Irina Mocioiu

Theory of neutrinos: a white paper

This paper is a review of the present status of neutrino mass physics, which grew out of an APS sponsored study of neutrinos in 2004. After a discussion of the present knowledge of neutrino masses and mixing and some popular ways to probe the new physics implied by recent data, it summarizes what can be learned about neutrino interactions as well as the nature of new physics beyond the Standard Model from the various proposed neutrino experiments. The intriguing possibility that neutrino mass physics may be at the heart of our understanding of a long standing puzzle of cosmology, i.e. the origin of matter?antimatter asymmetry is also discussed.

Spin-dependent macroscopic forces from new particle exchange

Long-range forces between macroscopic objects are mediated by light particles that interact with the electrons or nucleons, and include spin-dependent static components as well as spin- and velocity-dependent components. We parametrize the long-range potential between two fermions assuming rotational invariance, and find 16 different components. Applying this result to electrically neutral objects, we show that the macroscopic potential depends on 72 measurable parameters. We then derive the potential induced by the exchange of a new gauge boson or spinless particle, and compare the limits set by measurements of macroscopic forces to the astrophysical limits on the couplings of these particles.

Neutrino mass hierarchy extraction using atmospheric neutrinos in ice

We show that the measurements of 10 GeV atmospheric neutrinos by an upcoming array of densely-packed phototubes buried deep inside the IceCube detector at the South Pole can be used to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy for values of sin{sup 2}2{theta}{sub 13} close to the present bound, if the hierarchy is normal. These results are obtained for an exposure of 100 Mton years and systematic uncertainties up to 10%.

Predictions from type II see-saw mechanism in SU(5)

Abstract We propose a simple, testable, SU ( 5 ) model within the context of the type II neutrino see-saw mechanism. It is based on requiring renormalizability, the absence of any other matter fields besides those already present in the Standard Model and consistency with all experimental data. These “minimal” requirements, together with group-theoretical considerations, uniquely determine the model and lead to interesting implications. The model predicts correlation between a light SU ( 2 ) triplet boson responsible for the type II see-saw mechanism and observable proton decay signatures. It also allows for an enhanced production of doubly charged Higgs particles through the WW fusion process due to a built-in custodial symmetry. This could also have profound impact on the explicit realization of electroweak symmetry breaking. The model also predicts the existence of a light scalar that transforms as a colour octet and electroweak doublet, with interesting phenomenological consequences.

Atmospheric neutrinos in ice and measurement of neutrino oscillation parameters

The main goal of the IceCube Deep Core array is to search for neutrinos of astrophysical origins. Atmospheric neutrinos are commonly considered as a background for these searches. We show that the very high statistics atmospheric neutrino data can be used to obtain precise measurements of the main oscillation parameters.

Minimal 3 + 2 sterile neutrino model at LBNE

In this paper we examine the sensitivity of the Long Baseline Neutrino Oscillation Experiment to the inclusion of two new sterile neutrino flavors with masses in the eV range. We implement a model with a modified Casas-Ibarra parametrization which can accommodate medium scale mass eigenstates and introduces a new complex mixing angle. We explore the new mixing angle parameter space and demonstrate how LBNE can be used to either provide evidence for or rule out a particular model of sterile neutrinos. Certain three-flavor CP-violation scenarios cannot be distinguished from the sterile neutrinos. Constraints from the Daya Bay reactor experiment and T2K are used to help lift this degeneracy.

Non-standard neutrino interactions in the mu–tau sector

Abstract We discuss neutrino mass hierarchy implications arising from the effects of non-standard neutrino interactions on muon rates in high statistics atmospheric neutrino oscillation experiments like IceCube DeepCore. We concentrate on the mu–tau sector, which is presently the least constrained. It is shown that the magnitude of the effects depends strongly on the sign of the ϵ μ τ parameter describing this non-standard interaction. A simple analytic model is used to understand the parameter space where differences between the two signs are maximized. We discuss how this effect is partially degenerate with changing the neutrino mass hierarchy, as well as how this degeneracy could be lifted.

Atmospheric neutrino oscillations and tau neutrinos in ice

The main goal of the IceCube Deep Core Array is to search for neutrinos of astrophysical origins. Atmospheric neutrinos are commonly considered as a background for these searches. We show here that cascade measurements in the Ice Cube Deep Core Array can provide strong evidence for tau neutrino appearance in atmospheric neutrino oscillations. Controlling systematic uncertainties will be the limiting factor in the analysis. A careful study of these tau neutrinos is crucial, since they constitute an irreducible background for astrophysical neutrino detection.

Oscillation effects on high-energy neutrino fluxes from astrophysical hidden sources

High-energy neutrinos are expected to be produced in a variety of astrophysical sources as well as in optically thick hidden sources. We explore the matter-induced oscillation effects on emitted neutrino fluxes of three different flavors from the latter class. We use the ratio of electron and tau induced showers to muon tracks, in upcoming neutrino telescopes, as the principal observable in our analysis. This ratio depends on the neutrino energy, density profile of the sources, and on the oscillation parameters. The largely unknown flux normalization drops out of our calculation and only affects the statistics. For the current knowledge of the oscillation parameters we find that the matter-induced effects are non-negligible and the enhancement of the ratio from its vacuum value takes place in an energy range where the neutrino telescopes are the most sensitive. Quantifying the effect would be useful to learn about the astrophysics of the sources as well as the oscillation parameters. If the neutrino telescopes mostly detect diffuse neutrinos without identifying their sources, then any deviation of the measured flux ratios from the vacuum expectation values would be most naturally explained by a large population of hidden sources for which matter-induced neutrino oscillation effects are important.

Flavor gauge models below the Fermi scale

A bstractThe mass and weak interaction eigenstates for the quarks of the third generation are very well aligned, an empirical fact for which the Standard Model offers no explanation. We explore the possibility that this alignment is due to an additional gauge symmetry in the third generation. Specifically, we construct and analyze an explicit, renormalizable model with a gauge boson, X, corresponding to the B − L symmetry of the third family. Having a relatively light (in the MeV to multi-GeV range), flavor-nonuniversal gauge boson results in a variety of constraints from different sources. By systematically analyzing 20 different constraints, we identify the most sensitive probes: kaon, B+, D+ and Upsilon decays, D−D¯0