Search results for " Neutrino"
showing 10 items of 727 documents
Cosmological radiation density with non-standard neutrino-electron interactions
2021
Neutrino non-standard interactions (NSI) with electrons are known to alter the picture of neutrino decoupling from the cosmic plasma. NSI modify both flavour oscillations through matter effects, and the annihilation and scattering between neutrinos and electrons and positrons in the thermal plasma. In view of the forthcoming cosmological observations, we perform a precision study of the impact of non-universal and flavour-changing NSI on the effective number of neutrinos, $N_{eff}$. We present the variation of $N_{eff}$ arising from the different NSI parameters and discuss the existing degeneracies among them, from cosmology alone and in relation to the current bounds from terrestrial exper…
Status of four-neutrino mass schemes: a global and unified approach to current neutrino oscillation data
2001
We present a unified global analysis of neutrino oscillation data within the framework of the four-neutrino mass schemes (3+1) and (2+2). We include all data from solar and atmospheric neutrino experiments, as well as information from short-baseline experiments including LSND. If we combine only solar and atmospheric neutrino data, (3+1) schemes are clearly preferred, whereas short-baseline data in combination with atmospheric data prefers (2+2) models. When combining all data in a global analysis the (3+1) mass scheme gives a slightly better fit than the (2+2) case, though all four-neutrino schemes are presently acceptable. The LSND result disfavors the three-active neutrino scenario with …
Large lepton mixing and supernova 1987A
2000
We reconsider the impact of $\bar\nu_e \leftrightarrow \bar\nu_{\mu,\tau}$ neutrino oscillations on the observed $\bar\nu_e$ signal of supernova SN 1987A. Performing a maximum-likelihood analysis using as fit parameters the released binding energy $\Eb$ and the average neutrino energy $\Ee$, we find as previous analyses that $\bar\nu_e \leftrightarrow \bar\nu_{\mu,\tau}$ oscillations with large mixing angles have lower best-fit values for $\Ee$ than small-mixing angle (SMA) oscillations. Moreover, the inferred value of $\Ee$ is already in the SMA case lower than those found in simulations. This apparent conflict has been interpreted as evidence against the large mixing oscillation solutions…
Flavour-violating charged lepton decays in seesaw-type models
1994
Analytic expressions of lepton-flavour- and lepton-number-violating decays of charged leptons are derived in the context of general $SU(2)_L\otimes U(1)_Y$ seesaw scenarios that are motivated by grand unified theories (GUT's) or superstring models, in which left-handed and/or right-handed neutral singlets are present. Possible constraints imposed by cosmology and low-energy data are briefly discussed. The violation of the decoupling theorem in flavour-dependent graphs due to the presence of heavy neutral leptons of Dirac or Majorana nature is emphasized. Numerical estimates reveal that the decays $\tau^-\to e^-e^-e^+$ or $\tau^-\to e^-\mu^-\mu^+$ can be as large as $\sim 10^{-6}$, which may…
A realistic model of neutrino masses with a large neutrinoless double beta decay rate
2011
The minimal Standard Model extension with the Weinberg operator does accommodate the observed neutrino masses and mixing, but predicts a neutrinoless double beta ($0\nu\beta\beta$) decay rate proportional to the effective electron neutrino mass, which can be then arbitrarily small within present experimental limits. However, in general $0\nu\beta\beta$ decay can have an independent origin and be near its present experimental bound; whereas neutrino masses are generated radiatively, contributing negligibly to $0\nu\beta\beta$ decay. We provide a realization of this scenario in a simple, well defined and testable model, with potential LHC effects and calculable neutrino masses, whose two-loop…
Double beta decay in left-right symmetric models
1996
Left-right symmetric models provide a natural framework for neutrinoless double beta ($\znbb$) decay. In the analysis of $\znbb$ decay in left-right symmetric models, however, it is usually assumed that all neutrinos are light. On the other hand, heavy {\it right-handed} neutrinos appear quite naturally in left-right symmetric models and should therefore not be neglected. Assuming the existence of at least one right-handed heavy neutrino, absence of $\znbb$ decay of $^{76}$Ge currently provides the following limits on the mass and mixing angle of right-handed W-bosons: $m_{W_R}\ge 1.1 $ TeV and $\tan(\zeta) \le 4.7 \times 10^{-3}$ for a particular value of the effective right-handed neutrin…
Atmospheric neutrinos and nu mass hierarchy
2003
We discuss the possibility for matter effects in the three-neutrino oscillations of the atmospheric nu_e (bar{nu}_e) and nu_mu (bar{nu}_mu), driven by one neutrino mass squared difference, |Delta m2_{31}| >> Delta m2_{21}, to be observable under appropriate conditions. We derive predictions for the Nadir angle (theta_n) dependence of the ratio N_mu/N_e of the rates of the mu-like and e-like multi-GeV events which is particularly sensitive to the Earth matter effects in the atmospheric neutrino oscillations, and thus to the values of sin2{theta_{13}} and sin2{theta_{23}}, and also to the type of neutrino mass spectrum.
The solar LMA neutrino oscillation solution in the Zee model
2001
We examine the neutrino mass matrix in the version of Zee model where both Higgs doublets couple to the leptons. We show that in this case one can accommodate the large mixing angle (LMA) MSW solution of the solar neutrino problem, while avoiding maximal solar mixing and conflicts with constraints on lepton family number-violating interactions. In the simplified scenario we consider, we have the neutrino mass spectrum characterized by $m_1 \simeq m_2 \simeq \sqrt{\Delta m^2_\mathrm{atm}}/\sin 2\theta$ and $m_3/m_1 \simeq \cos 2\theta$, where $\theta$ is the solar mixing angle.
Lepton physics versus neutrino mass
1990
Abstract The relationship between the strength of lepton flavour violating processes and the magnitude of the neutrino mass is rather model dependent. I review this question within different neutrino mixing models including superstring inspired models. Processes such as μ → e + γ , μ → 3 e , μ - e conversion in nuclei, etc. as well as lepton flavour violating Z ° decays can occur even if the physical neutrinos are strictly massless. As a result, the corresponding rates are unconstrained by bounds on the neutrino mass that follow from laboratory, astrophysics and cosmology and can therefore be large. Leptonic CP violation may also occur even when the physical neutrinos are strictly massless.
Absolute neutrino mass scale from flavor symmetries
2013
Abstract The 2012 has been an important year for neutrino physics, current data are reviewed and compared with 2011 global fit. Models based on discrete flavor symmetries predict neutrino mass mass sum-rule (MSR), which is useful to reduce the number of independent model parameters. We found that only four classes of MSR are possible. Such neutrino MSRs constrain the absolute neutrino mass scale. We study the implications of these mass relations for the lightest neutrino mass and for the lower bound of the effective mass m e e of the neutrinoless double beta decay.