Dynamical zeros in neutrino-electron elastic scattering at leading order

We show the existence of dynamical zeros in the helicity amplitudes for neutrino-electron elastic scattering at lowest order in the standard theory. In particular, the $\lambda=1/2$ non-flip electron helicity amplitude in the electron antineutrino process vanishes for an incident neutrino energy $E_{\nu}=m_{e}/(4sin^{2}\theta_{W})$ and forward electrons (maximum recoil energy). The rest of helicity amplitudes show kinematical zeros in this configuration and therefore the cross section vanishes. Prospects to search for neutrino magnetic moment are discussed.Comment: 9 pg.+ 2 figures (not included available upon request

A Novel Kind of Neutrino Oscillation Experiment

A novel method to look for neutrino oscillations is proposed based on the elastic scattering process $\bar{\nu}_{i} e^{-}\rightarrow \bar{\nu}_{i} e^{-}$, taking advantage of the dynamical zero present in the differential cross section for $\bar{\nu}_{e} e^{-}\rightarrow \bar{\nu}_{e} e^{-}$. An effective tunable experiment between the "appearance" and "disappearance" limits is made possible. Prospects to exclude the allowed region for atmospheric neutrino oscillations are given.Comment: 11 pages (+3 figures, available upon request),Standard Latex, FTUV/94-3

Computation of the Marcum Q-function

Methods and an algorithm for computing the generalized Marcum $Q-$function ($Q_{\mu}(x,y)$) and the complementary function ($P_{\mu}(x,y)$) are described. These functions appear in problems of different technical and scientific areas such as, for example, radar detection and communications, statistics and probability theory, where they are called the non-central chi-square or the non central gamma cumulative distribution functions. The algorithm for computing the Marcum functions combines different methods of evaluation in different regions: series expansions, integral representations, asymptotic expansions, and use of three-term homogeneous recurrence relations. A relative accuracy close to $10^{-12}$ can be obtained in the parameter region $(x,y,\mu) \in [0,\,A]\times [0,\,A]\times [1,\,A]$, $A=200$, while for larger parameters the accuracy decreases (close to $10^{-11}$ for $A=1000$ and close to $5\times 10^{-11}$ for $A=10000$).Comment: Accepted for publication in ACM Trans. Math. Soft

Asymptotic approximations to the nodes and weights of Gauss-Hermite and Gauss-Laguerre quadratures

Asymptotic approximations to the zeros of Hermite and Laguerre polynomials are given, together with methods for obtaining the coefficients in the expansions. These approximations can be used as a standalone method of computation of Gaussian quadratures for high enough degrees, with Gaussian weights computed from asymptotic approximations for the orthogonal polynomials. We provide numerical evidence showing that for degrees greater than $100$ the asymptotic methods are enough for a double precision accuracy computation ($15$-$16$ digits) of the nodes and weights of the Gauss--Hermite and Gauss--Laguerre quadratures.Comment: Submitted to Studies in Applied Mathematic