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DOE OSTI2026

Constraints on the Correlation of IceCube Neutrinos with a Tracer of Nearby Large-scale Structure

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory has observed extragalactic astrophysical neutrinos with an apparently isotropic distribution. Only a small fraction of the observed astrophysical neutrinos can be explained by known sources. Neutrino production is thought to occur in energetic environments that are ultimately powered by the gravitational collapse of dense regions of the large-scale mass distribution in the universe. Whatever their identity, neutrino sources likely trace this large-scale mass distribution. The clustering of neutrinos with a tracer of the large-scale structure may provide insight into the distribution of neutrino sources with respect to redshift and the identity of neutrino sources. We implement a two-point angular cross correlation of the Northern sky track events with an infrared galaxy catalog derived from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) source catalogs, which trace the nearby large-scale structure. No statistically significant correlation is found between the neutrinos and this infrared galaxy catalog. We find that ≤54% of the diffuse muon neutrino flux can be attributed to sources correlated with the galaxy catalog with 90% confidence. Additionally, when assuming that the neutrino source comoving density evolves following a power law in redshift, dN s /dV ∝ (1 + z) k , we find that sources with negative evolution, in particular k < −1.75, are disfavored at the 90% confidence level.

Abbasi, R. [Loyola University, Chicago, IL (United↗

DOE OSTI2022

Role of non-gaussian quantum fluctuations in neutrino entanglement

The flavor evolution of neutrinos in environments with large neutrino number densities is an open problem at the nexus of astrophysics and neutrino flavor physics. Among the many unanswered questions pertaining to this problem, it remains to be determined whether neutrino-neutrino coherent scattering can give rise to nontrivial quantum entanglement among neutrinos, and whether this can affect the flavor evolution in a meaningful way. To gain further insight into this question, here we study a simple system of two interacting neutrino beams, and obtain the exact phase-space explored by this system using the Husimi quasi-probability distribution. We observe that the entanglement induced by the coupling leads to strong delocalization in phase-space with largely non-Gaussian quantum fluctuations. The link between the neutrino entanglement and quantum fluctuations is illustrated using the one- and two-neutrino entropy. In addition, we propose an approximate phase-space method to describe the interacting neutrinos problem, where the exact evolution is replaced by a set of independent mean-field evolutions with a statistical sampling of the initial conditions. The phase-space approach provides a simple and accurate method to describe the gross features of the neutrino entanglement problem. Applications are shown using time-independent and time-dependent Hamiltonians in the non-adiabatic regime.

Patwardhan, Amol↗

NASA NTRS1985

Atmospheric neutrinos observed in underground detectors

Atmospheric neutrinos are produced when the primary cosmic ray beam hits the atmosphere and initiates atmospheric cascades. Secondary mesons decay and give rise to neutrinos. The neutrino production was calculated and compared with the neutrino fluxes detected in underground detectors. Contained neutrino events are characterized by observation of an interaction within the fiducial volume of the detector when the incoming particle is not observed. Both the neutrino flux and the containment requirement restrict the energy of the neutrinos observed in contained interactions to less than several GeV. Neutrinos interact with the rock surrounding the detector but only muon neutrino interactions can be observed, as the electron energy is dissipated too fast in the rock. The direction of the neutrino is preserved in the interaction and at energies above 1 TeV the angular resolution is restricted by the scattering of the muon in the rock. The muon rate reflects the neutrino spectrum above some threshold energy, determined by the detector efficiency for muons.

Gaisser, T. K.↗

DOE OSTI2015

The Intermediate Neutrino Program

The US neutrino community gathered at the Workshop on the Intermediate Neutrino Program (WINP) at Brookhaven National Laboratory February 4-6, 2015 to explore opportunities in neutrino physics over the next five to ten years. Scientists from particle, astroparticle and nuclear physics participated in the workshop. The workshop examined promising opportunities for neutrino physics in the intermediate term, including possible new small to mid-scale experiments, US contributions to large experiments, upgrades to existing experiments, R&D plans and theory. The workshop was organized into two sets of parallel working group sessions, divided by physics topics and technology. Physics working groups covered topics on Sterile Neutrinos, Neutrino Mixing, Neutrino Interactions, Neutrino Properties and Astrophysical Neutrinos. Technology sessions were organized into Theory, Short-Baseline Accelerator Neutrinos, Reactor Neutrinos, Detector R&D and Source, Cyclotron and Meson Decay at Rest sessions.This report summarizes discussion and conclusions from the workshop.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DOE OSTI2016

Searches for sterile neutrinos with NOvA

Contradictory evidence has been presented on the issue of neutrino mixing between the three known active neutrinos and light sterile neutrino species. Apparent short-baseline neutrino oscillations observed by the LSND and MiniBooNE experiments, the collective evidence of the reactor neutrino anomaly, and the gallium anomaly all point towards sterile neutrinos with mass at the 1 eV level. While these results are tantalizing, they are not conclusive as they are in tension with null results from other short-baseline experiments, and with disappearance searches in longbaseline and atmospheric experiments. The NOvA (NuMI Off-Axis v e Appearance) experiment may help clarify the situation by searching for disappearance of active neutrinos from the NuMI (Neutrinos from the Main Injector) beam over a baseline of 810 km. We describe the method used by NOvA to look for oscillations into sterile neutrinos at the Far Detector (FD) through the disappearance of neutral-current (NC) neutrino events, including preliminary results of this search. In addition, the Near Detector (ND) is well suited for searching for anomalous short-baseline oscillations and probing the LSND and MiniBooNE sterile neutrino allowed regions using a variety of final states. We also present a novel method for selecting samples with high purity at the ND using convolutional neural networks. Furthermore, based on this method, the sensitivity to anomalous short-baseline nt appearance are shown, and searches for anomalous v e appearance and v μ disappearance at the NOvA ND are presented.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2017

Visible neutrino decay at DUNE

If the heaviest neutrino mass eigenstate is unstable, its decay modes could include lighter neutrino eigenstates. In this case part of the decay products could be visible, as they would interact at neutrino detectors via mixing. At neutrino oscillation experiments, a characteristic signature of such \emph{visible neutrino decay} would be an apparent excess of events at low energies. We focus on a simple phenomenological model in which the heaviest neutrino decays as $\nu_3 \rightarrow \nu_{1,2} + \phi$, where $\phi$ is a new light scalar. If neutrinos are Majorana particles the helicity-flipping decays would be observable (i.e., $\nu \to \bar\nu + \phi$), leading to interesting observable consequences on the event rates. We compute the sensitivities of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) to the couplings of the new scalar as a function of the lightest neutrino mass. Under the assumption that only the heaviest neutrino is unstable, and for a normal mass ordering, we find that DUNE will be sensitive to values of $\tau_3/m_3 > 1.95 - 2.6\times 10^{-10}$~s/eV (90\% C.L.) (depending on the lightest neutrino mass), where $\tau_3$ and $m_3$ are the lifetime and mass of $\nu_3$, respectively.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2017

The Intermediate Neutrino Program

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2020

Measurement of 3-Flavour Neutrino Oscillation Parameters in the NOvA Experiment

NOvA is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment consisting of two functionally identical tracking calorimeters, a Near and Far Detector, that measure neutrino interactions induced by the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory’s NuMI beam at baselines of 1 km and 810 km, respectively. The NuMI beam can be configured to produce either a primary ν µ neutrino or $\bar{ν}$ µ anti-neutrino beam. Neutrino oscillations are observed and measured by the analysis of ν µ + $\bar{ν}$ µ disappearance and νe + $\bar{ν}$ e appearance in the beam, comparing the neutrino energy spectra in the Near and Far detectors means that neutrino oscillation parameters sin 2 θ 23 , |Δ$m^2_{32}$|, and δ CP can be constrained. This thesis presents the 2018 NOvA ν µ +$\bar{ν}$ µ disappearance, ν e +$\bar{ν}$ e appearance, and combined analyses using both neutrino and anti-neutrino data, where oscillation fits have been performed, where possible, on an event-by-event basis rather than on a bin-by-bin basis as has conventionally been used in NOvA oscillation analyses. This allows for better precision in applying both neutrino oscillation probabilities and systematic uncertainties. Furthermore, oscillation analyses for the disappearance, appearance, and combined channels are presented using an unbinned likelihood fit and compared with the equivalent binned χ 2 likelihood fit used in the standard analysis. The 14 ktonne detector equivalent beam exposures used for this thesis are 8.85 × 10 20 and 6.91 × 10 20 protons on target for neutrino and antineutrino data respectively, corresponding to 5 years of NOvA data taking. A combined ν µ + $\bar{ν}$ µ disappearance and ν e + $\bar{ν}$ e appearance fit to the Far Detector data, assuming normal mass ordering and using the event-by-event oscillation and unbinned fitting methodologies, produces oscillation parameter constraints of Δ$m^2_{32}$ = (2.50$^{+0.08}_{-0.06}$) × 10 -3 eV 2 , sin 2 θ 23 = 0.59$^{+0.02}_{-0.04}$, and δ CP = 0.72$^{+0.5}_{-0.9}$π.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2026

Neutrino beam bunch structure reconstruction with precision timing in the ICARUS liquid argon time projection chamber

The ICARUS detector has been operating smoothly since 2021 as the far detector in the Short Baseline Neutrino (SBN) program at Fermilab, collecting neutrino interactions from both the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) and off-axis from the Neutrinos at the Main Injector (NuMI) beam. Analysis of neutrino interactions in ICARUS requires mitigation of substantial cosmogenic backgrounds. This is achieved by using an external Cosmic Ray Tagger (CRT) and a Photomultiplier Tube (PMT) system embedded in the liquid argon. The intrinsic neutrino beam bunch structure, inherited time structure from the Radio Frequency (RF) system used to accelerate the protons, can be resolved at the ICARUS detector using precise timing information. Located at shallow depth, ICARUS is exposed to a high flux of cosmic rays that can be mistaken for neutrino interactions. To mitigate this background, the CRT and a 3-meter-thick concrete overburden were installed. To better model backgrounds, ICARUS makes use of an overlay technique where simulated neutrino events are superimposed on detector beam-off data. PMTs installed within a Time Projection Chamber detect argon scintillation light emitted by high energy charged particles passing through the chamber and provide the event timing of neutrino interactions. The nanosecond-level beam bunch structure is reconstructed with the PMT system and can be used to further understand backgrounds and enhance neutrino physics capabilities. In this thesis, I will discuss background mitigation techniques using precision timing and present a novel technique to select neutrino events from our unbiased data stream using the beam bunch structure.

Heggestuen, Anna [Colorado State U.] (ORCID:000000↗

DOE OSTI2011

Energy Loss of Neutrinos in 20 M{sub {center_dot}} and 40 M{sub {center_dot}} Massive Stars

The progress from the theoretical and experimental aspects in neutrino physics shines light into neutrino physics as well as in astrophysics. It is known that when neutrinos pass through a medium, the neutrinos interact with electrons before emerging from the stars with an effective potential energy produced due to coherent forward scatterings that occurred in the medium. This potential engenders significant changes in the neutrino masses and their mixing in the medium. Thus electron neutrinos would oscillate into different mass eigenstate and this is dependent on the energy of the neutrinos. Some of the energy will be lost in the coherent scattering with the electrons by the charged current interaction. We have calculated the energy loss of the neutrinos by using a stopping power equation for both rotating and non-rotating 20 M{sub {center_dot}} and 40 M{sub {center_dot}} stars. The total energy loss of neutrinos depends on the electron density in the stars and on the survival probability of the electron neutrino. For high electron density profile and the survival probability, the energy loss will be significant.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2015

Neutrino factories

The Neutrino Factory is a facility that produces neutrino beams with a well-defined flavour content and energy spectrum from the decay of intense, high-energy, stored muon beams to establish CP violation in the neutrino sector. The International Design Study for the Neutrino Factory (the IDS-NF) is providing a Reference Design Report (RDR) for the facility. The present design is optimised for the recent measurements of θ{sub 13}. The accelerator facility will deliver 10{sup 21} muon decays per year from 10 GeV stored muon beams. The straight sections of the storage ring point to a 100 kton Magnetised Iron Neutrino Detector (MIND) at a distance of 2000-2500 km from the source. The accuracy in the value of δ{sub CP} that a Neutrino Factory can achieve and the δ{sub CP} coverage is unrivalled by other future facilities. Staging scenarios for the Neutrino Factory deliver facilities that can carry out physics at each stage. In the context of Fermilab, such a scenario would imply in the first stage the construction of a small storage ring, nuSTORM, to carry out neutrino cross-section and sterile neutrino measurements and to perform a programme of 6D muon cooling R&D. The second stage is the construction of a 5 GeV Neutrino Factory (nuMAX) pointing to the Sanford Underground Research Facility at Homestake and the final stage would use many of the components of this facility to construct a Muon Collider, initially as a 126 GeV CM Higgs Factory, which may be upgraded to a multi-TeV Muon Collider if required.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2015

TeV–PeV neutrino oscillation of low-luminosity gamma-ray bursts

There is evidence that long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) originate from the core collapse of massive stars. When a jet punctures through the progenitor envelope, high-energy neutrinos can be produced by the reverse shock formed at the jet head. It is suggested that low-luminosity GRBs are possible candidates of this high-energy neutrino precursor up to ∼PeV scales. Before leaving the progenitor, these high-energy neutrinos must oscillate from one flavor to another with the matter effect in the envelope. Under the assumption of a power-law stellar envelope density profile ρ∝r{sup −α} with an index α, we study the properties of TeV–PeV neutrino oscillation. We find that adiabatic conversion is violated for these neutrinos so we calibrate the level crossing effect. The resonance condition is reached for different energies at different radii. We note that the effective mixing angles in matter for PeV neutrinos are close to zero, so the transition probabilities from one flavor to another are almost invariant for PeV neutrinos. We plot all the transition probabilities versus the energy of TeV–PeV neutrinos from the birth place to the surface of the progenitor. With an initial flavor ratio ϕ{sub ν{sub e}{sup 0}}:ϕ{sub ν{sub μ}{sup 0}}:ϕ{sub ν{sub τ}{sup 0}}=1:2:0, we plot how the flavor ratio evolves with energy and distance when neutrinos are still in the envelope, and we find the ratio when they reach the Earth. For PeV neutrinos, the ratio is always ϕ{sub ν{sub e}}:ϕ{sub ν{sub μ}}:ϕ{sub ν{sub τ}}≃0.30:0.37:0.33 on Earth. In addition, we discuss the dependence of the flavor ratio on energy and α and find a good result. This dependence may provide a promising probe of the progenitor structure.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2013

Galaxy clusters as reservoirs of heavy dark matter and high-energy cosmic rays: constraints from neutrino observations

Galaxy Clusters (GCs) are the largest reservoirs of both dark matter and cosmic rays (CRs). Dark matter self-annihilation can lead to a high luminosity in gamma rays and neutrinos, enhanced by a strong degree of clustering in dark matter substructures. Hadronic CR interactions can also lead to a high luminosity in gamma rays and neutrinos, enhanced by the confinement of CRs from cluster accretion/merger shocks and active galactic nuclei. We show that IceCube/KM3Net observations of high-energy neutrinos can probe the nature of GCs and the separate dark matter and CR emission processes, taking into account how the results depend on the still-substantial uncertainties. Neutrino observations are relevant at high energies, especially at ∼>10 TeV. Our results should be useful for improving experimental searches for high-energy neutrino emission. Neutrino telescopes are sensitive to extended sources formed by dark matter substructures and CRs distributed over large scales. Recent observations by Fermi and imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes have placed interesting constraints on the gamma-ray emission from GCs. We also provide calculations of the gamma-ray fluxes, taking into account electromagnetic cascades inside GCs, which can be important for injections at sufficiently high energies. This also allows us to extend previous gamma-ray constraints to very high dark matter masses and significant CR injections at very high energies. Using both neutrinos and gamma rays, which can lead to comparable constraints, will allow more complete understandings of GCs. Neutrinos are essential for dark matter annihilation channels like χχ→μ{sup +}μ{sup −}, where the neutrino signals are larger than the gamma-ray signals, and for hadronic instead of electronic CRs, because only the first leads to neutrinos. Our results suggest that the multi-messenger observations of GCs will be able to give useful constraints on specific models of dark matter and CRs.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2017

Baryon asymmetry via leptogenesis in a neutrino mass model with complex scaling

Baryogenesis via leptogenesis is investigated in a specific model of light neutrino masses and mixing angles. The latter was proposed on the basis of an assumed complex-extended scaling property of the neutrino Majorana mass matrix M {sub ν}, derived with a type-1 seesaw from a Dirac mass matrix m {sub D} and a heavy singlet neutrino Majorana mass matrix M {sub R} . One of its important features, highlighted here, is that there is a common source of the origin of a nonzero θ{sub 13} and the CP violating lepton asymmetry through the imaginary part of m {sub D} . The model predicted CP violation to be maximal for the Dirac type and vanishing for the Majorana type. We assume strongly hierarchical mass eigenvalues for M {sub R} . The leptonic CP asymmetry parameter ε{sup α}{sub 1} mm with lepton flavor α, originating from the decays of the lightest of the heavy neutrinos N {sub 1} (of mass M {sub 1}) at a temperature T ∼ M {sub 1}, is what matters here with the lepton asymmetries, originating from the decays of N {sub 2,3}, being washed out. The light leptonic and heavy neutrino number densities (normalized to the entropy density) are evolved via Boltzmann equations down to electroweak temperatures to yield a baryon asymmetry through sphaleronic transitions. The effects of flavored vs. unflavored leptogenesis in the three mass regimes (1) M {sub 1} < 10{sup 9} GeV, (2) 10{sup 9} GeV < M {sub 1} < 10{sup 12} GeV and (3) M {sub 1} > 10{sup 12} GeV are numerically worked out for both a normal and an inverted mass ordering of the light neutrinos. Corresponding results on the baryon asymmetry of the universe are obtained, displayed and discussed. For values close to the best-fit points of the input neutrino mass and mixing parameters, obtained from neutrino oscillation experiments, successful baryogenesis is achieved for the mass regime (2) and a normal mass ordering of the light neutrinos with a nonzero θ{sub 13} playing a crucial role. However, the other possibility of an inverted mass ordering for the same mass regime, though disfavored, cannot be excluded. A discussion is also given on the sensitivity of our result to the masses M {sub 2,3} of the heavier neutrinos N {sub 2,3}.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2011

Low-energy neutral-current neutrino scattering on {sup 128,130}Te isotopes

Differential, total, and cumulative cross section calculations for neutral current neutrino scattering on {sup 128,130}Te isotopes are performed in the context of the quasiparticle random phase approximation by utilizing realistic two-nucleon forces. These isotopes are the main contents of detectors of ongoing experiments with multiple neutrino physics goals (COBRA and CUORE at Gran Sasso), including potential low-energy astrophysical neutrino (solar, supernova, geoneutrinos) detection. The incoming neutrino energy range adopted in our calculations ({epsilon}{sub {nu}{<=}1}00 MeV) covers the low-energy {beta}-beam neutrinos and the pion-muon stopped neutrino beams existing or planned to be conducted at future neutron spallation sources. The aim of these facilities is to measure neutrino-nucleus cross sections at low and intermediate neutrino energies with the hope of shedding light on open problems in neutrino-induced reactions on nuclei and neutrino astrophysics. Such probes motivate theoretical studies on weak responses of various nuclear systems; thus the evaluated cross sections may be useful in this direction.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2011

Collective neutrino oscillations in turbulent backgrounds

Using a Kolmogorov turbulence model, we investigate the effects of fluctuations in matter and neutrino density in the region near a supernova core on the flavor oscillations of neutrinos emitted in the core collapse in a single-angle, two-flavor approximation. Deviation from a smooth background neutrino density causes significant alterations in the final flavor state of the neutrino ensemble after 400 km, but even very large fluctuations in the matter density do not strongly affect the state of the neutrinos after the collective phase. In both cases, there is a strong effect on the neutrino flavor evolution at intermediate radii, with the flavor evolution becoming much more chaotic. The effect of fluctuations also depends strongly on the initial neutrino spectra. We conclude that the true neutrino fluxes arriving at Earth from core-collapse supernova could differ considerably from predictions of neutrino fluxes based on approximate models with smoothly decreasing matter and neutrino densities.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2011

Constraints and Tests of the OPERA Superluminal Neutrinos

The superluminal neutrinos detected by OPERA indicate Lorentz invariance violation (LIV) of the neutrino sector at the order of 10{sup -5}. We study the implications of the result in this work. We find that such a large LIV implied by OPERA data will make the neutrino production process {pi}{yields}{mu}+{nu}{sub {mu}} kinematically forbidden for a neutrino energy greater than about 5 GeV. The OPERA detection of neutrinos at 40 GeV can constrain the LIV parameter to be smaller than 3x10{sup -7}. Furthermore, the neutrino decay in the LIV framework will modify the neutrino spectrum greatly. The atmospheric neutrino spectrum measured by the IceCube Collaboration can constrain the LIV parameter to the level of 10{sup -12}. The future detection of astrophysical neutrinos of galactic sources is expected to be able to give an even stronger constraint on the LIV parameter of neutrinos.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2011

Direct neutrino mass measurements

The determination of the neutrino rest mass plays an important role at the intersections of cosmology, particle physics and astroparticle physics. This topic is currently being addressed by two complementary approaches in laboratory experiments. Neutrinoless double beta decay experiments probe whether neutrinos are Majorana particles and determine an effective neutrino mass value. Single beta decay experiments such as KATRIN and MARE investigate the spectral shape of β-decay electrons close to their kinematic endpoint in order to determine the neutrino rest mass with a model-independent method. Owing to neutrino flavour mixing, the neutrino mass parameter appears as an average of all neutrino mass eigenstates contributing to the electron neutrino. The KArlsruhe TRItium Neutrino experiment (KATRIN) is currently the experiment in the most advanced status of commissioning. Applying an ultra-luminous molecular windowless gaseous tritium source and an integrating high-resolution spectrometer of MAC-E filter type, it allows β-spectroscopy close to the T{sub 2} end-point with unprecedented precision and will reach a sensitivity of 200 meV/c{sup 2} (90% C.L.) on the neutrino rest mass.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗