospheric neutrinos: Status of subdominant oscillations
In the context of the recent (79.5 kTy) Super-Kamiokande atmospheric neutrino
data, we concisely review the status of muonic-tauonic flavor oscillations and
of the subdominant electron or sterile neutrino mixing, in schemes with three
or four families and one dominant mass scale. In the three-family case, where
we include the full CHOOZ spectral data, we also show, through a specific
example, that ``maximal'' violations of the one-dominant mass scale
approximation are not ruled out yet.Comment: 8 pages + 10 figure
Three-flavor solar neutrino oscillations with terrestrial neutrino constraints
We present an updated analysis of the current solar neutrino data in terms of
three-flavor oscillations, including the additional constraints coming from
terrestrial neutrino oscillation searches at the CHOOZ (reactor),
Super-Kamiokande (atmospheric), and KEK-to-Kamioka (accelerator) experiments.
The best fit is reached for the subcase of two-family mixing, and the
additional admixture with the third neutrino is severely limited. We discuss
the relevant features of the globally allowed regions in the oscillation
parameter space, as well as their impact on the amplitude of possible
CP-violation effects at future accelerator experiments and on the
reconstruction accuracy of the mass-mixing oscillation parameters at the
KamLAND reactor experiment.Comment: 10 pages + 8 figure
Supernova neutrino three-flavor evolution with dominant collective effects
Neutrino and antineutrino fluxes from a core-collapse galactic supernova are
studied, within a representative three-flavor scenario with inverted mass
hierarchy and tiny 1-3 mixing. The initial flavor evolution is dominated by
collective self-interaction effects, which are computed in a full three-family
framework along an averaged radial trajectory. During the whole time span
considered (t=1-20 s), neutrino and antineutrino spectral splits emerge as
dominant features in the energy domain for the final, observable fluxes. Some
minor or unobservable three-family features (e.g., related to the
muonic-tauonic flavor sector) are also discussed for completeness. The main
results can be useful for SN event rate simulations in specific detectors.Comment: 22 pages, including 9 figures (1 section with 3 figures added).
Accepted for publication in JCA
Day-night asymmetry of high and low energy solar neutrino events in Super-Kamiokande and in the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory
In the context of solar neutrino oscillations among active states, we briefly
discuss the current likelihood of Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein (MSW) solutions
to the solar neutrino problem, which appear to be currently favored at large
mixing, where small Earth regeneration effects might still be observable in
Super-Kamiokande (SK) and in the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO). We point
out that, since such effects are larger at high (low) solar neutrino energies
for high (low) values of the mass square difference \delta m^2, it may be
useful to split the night-day rate asymmetry in two separate energy ranges. We
show that the difference \Delta of the night-day asymmetry at high and low
energy may help to discriminate the two large-mixing solutions at low and high
\delta m^2 through a sign test, both in SK and in SNO, provided that the
sensitivity to \Delta can reach the (sub)percent level.Comment: 6 pages (RevTeX) + 4 figures (PostScript). Final version, to appear
in Phys. Rev.
Quasi-energy-independent solar neutrino transitions
Current solar, atmospheric, and reactor neutrino data still allow oscillation
scenarios where the squared mass differences are all close to 10^-3 eV^2,
rather than being hierarchically separated. For solar neutrinos, this situation
(realized in the upper part of the so-called large-mixing angle solution)
implies adiabatic transitions which depend weakly on the neutrino energy and on
the matter density, as well as on the ``atmospheric'' squared mass difference.
In such a regime of ``quasi-energy-independent'' (QEI) transitions,
intermediate between the more familiar ``Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein'' (MSW)
and energy-independent (EI) regimes, we first perform analytical calculations
of the solar nu_e survival probability at first order in the matter density,
beyond the usual hierarchical approximations. We then provide accurate,
generalized expressions for the solar neutrino mixing angles in matter, which
reduce to those valid in the MSW, QEI and EI regimes in appropriate limits.
Finally, a representative QEI scenario is discussed in some detail.Comment: Title changed; text and acronyms revised; results unchanged. To
appear in PR
Effect of Transition Magnetic Moments on Collective Supernova Neutrino Oscillations
We study the effect of Majorana transition magnetic moments on the flavor
evolution of neutrinos and antineutrinos inside the core of Type-II supernova
explosions. We find non-trivial collective oscillation effects relating
neutrinos and antineutrinos of different flavors, even if one restricts the
discussion to Majorana transition electromagnetic moment values that are not
much larger than those expected from standard model interactions and nonzero
neutrino Majorana masses. This appears to be, to the best of our knowledge, the
only potentially observable phenomenon sensitive to such small values of
Majorana transition magnetic moments. We briefly comment on the effect of Dirac
transition magnetic moments and on the consequences of our results for future
observations of the flux of neutrinos of different flavors from a nearby
supernova explosion.Comment: 11 pages,appendix added, version accepted in JCA
Collective Flavor Oscillations Of Supernova Neutrinos and r-Process Nucleosynthesis
Neutrino-neutrino interactions inside core-collapse supernovae may give rise
to collective flavor oscillations resulting in swap between flavors. These
oscillations depend on the initial energy spectra, and relative fluxes or
relative luminosities of the neutrinos. It has been observed that departure
from energy equipartition among different flavors can give rise to one or more
sharp spectral swap over energy, termed as splits. We study the occurrence of
splits in the neutrino and antineutrino spectra, varying the initial relative
fluxes for different models of initial energy spectrum, in both normal and
inverted hierarchy. These initial relative flux variations give rise to several
possible split patterns whereas variation over different models of energy
spectra give similar results. We explore the effect of these spectral splits on
the electron fraction, , that governs r-process nucleosynthesis inside
supernovae. Since spectral splits modify the electron neutrino and antineutrino
spectra in the region where r-process is postulated to happen, and since the
pattern of spectral splits depends on the initial conditions of the spectra and
the neutrino mass hierarchy, we show that the condition required
for successful r-process nucleosynthesis will lead to constraints on the
initial spectral conditions, for a given neutrino mass hierarchy.Comment: 25 pages, 10 figures, added figure and improved discussion, result
unchanged. Version matches to published version of JCA
Oscillations of solar atmosphere neutrinos
The Sun is a source of high energy neutrinos (E > 10 GeV) produced by cosmic
ray interactions in the solar atmosphere. We study the impact of three-flavor
oscillations (in vacuum and in matter) on solar atmosphere neutrinos, and
calculate their observable fluxes at Earth, as well as their event rates in a
kilometer-scale detector in water or ice. We find that peculiar three-flavor
oscillation effects in matter, which can occur in the energy range probed by
solar atmosphere neutrinos, are significantly suppressed by averaging over the
production region and over the neutrino and antineutrino components. In
particular, we find that the relation between the neutrino fluxes at the Sun
and at the Earth can be approximately expressed in terms of phase-averaged
``vacuum'' oscillations, dominated by a single mixing parameter (the angle
theta_23).Comment: v2: 11 pages, 8 eps figures. Content added (Sec. III D and Fig. 6),
references updated. Matches the published versio
Super-Kamiokande atmospheric neutrino data, zenith distributions, and three-flavor oscillations
We present a detailed analysis of the zenith angle distributions of
atmospheric neutrino events observed in the Super-Kamiokande (SK) underground
experiment, assuming two-flavor and three-flavor oscillations (with one
dominant mass scale) among active neutrinos. In particular, we calculate the
five angular distributions associated to sub-GeV and multi-GeV \mu-like and
e-like events and to upward through-going muons, for a total of 30 accurately
computed observables (zenith bins). First we study how such observables vary
with the oscillation parameters, and then we perform a fit to the experimental
data as measured in SK for an exposure of 33 kTy (535 days). In the two-flavor
mixing case, we confirm the results of the SK Collaboration analysis, namely,
that \nu_\mu\nu_\tau oscillations are preferred over \nu_\mu\nu_e,
and that the no oscillation case is excluded with high confidence. In the
three-flavor mixing case, we perform our analysis with and without the
additional constraints imposed by the CHOOZ reactor experiment. In both cases,
the analysis favors a dominance of the \nu_\mu\nu_\tau channel. Without
the CHOOZ constraints, the amplitudes of the subdominant \nu_\munu_e and
\nu_e\nu_\tau transitions can also be relatively large, indicating that,
at present, current SK data do not exclude sizable \nu_e mixing by themselves.
After combining the CHOOZ and SK data, the amplitudes of the subdominant
transitions are constrained to be smaller, but they can still play a
nonnegligible role both in atmospheric and other neutrino oscillation searches.
In particular, we find that the \nu_e appearance probability expected in long
baseline experiments can reach the testable level of ~15%.Comment: 35 pages (RevTeX), including 20 ps figures (with epsfig.sty
Probing particle and nuclear physics models of neutrinoless double beta decay with different nuclei
Half-life estimates for neutrinoless double beta decay depend on particle
physics models for lepton flavor violation, as well as on nuclear physics
models for the structure and transitions of candidate nuclei. Different models
considered in the literature can be contrasted - via prospective data - with a
"standard" scenario characterized by light Majorana neutrino exchange and by
the quasiparticle random phase approximation, for which the theoretical
covariance matrix has been recently estimated. We show that, assuming future
half-life data in four promising nuclei (Ge-76, Se-82, Te-130, and Xe-136), the
standard scenario can be distinguished from a few nonstandard physics models,
while being compatible with alternative state-of-the-art nuclear calculations
(at 95% C.L.). Future signals in different nuclei may thus help to discriminate
at least some decay mechanisms, without being spoiled by current nuclear
uncertainties. Prospects for possible improvements are also discussed.Comment: Minor corrections in the text, references added. Matches published
version in Phys. Rev. D 80, 015024 (2009
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