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At least 145 records · Page 8

Studying Neutrino Oscillations and Searches for BSM Physics with Atmospheric Neutrinos in DUNE

The 40kt DUNE Far Detector, located at the Sanford Underground Research Facility, will of- fer unique capabilities to study atmospheric neutrinos. Due to the detector’s excellent energy resolutions, angular resolutions, and particle ID capabilities, atmospheric neutrino analyses in DUNE can provide valuable information about 3-flavor oscillations, despite the relatively modest statistics. These data provide a complementary analysis approach to beam neutrinos, and can help in resolving ambiguities in beam-only analyses. In this paper we show the prospects on the determination of the mass hierarchy, octant of θ 23 , and measurement of δ CP using atmospheric neutrinos in DUNE. Atmospheric neutrinos can also lead to a variety of beyond the standard model scenarios for neutrino transitions, propagation, and interactions. Examples that have been previously studied include CPT violation, Lorentz invariance violation, non-standard interactions, mass varying neutrinos and sterile neutrinos.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

The modified correlation mass method for detecting neutrino mass from astrophysical neutrino bursts

A modified correlation mass method for calculating the value of a possible neutrino mass from neutrino bursts of astrophysical origin is proposed which can more sensitively detect small neutrino masses than previous methods. Application of the method to the neutrinos detected from SN 1987 A yields a value of 3.6 + or - 0.3 eV for the neutrino mass energy with a confidence level of 97 percent. Assuming a neutrino mass of 3.6 eV, and transforming all of the detected neutrino events back to the point of emission, it is shown that bursts are composed of a short initial pulse (which lasts for about 0.1 sec and contains 30-40 percent of the total neutrinos) and an extended emission lasting for about 10 sec.

Chan, Kwing L.↗

Solar Neutrino Observations at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) is a 1000-tonne heavy water Cherenkov detector. Its usage of \dto as target allows the simultaneous measurements of the $\nu_e$ flux from $^8$B decay in the Sun and the total flux of all active neutrino species through the charged-current and the neutral-current interactions on the deuterons. Assuming the standard $^{8}$B shape, the $\nu_e$ component of the $^{8}$B solar neutrino flux is measured to be $\phi_e = 1.76^{+0.05}_{-0.05}{(stat.)}^{+0.09}_{-0.09} {(syst.)} x 10^6 {\rm cm}^{-2} {\rm s}^{-1}$ for a kinetic energy threshold of 5 MeV. The non-\nue component is found to be Φ μτ $\= 3.41^{+0.45}_{-0.45}{(stat.)}^{+0.48}_{-0.45} {(syst.)} x 10^6 {\rm cm}^{-2} {\rm s}^{-1}$. This $5.3\sigma$ difference provides strong evidence for $\nu_{e}$ flavor transformation in the solar neutrino sector. The total active neutrino flux is measured with the neutral-current reaction at a neutrino energy threshold of 2.2 MeV. This flux is determined to be $\phi_{NC} = 5.09^{+0.44}_{-0.43}{(stat.)}^{+0.46}_{-0.43} {(syst.)} x 10^6 {\rm cm}^{-2} {\rm s}^{-1}$, and is consistent with solar model predictions. Assuming an undistorted $^8$B spectrum, the night minus day rate is 14.0$\pm$6.3(stat.)$^{+1.5}_{-1.4}$(sys.)\% of the average rate in the charged-current channel. If the total active neutrino flux is constrained to have no asymmetry, the night-day asymmetry in the $\nu_e$ flux is found to be 7.0$\pm$4.9(stat.)$^{+1.3}_{1.2}$(sys.)\%. A global analysis of all the available solar neutrino data in terms of matter-enhanced oscillations of two active flavors strongly favors the Large Mixing Angle (LMA) solution.

Poon, A. W. P.↗

Snowmass Neutrino Frontier: Neutrino Interaction Cross Sections (NF06) Topical Group Report

A thorough understanding of neutrino cross sections in a wide range of energies is crucial for the successful execution of the entire neutrino physics program. In order to extract neutrino properties, long-baseline experiments need an accurate determination of neutrino cross sections within their detector(s). Since very few of the needed neutrino cross sections across the energy spectrum are directly measured, we emphasize the need for theoretical input and indirect measurements such as electron scattering, which would complement direct measurements. In this report we briefly summarize the current status of our knowledge of the neutrino cross sections and articulate needs of the experiments, ongoing and planned, at energies ranging from CEvNS and supernova neutrino energies to the DUNE and atmospheric neutrino energies.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

The Cosmic Neutrino Background is within Reach of Future Neutrino Telescopes

The cosmic neutrino background (C$ν$B) can be boosted to high energies due to scatterings with energetic cosmic rays (CRs) across cosmological scales. Previous calculations focused on neutral current incoherent and coherent elastic scatterings of cosmic-ray protons off relic neutrinos. However, charged current interactions and deep inelastic scatterings are also expected to occur, which enhances the boosted relic neutrino fluxes on Earth. Here, we compute the \textit{total} diffuse boosted cosmic neutrino background (DBC$ν$B) arising from CRs at all redshifts in the Universe, accounting for neutral current and charged current elastic and deep inelastic scatterings. We find that IceCube already places an upper limit on the cosmic neutrino background overdensity in cosmological scales of ~$\mathcal{O}(100-1000)$ at $E_ν=10^{10}$ GeV, for a lightest neutrino mass of $m_ν \gtrsim 0.1$ eV. We further show that IceCube-Gen2 could test $\mathcal{O}(1-10)$ C$ν$B overdensities, and the combination of $10$ future neutrino telescopes with similar sensitivity would allow us to test the $Λ$CDM expected C$ν$B density for a lightest neutrino mass compatible with the KATRIN bound.

Herrera, Gonzalo [MIT, MKI; Harvard U.; Virginia T↗

On LBNE neutrino flux systematic uncertainties

The systematic uncertainties in the neutrino flux of the Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment, due to alignment uncertanties and tolerances of the neutrino beamline components, are estimated. In particular residual systematics are evaluated in the determination of the neutrino flux at the far detector, assuming that the experiment will be equipped with a near detector with the same target material of the far detector, thereby canceling most of the uncertainties from hadroproduction and neutrino cross sections. This calculation is based on a detailed Geant4-based model of the neutrino beam line that includes the target, two focusing horns, the decay pipe and ancillary items, such as shielding.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Limits on the neutrino velocity, Lorentz invariance, and the weak equivalence principle with TeV neutrinos from gamma-ray bursts

Five TeV neutrino events weakly correlated with five gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) were detected recently by IceCube. This work is an attempt to show that if the GRB identifications are verified, the observed time delays between the TeV neutrinos and gamma-ray photons from GRBs provide attractive candidates for testing fundamental physics with high accuracy. Based on the assumed associations between the TeV neutrinos and GRBs, we find that the limiting velocity of the neutrinos is equal to that of photons to an accuracy of ∼ 1.9 × 10{sup -15} – 2.5 × 10{sup -18}, which is about 10{sup 4} – 10{sup 7} times better than the constraint obtained with the neutrino possibly from a blazar flare. In addition, we set the most stringent limits up to date on the energy scale of quantum gravity for both the linear and quadratic violations of Lorentz invariance, namely E {sub QG,} {sub 1} > 6.3 × 10{sup 18} – 1.5 × 10{sup 21} GeV and E {sub QG,} {sub 2} > 2.0 × 10{sup 11} – 4.2 × 10{sup 12} GeV, which are essentially as good as or are an improvement of one order of magnitude over the results previously obtained by the GeV photons of GRB 090510 and the PeV neutrino from a blazar flare. Assuming that the Shapiro time delay is caused by the gravitational potential of the Laniakea supercluster of galaxies, we also place the tightest limits to date on Einstein's weak equivalence principle through the relative differential variations of the parameterized post-Newtonian parameter γ values for two different species of particles (i.e., neutrinos and photons), yielding Δγ ∼ 10{sup -11} – 10{sup -13}. However, it should be emphasized again that these limits here obtained are at best forecast of what could be achieved if the GRB/neutrino correlations would be finally confirmed.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Solar neutrinos as a probe of dark matter-neutrino interactions

Sterile neutrinos at the eV scale have long been studied in the context of anomalies in short baseline neutrino experiments. Their cosmology can be made compatible with our understanding of the early Universe provided the sterile neutrino sector enjoys a nontrivial dynamics with exotic interactions, possibly providing a link to the Dark Matter (DM) puzzle. Interactions between DM and neutrinos have also been proposed to address the long-standing 'missing satellites' problem in the field of large scale structure formation. Motivated by these considerations, in this paper we discuss realistic scenarios with light steriles coupled to DM . We point out that within this framework active neutrinos acquire an effective coupling to DM that manifests itself as a new matter potential in the propagation within a medium of asymmetric DM . Assuming that at least a small fraction of asymmetric DM has been captured by the Sun, we show that a sizable region of the parameter space of these scenarios can be probed by solar neutrino experiments, especially in the regime of small couplings and light mediators where all other probes become inefficient. In the latter regime these scenarios behave as familiar 3+1 models in all channels except for solar data, where a Solar Dark MSW effect takes place. Solar Dark MSW is characterized by modifications of the most energetic {sup 8}B and CNO neutrinos, whereas the other fluxes remain largely unaffected.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Large-volume detector at the Baksan Neutrino Observatory for studies of natural neutrino fluxes for purposes of geo- and astrophysics

At the Baksan Neutrino Observatory (Institute for Nuclear Research, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow) deployed in the Caucasus mountains, it is proposed to create, at a depth corresponding to 4760 mwe, a large-volume neutrino detector on the basis of a liquid scintillator with a target mass of 10 kt. The detector in question is intended for recording natural fluxes of neutrinos whose energy may be as low as 100MeV. Neutrino fluxes from various sources are considered in the present study, and the expected effect in the proposed detector is estimated. The detector hat is being developed at the Baksan Neutrino Observatorywill become part of the world network of neutrino detectors for studying natural neutrino fluxes.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

Fast-pairwise Collective Neutrino Oscillations Associated with Asymmetric Neutrino Emissions in Core-collapse Supernovae

We present a linear stability analysis of the fast-pairwise neutrino flavor conversion based on a result of our latest axisymmetric core-collapse supernova (CCSN) simulation with full Boltzmann neutrino transport. In the CCSN simulation, coherent asymmetric neutrino emissions of electron-type neutrinos (νe) and their antiparticles ($\bar{v}$e), in which the asymmetries of νe and $\bar{v}$e are anticorrelated with each other, occur at almost the same time as the onset of aspherical shock expansion. We find that the asymmetric neutrino emissions play a crucial role on occurrences of fast flavor conversions. The linear analysis shows that unstable modes appear in both pre- and post-shock flows; for the latter, they appear only in the hemisphere of higher $\bar{v}$e emissions (the same hemisphere with stronger shock expansion). We analyze the characteristics of electron–lepton number (ELN) crossing in depth by closely inspecting the angular distributions of neutrinos in momentum space. The ELN crossing happens in various ways, and the property depends on the radius: in the vicinity of neutron star, $\bar{v}$e (νe) dominates over ve ($\bar{n}$e) in the forward (backward) direction; at the larger radius, the ELN crossing occurs in the opposite way. We also find that the non-radial ELN crossing occurs at the boundary between no ELN crossing and the radial one, which is an effect of genuine multi-dimensional transport. Our findings indicate that the collective neutrino oscillation may occur more commonly in CCSNe and suggest that the CCSN community needs to accommodate these oscillations self-consistently in the modeling of CCSNe

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Multipole expansion method for supernova neutrino oscillations

Here, we demonstrate a multipole expansion method to calculate collective neutrino oscillations in supernovae using the neutrino bulb model. We show that it is much more efficient to solve multi-angle neutrino oscillations in multipole basis than in angle basis. The multipole expansion method also provides interesting insights into multi-angle calculations that were accomplished previously in angle basis.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

A case for radio galaxies as the sources of IceCube's astrophysical neutrino flux

We present an argument that radio galaxies (active galaxies with mis-aligned jets) are likely to be the primary sources of the high-energy astrophysical neutrinos observed by IceCube. In particular, if the gamma-ray emission observed from radio galaxies is generated through the interactions of cosmic-ray protons with gas, these interactions can also produce a population of neutrinos with a flux and spectral shape similar to that measured by IceCube. We present a simple physical model in which high-energy cosmic rays are confined within the volumes of radio galaxies, where they interact with gas to generate the observed diffuse fluxes of neutrinos and gamma rays. In addition to simultaneously accounting for the observations of Fermi and IceCube, radio galaxies in this model also represent an attractive class of sources for the highest energy cosmic rays.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) and Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE): Conceptual Design Report. Volume 1: The LBNF and DUNE Projects

This document presents the Conceptual Design Report (CDR) put forward by an international neutrino community to pursue the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment at the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF/DUNE), a groundbreaking science experiment for long-baseline neutrino oscillation studies and for neutrino astrophysics and nucleon decay searches. The DUNE far detector will be a very large modular liquid argon time-projection chamber (LArTPC) located deep underground, coupled to the LBNF multi-megawatt wide-band neutrino beam. DUNE will also have a high-resolution and high-precision near detector.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

On the decaying-sterile-neutrino solution to the electron (anti)neutrino appearance anomalies

We explore the hypothesis that the unexplained data from LSND and MiniBooNE are evidence for a new, heavy neutrino mass-eigenstate that mixes with the muon-type neutrino and decays into an electron-type neutrino and a new, very light scalar particle. We consider two different decay scenarios, one with Majorana neutrinos, one with Dirac neutrinos; both fit the data equally well. We find a reasonable, albeit not excellent, fit to the data of MiniBooNE and LSND. The decaying-sterile-neutrino hypothesis, however, cleanly evades constraints from disappearance searches and precision measurements of leptonic meson decays, as long as $1~{\rm MeV}\gtrsim m_4\gtrsim 10$~keV. The SBN program at Fermilab should be able to definitively test the decaying-sterile-neutrino hypothesis.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Theoretical tools for neutrino scattering: interplay between lattice QCD, EFTs, nuclear physics, phenomenology, and neutrino event generators

Maximizing the discovery potential of increasingly precise neutrino experiments will require an improved theoretical understanding of neutrino-nucleus cross sections over a wide range of energies. Low-energy interactions are needed to reconstruct the energies of astrophysical neutrinos from supernovae bursts and search for new physics using increasingly precise measurement of coherent elastic neutrino scattering. Higher-energy interactions involve a variety of reaction mechanisms including quasi-elastic scattering, resonance production, and deep inelastic scattering that must all be included to reliably predict cross sections for energies relevant to DUNE and other accelerator neutrino experiments. Refined nuclear interaction models in these energy regimes will also be valuable for other applications, such as measurements of reactor, solar, and atmospheric neutrinos. This manuscript discusses the theoretical status, challenges, required resources, and path forward for achieving precise predictions of neutrino-nucleus scattering and emphasizes the need for a coordinated theoretical effort involved lattice QCD, nuclear effective theories, phenomenological models of the transition region, and event generators.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Oscillation characteristics of neutrino in the model with three sterile neutrinos for analysis of the anomalies on small distances

In the framework of the model with three sterile neutrinos, the transition probabilities for different flavours of neutrino are calculated and the graphical dependences are obtained, in particular, for the appearance probability of electron neutrino and antineutrino in the muon neutrino and antineutrino jets as a function of distance and other model parameters at their acceptable values and at the neutrino energy less than 50 MeV, as well as a function of a ratio of distance to the neutrino energy. The theoretical results obtained can be used for analysis of the neutrino data related to the anomalies on small distances.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Understanding Critical Systematics on Neutrino Oscillation Experiments from Neutrino-Nucleus Interactions. Final report

This is a final report on the DOE grant DE-SC0017946: Understanding Critical Systematics on Neutrino Oscillation Experiments from Neutrino-Nucleus Interactions. The goal of this proposal was to better understand the complex many-body dynamics of neutrino-nucleus interactions in order to control the systematic uncertainties that will dominate current and future long-baseline neutrino experiments. This work was focused on a new and experimentally challenging aspect of the problem: measuring the abundance and kinematics of final state nucleons. The research leveraged two different detectors and beam energies: the Near Detector (ND) of the NOvA Experiment, off-axis on the NuMI beam- line, and the Accelerator Neutrino Neutron Interaction Experiment (ANNIE), on the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB). The techniques developed will also help reject the dominant neutrino-induced backgrounds limiting future proton decay searches.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Limiting Superluminal Electron and Neutrino Velocities Using the 2010 Crab Nebula Flare and the IceCube PeV Neutrino Events

The observation of two PetaelectronVolt (PeV)-scale neutrino events reported by Ice Cube allows one to place constraints on Lorentz invariance violation (LIV) in the neutrino sector. After first arguing that at least one of the PetaelectronVolt IceCube events was of extragalactic origin, I derive an upper limit for the difference between putative superluminal neutrino and electron velocities of less than or equal to approximately 5.6 x 10(exp -19) in units where c = 1, confirming that the observed PetaelectronVolt neutrinos could have reached Earth from extragalactic sources. I further derive a new constraint on the superluminal electron velocity, obtained from the observation of synchrotron radiation from the Crab Nebula flare of September, 2010. The inference that the greater than 1 GigaelectronVolt gamma-rays from synchrotron emission in the flare were produced by electrons of energy up to approx. 5.1 PetaelectronVolt indicates the nonoccurrence of vacuum Cerenkov radiation by these electrons. This implies a new, strong constraint on superluminal electron velocities delta(sub e) less than or equal to approximately 5 x 10(exp -21). It immediately follows that one then obtains an upper limit on the superluminal neutrino velocity alone of delta(sub v) less than or equal to approximately 5.6 x 10(exp -19), many orders of magnitude better than the time-of-flight constraint from the SN1987A neutrino burst. However, if the electrons are subluminal the constraint on the absolute value of delta(sub e) less than or equal to approximately 8 x 10(exp -17), obtained from the Crab Nebula gamma-ray spectrum, places a weaker constraint on superluminal neutrino velocity of delta(sub v) less than or equal to approximately 8 x 10(exp -17).

Lorentz invariance↗