Abstract
We investigate the sensitivity of solar neutrino data to mixing of sterile neutrinos with masses gtrsim eV. For current data, we perform a Feldman–Cousins analysis to derive a robust limit on the sterile neutrino mixing. The solar neutrino limit excludes significant regions of the parameter space relevant to hints from reactor and radioactive gallium source experiments. We then study the sensitivity of upcoming solar neutrino data, most notably elastic neutrino-electron scattering in the DARWIN and DUNE experiments as well as coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering in DARWIN. These high precision measurements will increase the sensitivity to sterile neutrino mixing by about a factor of 4.5 compared to present limits. As a by-product, we introduce a simplified solar neutrino analysis using only four data points: the low- and high-energy nu _e survival and transition probabilities. We show that this simplified analysis is in excellent agreement with a full solar neutrino analysis; it is very easy to handle numerically and can be applied to any new physics model in which the energy dependence of the nu _e transition probabilities is not significantly modified.
Highlights
C (2022) 82:116 that correspond to low- and high-energy νe survival and transition probabilities
We study the sensitivity of upcoming solar neutrino data, most notably elastic neutrino-electron scattering in the DARWIN and DUNE experiments as well as coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering in DARWIN
We show that this simplified analysis is in excellent agreement with a full solar neutrino analysis; it is very easy to handle numerically and can be applied to any new physics model in which the energy dependence of the νe transition probabilities is not significantly modified
Summary
We start by discussing the approximations adopted in the following to describe the relevant transition probabilities for solar neutrinos. The basic assumption is that neutrino evolution in the Sun is adiabatic and interference terms average out on the way from the Sun to the Earth, such that mass states arrive as an incoherent sum This means the oscillation probabilities may be represented as: Peα = |Uemk |2|Uαk |2, k=1. We consider matter effects in the Sun. We first take into account that | m231|, m241 Eν V for relevant neutrino energies and matter potentials in the Sun, such that |Uemk |2 = |Uek|2 for k = 3, 4. We first take into account that | m231|, m241 Eν V for relevant neutrino energies and matter potentials in the Sun, such that |Uemk |2 = |Uek|2 for k = 3, 4 This means that θ13 and θ14 are not unchanged by the matter effects.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
