Neutrino Oscillation Experiments Research Articles

Expanding neutrino oscillation parameter measurements in NOvA using a Bayesian approach

NOvA is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment that measures oscillations in charged-current νμ→νμ (disappearance) and νμ→νe (appearance) channels, and their antineutrino counterparts, using neutrinos of energies around 2 GeV over a distance of 810 km. In this work we reanalyze the dataset first examined in our previous paper [] using an alternative statistical approach based on Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo. We measure oscillation parameters consistent with the previous results. We also extend our inferences to include the first NOvA measurements of the reactor mixing angle θ13, where we find 0.071≤sin22θ13≤0.107, and the Jarlskog invariant, where we observe no significant preference for the CP-conserving value J=0 over values favoring CP violation. We use these results to examine the effects of constraints from short-baseline measurements of θ13 using antineutrinos from nuclear reactors when making NOvA measurements of θ23. Our long-baseline measurement of θ13 is shown to be consistent with the reactor measurements, supporting the general applicability and robustness of the Pontecorvo-Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata framework for neutrino oscillations. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Constraints on quantum spacetime-induced decoherence from neutrino oscillations

We investigate the implications of decoherence induced by quantum spacetime properties on neutrino oscillation phenomena. We develop a general formalism where the evolution of neutrinos is governed by a Lindblad-type equation and we compute the oscillation damping factor for various models that have been proposed in the literature. Furthermore, we discuss the sensitivity to these effects of different types of neutrino oscillation experiments, encompassing astrophysical, atmospheric, solar, and reactor neutrino experiments. By using neutrino oscillation data from long-baseline reactors and atmospheric neutrino observations, we establish stringent constraints on the energy scale governing the strength of the decoherence induced by stochastic metric fluctuations, amounting to, respectively, EQG≥2.6×1034 GeV and EQG≥2.5×1055 GeV. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Constraints on quantum spacetime-induced decoherence from neutrino oscillations

We investigate the implications of decoherence induced by quantum spacetime properties on neutrino oscillation phenomena. We develop a general formalism where the evolution of neutrinos is governed by a Lindblad-type equation and we compute the oscillation damping factor for various models that have been proposed in the literature. Furthermore, we discuss the sensitivity to these effects of different types of neutrino oscillation experiments, encompassing astrophysical, atmospheric, solar, and reactor neutrino experiments. By using neutrino oscillation data from long-baseline reactors and atmospheric neutrino observations, we establish stringent constraints on the energy scale governing the strength of the decoherence induced by stochastic metric fluctuations, amounting to, respectively, EQG≥2.6×1034 GeV and EQG≥2.5×1055 GeV. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Measurement of electron neutrino and antineutrino cross sections at low momentum transfer

Accelerator based neutrino oscillation experiments seek to measure the relative number of electron and muon (anti)neutrinos at different L/E values. However high statistics studies of neutrino interactions are almost exclusively measured using muon (anti)neutrinos since the dominant flavor of neutrinos produced by accelerator based beams are of the muon type. This work reports new measurements of electron (anti)neutrinos interactions in hydrocarbon, obtained by strongly suppressing backgrounds initiated by muon flavor (anti)neutrinos. Double differential cross sections as a function of visible energy transfer, Eavail, and transverse momentum transfer, pT, or three momentum transfer, q3 are presented. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Combined Analysis of Neutrino and Antineutrino Charged Current Inclusive Interactions

This paper presents a combined analysis of muon neutrino and antineutrino charged-current cross sections at kinematics of relevance for the T2K, MINERvA and MicroBooNE experiments. We analyze the sum, difference and asymmetry of neutrino versus antineutrino cross sections in order to get a better understanding of the nuclear effects involved in these processes. Nuclear models based on the superscaling behavior and the relativistic mean field theory are applied, covering a wide range of kinematics, from hundreds of MeV to several GeV, and the relevant nuclear regimes, i.e., from quasileastic reactions to deep inelastic scattering processes. The NEUT neutrino-interaction event generator, used in neutrino oscillation experiments, is also applied to the analysis of the quasielastic channel via local Fermi gas and spectral function approaches.

Importance sampling method for Feldman-Cousins confidence intervals

In various high-energy physics contexts, such as neutrino-oscillation experiments, several assumptions underlying the typical asymptotic confidence interval construction are violated, such that one has to resort to computationally expensive methods like the Feldman-Cousins method for obtaining confidence intervals with proper statistical coverage. By construction, the computation of intervals at high confidence levels requires fitting millions or billions of pseudoexperiments, while wasting most of the computational cost on overly precise intervals at low confidence levels. In this work, a simple importance sampling method is introduced that reuses pseudoexperiments produced for all tested parameter values in a single mixture distribution. This results in a significant error reduction on the estimated critical values, especially at high confidence levels, and simultaneously yields a correct interpolation of these critical values between the parameter values at which the pseudoexperiments were produced. The theoretically calculated performance is demonstrated numerically using a simple example from the analysis of neutrino oscillations. The relationship to similar techniques applied in statistical mechanics and p-value computations is discussed. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Neutrino Lorentz invariance violation from cosmic fields

From a cosmological perspective, scalar fields are well-motivated dark matter and dark energy candidates. Several possibilities of neutrino couplings with a time-varying cosmic field have been investigated in the literature. In this work, we present a framework in which violations of Lorentz invariance (LIV) and CPT symmetry in the neutrino sector could arise from an interaction among neutrinos with a time-varying scalar field. Furthermore, some cosmological and phenomenological aspects and constraints concerning this type of interaction are discussed. Potential violations of Lorentz and CPT symmetries at present and future neutrino oscillation experiments such as IceCube and KM3NeT can probe this scenario.

Collimated muon beam proposal for probing neutrino charge-parity violation

AbstractThe phenomenon of neutrino oscillation is of great theoretical and experimental interest for our understand of the nature of the neutrino and its implication for physics beyond the standard Model. Currently available neutrino oscillation experiments can already constrain neutrino mixing parameters with a confidence level up to 3 standard deviations (σ). However, it remains challenging to provide a deterministic constraint on the Charge-Parity (CP) violation phase of the neutrino mixing matrix. Here, we propose an experimental setup that exploits collimated muon beams to probe neutrino CP-violation. In our proposed acceleration experiment, a 45 GeV positron source with additional muon collimation, interfaces with near-future neutrino detectors like DUNE and T2K, to probe neutrino CP-violation phase with a significantly higher sensitivity than obtained with the neutrino detectors alone, and to determine tau neutrino properties. Simulations estimate the collection of 104 tau (anti-) neutrino in 5 years, and a sensitivity of over 7 standard deviations for δCP = ∣π/2∣ in 5 years. Collecting ντ appearance events from μ− and μ+ beams over 10 years can attain a 3-4 standard deviation sensitivity. This proposal may serve as a tau factory.

Measurement of the photon detection efficiency of Hamamatsu VUV4 SiPMS at cryogenic temperature

Liquid argon time projection chambers (TPC) are widely used in neutrino oscillation and dark matter experiments. Detection of scintillation light in liquid argon TPC’s is challenging because of its short wavelength, in the VUV range, and the cryogenic temperatures (∼86 K) at which the sensors must operate. Wavelength shifters (WLS) are typically needed to take advantage of the high Photon Detection Efficiency (PDE) in the visible range of most of photondetectors. The Hamamatsu VUV4 S13370–6075CN SiPMs can directly detect VUV light without the use of WLS, which main benefit is an improved PDE at these short wavelengths, but also the visible light from WLS. The manufacturer (Hamamatsu Photonics K.K.) provides a complete characterization of these devices at room temperature; however, previous studies have indicated a decrease of the PDE at cryogenic temperature for VUV light. In this work, we present the measurement of the PDE of VUV4 SiPMs at cryogenic temperature for different wavelengths in the range [270, 570] nm. A dedicated measurement at 127 nm is also shown.

CP violation in lepton-number-conserving processes through heavy Majorana neutrinos at future lepton colliders

Small neutrino masses confirmed in the neutrino oscillation experiments indicate the need for new physics beyond the standard model. Seesaw mechanism is an interesting way to extend the standard model for explaining the neutrino masses. In a low-scale type-I seesaw mechanism, the tiny masses of neutrinos can be explained by heavy Majorana neutrino masses. Heavy Majorana neutrinos can lead to lepton-number-violating processes and the induced CP violation can contribute to the baryon asymmetry in the Universe. Heavy Majorana neutrinos can also lead to lepton-number-conserving processes and in this paper, we study the CP violation in lepton-number-conserving processes through heavy Majorana neutrinos at future lepton colliders. New possible observations of CP violation can also be connected to evidences of new physics beyond the standard model.

Searching for axial neutral current non-standard interactions of neutrinos by DUNE-like experiments

The increasingly precise neutrino experiments raise the hope for searching for new physics through studying the impact of Neutral Current (NC) Non-Standard Interactions (NSI) of neutrinos with matter fields. Neutrino oscillation experiments along with the Elastic Coherent ν Nucleus Scattering (CEνNS) experiments already set strong bounds on all the flavor elements of the “vector” NC NSI. However, “axial” NC NSI can hide from these experiments. We show how a DUNE-like experiment can probe these couplings by studying NC Deep Inelastic Scattering (DIS) events. We find that strong bounds can be set on the axial NC NSI of neutrinos with the u, d, and s quarks. We show that using both the near and far detectors, a DUNE-like experiment can significantly improve the present bounds on all the flavor elements.

θ23 Octant sensitivity in presence of light sterile and active ν and [formula omitted] oscillations using beamline experiments

We examine the octant sensitivity of the long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments in view of light sterile neutrino flavors with masses in the 1 eV range. Considering the active-sterile mixing, we explore the possible preferred running modes either neutrino or anti-neutrino for a long-baseline experiment to avoid the octant degeneracy and will show the θ23 sensitivity for different values of active and sterile neutrino phase angles. We simulated different Long baseline experiments for the different possible combinations of mixing angles and phases and will show whether an experiment can probe the right octant in presence of sterile neutrino by choosing the suitable beam either in neutrino or antineutrino running mode.

Constraints on pseudo-Dirac neutrinos using high-energy neutrinos from NGC 1068

Neutrinos can be pseudo-Dirac in Nature - they can be Majorana fermions while behaving effectively as Dirac fermions. Such scenarios predict active-sterile neutrino oscillations driven by a tiny mass-squared difference (δm2), which is an outcome of soft lepton number violation. Oscillations due to tiny δm2 can only take place over astrophysical baselines and hence are not accessible in terrestrial neutrino oscillation experiments. This implies that high-energy neutrinos coming from large distances can be naturally used to test this scenario. We use the recent observation of high-energy neutrinos from the active galactic nuclei NGC 1068 by the IceCube collaboration to rule out δm2 in the region [1.4×10−18,10−17]eV2 at more than 90% confidence level - one of the strongest limits to date on the values of δm2. We also discuss possible uncertainties which can reduce the sensitivity of these results.

Measurement of the photon detection efficiency of Hamamatsu VUV4 SiPMs at cryogenic temperature

Liquid argon time projection chambers play a crucial role in neutrino oscillation and dark matter experiments. Detecting scintillation light in these chambers is challenging due to the short wavelengths in the VUV range and the extremely low cryogenic temperatures (˜87 K) at which sensors operate. To take advantage of the higher photon detection efficiency (PDE) at the visible range, the use of wavelength shifters (WLS) is extended along the community. The Hamamatsu VUV4 S13370-6075CN Silicon PhotoMultiplier (SiPM) are VUV-sensitive sensors that can directly detect VUV light without the use of WLS, providing an improved PDE at these short wavelengths, and at the same time can detect the visible light from WLS if needed. The manufacturer provides a complete characterization of these sensors at room temperature. In this work we present the developed experimental setups used to measure the PDE of VUV4 SiPMs at cryogenic temperatures for different wavelengths in the range from 127 nm to 570 nm.

Flavor identification of atmospheric neutrinos in JUNO with machine learning

The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) is designed to determine neutrino mass ordering (NMO) using a large liquid scintillator detector located in southern China. While JUNO's NMO sensitivity mostly comes from reactor neutrinos, atmospheric neutrino oscillations in JUNO can provide complimentary sensitivity via matter effects, and enhance its overall sensitivity in a joint analysis. Neutrino flavor identification is crucial to atmospheric neutrino oscillation measurements, but is traditionally a very difficult task in liquid scintillator detectors such as JUNO. In this paper, we present a novel method for the flavor identification of atmospheric neutrinos in JUNO with machine learning techniques. This method takes features from photomultiplier tube waveforms as inputs, and shows promising results with JUNO simulation. This method could also be applied to other liquid scintillator detectors, potentially benefiting other future atmospheric neutrino oscillation experiments.

Complete complementarity relations for quantum correlations in neutrino oscillations with CP violation

We characterize quantum correlations encoded in a three-flavor oscillating neutrino system by taking into account CP violation. By means of the complete complementarity relations (CCR), we study the trade-off of predictability, local coherence and nonlocal correlations by using relevant parameters given by neutrino oscillation experiments. Although the CCR describe very well the contributions associated to bipartite correlations, we explore the possible presence of genuine tripartite correlations, by exploiting polygamy relations. We also provide some observations about the nonlocal advantage of quantum coherence, a mazy quantum correlation characterizing the most valuable, nonlocal, portion of quantum coherence in a multi-partite system.

Neutrino oscillations as a single Feynman diagram

We propose an approach to neutrino oscillations in vacuum, based on quantum field theory (QFT). The neutrino emission and detection are identified with the charged-current vertices of a single second-order Feynman diagram for the underlying process, enclosing neutrino propagation between these two points. The key point of the presented approach is the definition of the space-time setup typical for neutrino oscillation experiments, implying macroscopically large but finite volumes of the source and detector separated by a sufficiently large distance L. We derive an L-dependent master formula for the charged lepton production rate, which provides the QFT basis for the analysis of neutrino oscillations. This formula depends on the underlying process and is not reducible to the conventional approach resorting to the concept of neutrino oscillation probability, which originates from non-relativistic quantum mechanics. We demonstrate that for some particular choice of the underlying process the derived master formula approximately coincides with the conventional one under some assumptions. In support to presented approach we show that it provides the QFT framework not only for neutrino–neutrino but also neutrino-antineutrino oscillations. It is also argued that the proposed formalism allows us to consistently incorporate medium effects, when neutrinos oscillate in dense matter.

Present Status and Future Prospects of Neutrino Oscillation Experiments

Present Status and Future Prospects of Neutrino Oscillation Experiments

Investigating CP Violating Majorana Phases of Neutrinos

Pontecorvo-Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata (PMNS) matrix is a complex symmetric matrix consisting of three generations of neutrinos and 12 real parameters. Diagonalizing the neutrino mass matrix and expressing the same in terms of three neutrino masses, three mixing angles, one Dirac phase and two Majorana phases such that it removes all the unphysical phases. The absolute neutrino mass scale and two Majorana CP-violating phases cannot be determined by neutrino oscillation experiments and hence an attempt has been made to investigate Majorana phases by drawing a correlation between the elements of neutrino mass matrix under the conditions of simultaneity and equated them to zero. We obtain twenty-five neutrino mass matrix textures for inverted hierarchy of Majorana neutrinos. Finally, numerical values of Majorana phases have been calculated for these textures and other phenomenological quantities are in consistent with the oscillation data.

Reheating process in the R 2 inflationary model with the baryogenesis scenario

Post-inflationary evolution and (re)heating of the viable inflationary model, the R 2 one, is made more realistic by including the leptogenesis scenario into it. For this purpose, right-handed Majorana neutrinos with a large mass are added to the matter sector of the Standard Model to explain the neutrino oscillation experiments and the baryon asymmetry of the Universe. We have found parameters that characterize this model: non-minimal coupling of the Higgs field ξ, the mass of the right-handed Majorana neutrino MN α and the Yukawa coupling matrix components for the right-handed Majorana neutrino. We have analyzed the effect of these parameters on the reheating process and leptogenesis in this model and how they affect the resultant physical quantities: spectral parameters of primordial perturbations and baryon asymmetry.