0000000000174286
AUTHOR
Victor B. Semikoz
A potential test of the CP properties and Majorana nature of neutrinos
The scattering of solar neutrinos on electrons may reveal their CP properties, which are particularly sensitive to their Majorana nature. The cross section is sensitive to the neutrino dipole moments through an interference of electro-magnetic and weak amplitudes. We show how future solar neutrino experiments with good angular resolution and low energy threshold, such as Hellaz, can be sensitive to the resulting azimuthal asymmetries in event number, and could therefore provide valuable information on the CP properties and the nature of the neutrinos, provided the solar magnetic field direction is fixed.
Lepton asymmetries and primordial hypermagnetic helicity evolution
The hypermagnetic helicity density at the electroweak phase transition (EWPT) exceeds many orders of magnitude the galactic magnetic helicity density. Together with previous magnetic helicity evolution calculations after the EWPT and hypermagnetic helicity conversion to the magnetic one at the EWPT, the present calculation completes the description of the evolution of this important topological feature of cosmological magnetic fields. It suggests that if the magnetic field seeding the galactic dynamo has a primordial origin, it should be substantially helical. This should be taken into account in scenarios of galactic magnetic field evolution with a cosmological seed.
Probing the internal solar magnetic field through g-modes
The observation of g-mode candidates by the SoHO mission opens the possibility of probing the internal structure of the solar radiative zone (RZ) and the solar core more directly than possible via the use of the p-mode helioseismology data. We study the effect of rotation and RZ magnetic fields on g-mode frequencies. Using a self-consistent static MHD magnetic field model we show that a 1% g-mode frequency shift with respect to the Solar Seismic Model (SSeM) prediction, currently hinted in the GOLF data, can be obtained for magnetic fields as low as 300 kG, for current measured modes of radial order n=-20. On the other hand, we also argue that a similar shift for the case of the low order g…
Radiative zone solar magnetic fields and g modes
We consider a generalized model of seismic-wave propagation that takes into account the effect of a central magnetic field in the Sun. We determine the g-mode spectrum in the perturbative magnetic field limit using a one-dimensional Magneto-Hydrodynamics (MHD) picture. We show that central magnetic fields of about 600-800 kG can displace the pure g-mode frequencies by about 1%, as hinted by the helioseismic interpretation of GOLF observations.
Lepton asymmetries and the growth of cosmological seed magnetic fields
Primordial cosmological hypermagnetic fields polarize the early Universe plasma prior to the electroweak phase transition (EWPT). As a result of the long range parity violating gauge interaction present in the Standard Model their magnitude gets amplified, opening a new, perturbative way, of accounting for the observed intergalactic magnetic fields.
Resonant origin for density fluctuations deep within the Sun: helioseismology and magneto-gravity waves
We analyze helioseismic waves near the solar equator in the presence of magnetic fields deep within the solar radiative zone. We find that reasonable magnetic fields can significantly alter the shapes of the wave profiles for helioseismic g-modes. They can do so because the existence of density gradients allows g-modes to resonantly excite Alfven waves, causing mode energy to be funnelled along magnetic field lines, away from the solar equatorial plane. The resulting wave forms show comparatively sharp spikes in the density profile at radii where these resonances take place. We estimate how big these waves might be in the Sun, and perform a first search for observable consequences. We find …
Cornering solar radiative-zone fluctuations with KamLAND and SNO salt
We update the best constraints on fluctuations in the solar medium deep within the solar Radiative Zone to include the new SNO-salt solar neutrino measurements. We find that these new measurements are now sufficiently precise that neutrino oscillation parameters can be inferred independently of any assumptions about fluctuation properties. Constraints on fluctuations are also improved, with amplitudes of 5% now excluded at the 99% confidence level for correlation lengths in the range of several hundred km. Because they are sensitive to correlation lengths which are so short, these solar neutrino results are complementary to constraints coming from helioseismology.
The effect of random matter density perturbations on the MSW solution to the solar neutrino problem
We consider the implications of solar matter density random noise upon resonant neutrino conversion. The evolution equation describing MSW-like conversion is derived in the framework of the Schr\"odinger approach. We study quantitatively their effect upon both large and small mixing angle MSW solutions to the solar neutrino problem. This is carried out both for the active-active $\nu_e \ra \nu_{\mu,\tau}$ as well as active-sterile $\nu_e \ra \nu_s$ conversion channels. We find that the small mixing MSW solution is much more stable (especially in $\Delta m^2$) than the large mixing solution. The possible existence of solar matter density noise at the few percent level could be tested at futu…
Neutrino electron scattering and left-right symmetry: future tests
Low-energy high-resolution neutrino-electron scattering experiments may play an important role in testing the gauge structure of the electroweak interaction. We propose the use of radioactive neutrino sources (e.g. $^{51}$Cr) in underground experiments such as BOREXINO and HELLAZ as a probe of the weak neutral current structure. As an illustration, we display the sensitivity of these detectors in testing the possible existence of right-handed weak neutral currents.
Neutrino conversions in a polarized medium
Electron polarization induced by magnetic fields can modify the potentials relevant for describing neutrino conversions in media with magnetic fields. The magnitudes of polarization potentials are determined for different conditions. We show that variations of the electron polarization along the neutrino trajectory can induce resonant conversions in the active-sterile neutrino system, but cannot lead to level crossing in the active-active neutrino system. For neutrino flavour conversions the polarisation leads only to a shift of the standard MSW resonance. For polarizations $\lambda \lsim 0.04$ the direct modifications of the potential (density) due to the magnetic field pressure are smalle…
Confronting spin flavor solutions of the solar neutrino problem with current and future solar neutrino data
We show that spin flavor precession solutions to the solar neutrino problem, although preferred by the latest solar data, are ruled out by the first results from the KamLAND reactor experiment, at more than 3_sigma. An illustrative chi2 plot comparing these descriptions with oscillations is given.
Testing for new physics with low-energy anti-neutrino sources: LAMA as a case study
Some electroweak models with extended neutral currents, such as those based on the $E_6$ group, lead to an increase of the $\bar{\nu}-e$ scattering cross section at energies below 100 keV. We propose to search for the heavy Z' boson contribution in an experiment with a high-activity artificial neutrino source and with a large-mass detector. We present the case for the LAMA experiment with a large NaI(Tl) detector located at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory. The neutrino flux is known to within a one percent accuracy, in contrast to the reactor case and one can reach lower neutrino energies. Both features make our proposed experiment more sensitive to extended gauge models, such as the …
Borexino as a test of solar matter density fluctuations
This talk summarizes some results of our recent work focusing on the possibility to test solar matter density fluctuations by the future Borexino experiment.
Large mixing angle oscillations as a probe of the deep solar interior
We re-examine the sensitivity of solar neutrino oscillations to noise in the solar interior using the best current estimates of neutrino properties. Our results show that the measurement of neutrino properties at KamLAND provides new information about fluctuations in the solar environment on scales to which standard helioseismic constraints are largely insensitive. We also show how the determination of neutrino oscillation parameters from a combined fit of KamLAND and solar data depends strongly on the magnitude of solar density fluctuations. We argue that a resonance between helioseismic and Alfven waves might provide a physical mechanism for generating these fluctuations and, if so, neutr…
Chern-Simons anomaly as polarization effect
The parity violating Chern-Simons term in the epoch before the electroweak phase transition can be interpreted as a polarization effect associated to massless right-handed electrons (positrons) in the presence of a large-scale seed hypermagnetic field. We reconfirm the viability of a unified seed field scenario relating the cosmological baryon asymmetry and the origin of the protogalactic large-scale magnetic fields observed in astronomy.
Nucleosynthesis constraints on active-sterile neutrino conversions in the early universe with random magnetic field
We consider active-sterile neutrino conversions in the early universe hot plasma in the presence of a random magnetic field generated at the electroweak phase transition. Within a random field domain the magnetization asymmetry of the lepton antilepton plasma produced by a uniform constant magnetic field is huge in contrast to their small density asymmetry, leading to a drastic change in the active-sterile conversion rates. Assuming that the random field provides the seed for the galactic field one can estimate the restrictions from primordial nucleosynthesis. Requiring that the extra sterile \neu does not enter in equilibrium with the active ones before nucleosynthesis we find limits of th…