5 research outputs found
Are solar neutrino oscillations robust?
The robustness of the large mixing angle (LMA) oscillation (OSC)
interpretation of the solar neutrino data is considered in a more general
framework where non-standard neutrino interactions (NSI) are present. Such
interactions may be regarded as a generic feature of models of neutrino mass.
The 766.3 ton-yr data sample of the KamLAND collaboration are included in the
analysis, paying attention to the background from the reaction ^13C(\alpha,n)
^16O. Similarly, the latest solar neutrino fluxes from the SNO collaboration
are included. In addition to the solution which holds in the absence of NSI
(LMA-I) there is a 'dark-side' solution (LMA-D) with sin^2 theta_Sol = 0.70,
essentially degenerate with the former, and another light-side solution (LMA-0)
allowed only at 97% CL. More precise KamLAND reactor measurements will not
resolve the ambiguity in the determination of the solar neutrino mixing angle
theta_Sol, as they are expected to constrain mainly Delta m^2. We comment on
the complementary role of atmospheric, laboratory (e.g. CHARM) and future solar
neutrino experiments in lifting the degeneracy between the LMA-I and LMA-D
solutions. In particular, we show how the LMA-D solution induced by the
simplest NSI between neutrinos and down-type-quarks-only is in conflict with
the combination of current atmospheric data and data of the CHARM experiment.
We also mention that establishing the issue of robustness of the oscillation
picture in the most general case will require further experiments, such as
those involving low energy solar neutrinos.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures; Final version to appear in JHE
The Neutrino Mass Matrix - New Developments
With the recent experimental advance in our precise knowledge of the neutrino
oscillation parameters, the correct form of the 3 X 3 neutrino mass matrix is
now approximately known. I discuss how this may be obtained from symmetry
principles, using as examples the finite groups A_4 and Z_4, predicting as a
result three nearly degenerate Majorana neutrino masses in the 0.2 eV range.Comment: 14 pages, talk at BEYOND 200
Sterile neutrino production via active-sterile oscillations: the quantum Zeno effect
We study several aspects of the kinetic approach to sterile neutrino
production via active-sterile mixing. We obtain the neutrino propagator in the
medium including self-energy corrections up to , from which
we extract the dispersion relations and damping rates of the propagating modes.
The dispersion relations are the usual ones in terms of the index of refraction
in the medium, and the damping rates are where
is the active neutrino scattering rate and
is the mixing angle in the medium. We provide a generalization of
the transition probability in the \emph{medium from expectation values in the
density matrix}: and
study the conditions for its quantum Zeno suppression directly in real time. We
find the general conditions for quantum Zeno suppression, which for sterile neutrinos with \emph{may
only be} fulfilled near an MSW resonance. We discuss the implications for
sterile neutrino production and argue that in the early Universe the wide
separation of relaxation scales far away from MSW resonances suggests the
breakdown of the current kinetic approach.Comment: version to appear in JHE
Large and Almost Maximal Neutrino Mixing within the Type II See-Saw Mechanism
Within the type II see-saw mechanism the light neutrino mass matrix is given
by a sum of a direct (or triplet) mass term and the conventional (type I)
see-saw term. Both versions of the see-saw mechanism explain naturally small
neutrino masses, but the type II scenario offers interesting additional
possibilities to explain large or almost maximal or vanishing mixings which are
discussed in this paper. We first introduce ``type II enhancement'' of neutrino
mixing, where moderate cancellations between the two terms can lead to large
neutrino mixing even if all individual mass matrices and terms generate small
mixing. However, nearly maximal or vanishing mixings are not naturally
explained in this way, unless there is a certain initial structure (symmetry)
which enforces certain elements of the matrices to be identical or related in a
special way. We therefore assume that the leading structure of the neutrino
mass matrix is the triplet term and corresponds to zero U_{e3} and maximal
theta_{23}. Small but necessary corrections are generated by the conventional
see-saw term. Then we assume that one of the two terms corresponds to an
extreme mixing scenario, such as bimaximal or tri-bimaximal mixing. Deviations
from this scheme are introduced by the second term. One can mimic Quark-Lepton
Complementarity in this way. Finally, we note that the neutrino mass matrix for
tri-bimaximal mixing can be -- depending on the mass hierarchy -- written as a
sum of two terms with simple structure. Their origin could be the two terms of
type II see-saw.Comment: 25 pages. Comments and references added, to appear in JHE