Adiabatic & non-adiabatic perturbation theory for coherence vector description of neutrino oscillations

The standard wave function approach for the treatment of neutrino oscillations fails in situations where quantum ensembles at a finite temperature with or without an interacting background plasma are encountered. As a first step to treat such phenomena in a novel way, we propose a unified approach to both adiabatic and non-adiabatic two-flavor oscillations in neutrino ensembles with finite temperature and generic (e.g. matter) potentials. Neglecting effects of ensemble decoherence for now we study the evolution of a neutrino ensemble governed by the associated Quantum Kinetic Equations, which apply to systems with finite temperature. The Quantum Kinetic Equations are solved formally using the Magnus expansion and it is shown that a convenient choice of the quantum mechanical picture (e.g. the interaction picture) reveals suitable parameters to characterize the physics of the underlying system (e.g. an effective oscillation length). It is understood that this method also provides a promising starting point for the treatment of the more general case in which decoherence is taken into account.Comment: 14 page

Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay

We review the potential to probe new physics with neutrinoless double beta decay $(A,Z) \to (A,Z+2) + 2 e^-$. Both the standard long-range light neutrino mechanism as well as short-range mechanisms mediated by heavy particles are discussed. We also stress aspects of the connection to lepton number violation at colliders and the implications for baryogenesis.Comment: Review prepared for the NJP focus issue on "Neutrino Physics". 23 pages, 10 figure

Sterile Neutrino Shortcuts in Asymmetrically Warped Extra Dimensions

Light sterile neutrinos are a popular extension of the Standard Model and are being discussed as a possible explanation for various neutrino oscillation anomalies, including the LSND, MiniBooNE, Reactor and Gallium anomalies. In order to avoid inconsistencies with constraints derived from disappearance experiments and cosmology, altered dispersion relations - which may originate from extra dimensions - have been proposed as a possible solution, dubbed as "neutrino shortcuts in the extra dimension". In this paper we develop a neutrino mass model with an asymmetrically warped extra dimension and two additional gauge singlet neutrinos, one being responsible for neutrino mass generation, while the other one is allowed to propagate in the extra dimension, giving rise to the desired change of the dispersion relation on the brane. By compactifying the extra-dimensional theory on an $S^1/\mathbb{Z}_2$ orbifold, deriving the shape of the Kaluza-Klein tower and identifying the effective sterile neutrino dispersion relation on the brane, we can demonstrate that the earlier, phenomenological models are recovered as the 4-dimensional effective field theory limit of the model discussed here.Comment: 15 page

Leptonic Flavor Structure in the Brane Shifted Extra Dimensional Seesaw Mechanism

We discuss the leptonic flavor structure generated by a brane shifted extra dimensional seesaw model with a single right handed neutrino in the bulk. In contrast to previous works, no unitarity approximation for the $3 \times 3$ submatrix has been employed. This allows to study phenomenological signatures such as lepton flavor violating decays. A strong prediction of the model, assuming CP conservation, are the ratios of flavor violating charged lepton decay and Z decay branching ratios which are correlated with the neutrino mixing angles and the neutrino mass hierarchy. Furthermore, it is possible to obtain branching ratios for $\mu \rightarrow e \gamma$ close to the experimental bounds even with Yukawa couplings of order one.Comment: 13 pages plus appendix and references, 4 figures. v2: version accepted by EPJ

Absolute neutrino masses: physics beyond SM, double beta decay and cosmic rays

Absolute neutrino masses provide a key to physics beyond the standard model. We discuss the impact of absolute neutrinos masses on physics beyond the standard model, the experimental possibilities to determine absolute neutrinos masses, and the intriguing connection with the Z-burst model for extreme-energy cosmic rays.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures. Talk given by H. Paes at the NOON2001 workshop, ICRR, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Japan; 2 references update