6 research outputs found
Tests of electron flavor conservation with the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory
We analyze tests of electron flavor conservation that can be performed at the
Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO). These tests, which utilize B solar
neutrinos interacting with deuterium, measure: 1) the shape of the recoil
electron spectrum in charged-current (CC) interactions (the CC spectrum shape);
and 2) the ratio of the number of charged current to neutral current (NC)
events (the CC/NC ratio). We determine standard model predictions for the CC
spectral shape and for the CC/NC ratio, together with realistic estimates of
their errors and the correlations between errors. We consider systematic
uncertainties in the standard neutrino spectrum and in the charged-current and
neutral current cross-sections, the SNO energy resolution and absolute energy
scale, and the SNO detection efficiencies. Assuming that either matter-enhanced
or vacuum neutrino oscillations solve the solar neutrino problems, we calculate
the confidence levels with which electron flavor non-conservation can be
detected using either the CC spectrum shape or the CC/NC ratio, or both. If the
SNO detector works as expected, the neutrino oscillation solutions that
best-fit the results of the four operating solar neutrino experiments can be
distinguished unambiguously from the standard predictions of electron flavor
conservation.Comment: 31 pages (RevTeX) + 10 figures (postscript). Requires epsfig.sty.
Gzipped figures also available at ftp://ftp.sns.ias.edu/pub/lisi/snopaper .
To appear in Phys. Rev.