0000000000297618
AUTHOR
A. De Rújula
Neutrinoless double electron capture as a tool to measure the electron neutrino mass
Abstract A nucleus (Z, A) may capture two atomic electrons to become (Z − 2, A). For Majorana neutrinos this may occur with no neutrino emission, the process is a virtual mixing of the parent atom and the daughter atom with two electron holes. The process becomes real as the daughter atom de-excites. In some cases where the daughter nucleus is excited, the neutrinoless decay may be enhanced by its proximity to a virtual resonance. We identify the 112 Sn → 112 Cd transition as a good case. The no-neutrino lifetime for mν = 30 eV ranges from 1022 to 1027 years as a function of the insufficiently well determined distance to resonance. The signatures of the two- or no-neutrino modes are very di…
The self-couplings of vector bosons: does LEP-1 obviate LEP-2?
Abstract Theories beyond the standard model (“meta-theories”) are severely constrained by the current body of data and must necessarily respect the standard gauge symmetry. We analyze the constraints on two generic types of meta-theory, in which fundamental scalar do or do not exist. The novel low-energy effects can be comprehensively described by grafting onto the standard lagrangian new operators that - in the sense of a Taylor expansion - form a complete set. Completeness calls for consideration of previously discarded operators, and for a thorough exploitation of the equations of motion. We illustrate the current strictures by focusing on the allowed range of departures from the most cr…
Atmospheric neutrino anomaly without maximal mixing?
We consider a pattern of neutrino masses in which there is an approximate mass degeneracy between the two mass eigenstates most coupled to the $\nu_\mu$ and $\nu_\tau$ flavour eigenstates. Earth-matter effects can lift this degeneracy and induce an effectively maximal mixing between these two generations. This occurs if $\nu_e$'s contain comparable admixtures of the degenerate eigenstates, even rather small ones. This provides an explanation of the atmospheric neutrino anomaly in which the {\it ab initio} introduction of a large mixing angle is not required. To test this possibility we perform a novel and detailed analysis of the 52 kiloton-year SuperKamiokande data, and we find that in a l…
Neutrino oscillation physics with a neutrino factory
Data from atmospheric and solar neutrinos indicate that there are at least three neutrino types involved in oscillation phenomena. Even if the corresponding neutrino mass scales are very different, the inevitable reference to mixing between more than two neutrino types has profound consequences on the planning of the accelerator experiments suggested by these results. We discuss the measurement of mixing angles and CP phases in the context of the neutrino beam emanating from a {\it neutrino factory}: the straight sections of a muon storage ring. We emphasize the importance of charge identification. The appearance of wrong sign muons in a long baseline experiment may provide a powerful test …