Turbulent Supernova Shock Waves and the Sterile Neutrino Signature in Megaton Water Detectors

The signatures of sterile neutrinos in the supernova neutrino signal in megaton water Cerenkov detectors are studied. Time dependent modulation of the neutrino signal emerging from the sharp changes in the oscillation probability due to shock waves is shown to be a smoking gun for the existence of sterile neutrinos. These modulations and indeed the entire neutrino oscillation signal is found to be different for the case with just three active neutrinos and the cases where there are additional sterile species mixed with the active neutrinos. The effect of turbulence is taken into account and it is found that the effect of the shock waves, while modifed, remain significant and measurable. Supernova neutrino signals in water detectors can therefore give unambiguous proof for the existence of sterile neutrinos, the sensitivity extending beyond that for terrestial neutrino experiments. In addition the time dependent modulations in the signal due to shock waves can be used to trace the evolution of the shock wave inside the supernova.Comment: 28 pages, 11 figure

Phenomenology in the Zee Model with the A_4 Symmetry

The Zee model generates neutrino masses at the one-loop level by adding charged SU(2)_L-singlet and extra SU(2)_L-doublet scalars to the standard model of particle physics. As the origin of the nontrivial structure of the lepton flavor mixing, we introduce the softly broken A_4 symmetry to the Zee model. This model is compatible with the tribimaximal mixing which agrees well with neutrino oscillation measurements. Then, a sum rule m_1 e^{i alpha_12} + 2 m_2 + 3 m_3 e^{i alpha_32} = 0 is obtained and it results in Delta m^2_31 < 0 and m_3 > 1.8*10^{-2}eV. The effective mass |(M_nu)_{ee}| for the neutrinoless double beta decay is predicted as | (M_\nu)_{ee} | > 1.7*10^{-2}eV. The characteristic particles in this model are SU(2)_L-singlet charged Higgs bosons s^+_alpha (alpha=xi,eta,zeta) which are made from a 3-representation of A_4. Contributions of s^+_alpha to the lepton flavor violating decays of charged leptons are almost forbidden by an approximately remaining Z_3 symmetry; only BR(tau to ebar mu mu) can be sizable by the flavor changing neutral current interaction with SU(2)_L-doublet scalars. Therefore, s^+_alpha can be easily light enough to be discovered at the LHC with satisfying current constraints. The flavor structures of BR(s^-_alpha to ell nu) are also discussed.Comment: 26 pages, 4 figures, version accepted by PR

Electron mass operator in a strong magnetic field

The electron mass operator in a strong magnetic field is calculated by summation of the leading log contributions in all orders of the perturbation theory. An influence of the strong field on the virtual photon polarization operator is taken into account. The contribution of higher Landau levels of virtual electrons, along with the ground Landau level, is shown to be essential in the leading log approximation.Comment: 7 pages, LATEX, 1 PS figure, submitted to Modern Physics Letters

Global three-parameter model for neutrino oscillations using Lorentz violation

A model of neutrino oscillations is presented that has only three degrees of freedom and is consistent with existing data. The model is a subset of the renormalizable sector of the Standard-Model Extension (SME), and it offers an alternative to the standard three-neutrino massive model. All classes of neutrino data are described, including solar, reactor, atmospheric, and LSND oscillations. The disappearance of solar neutrinos is obtained without matter-enhanced oscillations. Quantitative predictions are offered for the ongoing MiniBooNE experiment and for the future experiments OscSNS, NOvA, and T2K.Comment: 12 pages REVTe

Methods of approaching decoherence in the flavour sector due to space-time foam

In the first part of this work we discuss possible effects of stochastic space-time foam configurations of quantum gravity on the propagation of ``flavoured'' (Klein-Gordon and Dirac) neutral particles, such as neutral mesons and neutrinos. The formalism is not the usually assumed Lindblad one, but it is based on random averages of quantum fluctuations of space time metrics over which the propagation of the matter particles is considered. We arrive at expressions for the respective oscillation probabilities between flavours which are quite distinct from the ones pertaining to Lindblad-type decoherence, including in addition to the (expected) Gaussian decay with time, a modification to oscillation behaviour, as well as a power-law cutoff of the time-profile of the respective probability. In the second part we consider space-time foam configurations of quantum-fluctuating charged black holes as a way of generating (parts of) neutrino mass differences, mimicking appropriately the celebrated MSW effects of neutrinos in stochastically fluctuating random media. We pay particular attention to disentangling genuine quantum-gravity effects from ordinary effects due to the propagation of a neutrino through ordinary matter. Our results are of interest to precision tests of quantum gravity models using neutrinos as probes.Comment: 35 pages revtex, no figures, typos corrected in section II

Impact of right-handed interactions on the propagation of Dirac and Majorana neutrinos in matter

Dirac and Majorana neutrinos can be distinguished in relativistic neutrino oscillations if new right-handed interactions exist, due to their different propagation in matter. We review how these new interactions affect neutrino oscillation experiments and discuss the size of this eventually observable effect for different oscillation channels, baselines and neutrino energies.Comment: 26 pages, 5 figure