Probing neutrino decay scenarios by using the Earth matter effects on supernova neutrinos

The observation of Earth matter effects in the spectrum of neutrinos coming from a next galactic core-collapse supernova (CCSN) could, in principle, reveal if neutrino mass ordering is normal or inverted. One of the possible ways to identify the mass ordering is through the observation of the modulations that appear in the spectrum when neutrinos travel through the Earth before they arrive at the detector. These features in the neutrino spectrum depend on two factors, the average neutrino energies, and the difference between the primary neutrino fluxes of electron and other flavors produced inside the supernova. However, recent studies indicate that the Earth matter effect for CCSN neutrinos is expected to be rather small and difficult to be observed by currently operating or planned neutrino detectors mainly because of the similarity of average energies and fluxes between electron and other flavors of neutrinos, unless the distance to CCSN is significantly smaller than the typically expected one, ∼ 10 kpc. Here, we are looking towards the possibility if the non-standard neutrino properties such as decay of neutrinos can enhance the Earth matter effect. In this work we show that invisible neutrino decay can potentially enhance significantly the Earth matter effect for both νe and ν̅e channels at the same time for both mass orderings, even if the neutrino spectra between electron and other flavors of neutrinos are very similar, which is a different feature not expected for CCSN neutrinos with standard oscillation without the decay effect.

Dirac CP phases in a 3 + 1 neutrino scenario with $$\mu -\tau $$ symmetry

A sterile neutrino in the $$3+1$$ 3 + 1 scheme, where the sterile accounts for neutrino anomalies not explained solely by the weak active neutrinos, arises as a natural source for the breaking of the $$\mu -\tau $$ μ - τ symmetry suggested by oscillation neutrino data. We explore the predictions for the Dirac CP phases in this scenario, with and without sterile neutrino decay, and show that current limits on $$\delta _{CP}$$ δ CP suggest a normal hierarchy and a lightest neutrino scale below 0.1 eV as the most plausible explanation for that, when Majorana phases are null. Other Dirac phases turn out to be non zero as well.

Dark Matter Sterile Neutrino from Scalar Decays

We place constraints on DM sterile neutrino scalar decay production (SDP) assuming that sterile neutrinos representa fraction from the total Cold Dark Matter energy density. For the cosmological analysis we complement the CMB anisotropy measurements with CMB lensing gravitational potential measurements, that are sensitive to the DM distribution to high redshifts and with the cosmic shear data that constrain the gravitational potential at lower redshifts than CMB. We also use the most recent low-redshift BAO measurements that are insensitive to the non-linear effects, providing robust geometrical tests. We show that our datasets have enough sensitivity to constrain the sterile neutrino mass mνs and the mass fraction fS inside the co-moving free-streaming horizon. We find that the best fit value mνs=7.88±0.73 keV (68% CL) is in the parameter space of interest for DM sterile neutrino decay interpretation of the 3.5 keV X-ray line and that fS=0.86±0.07 (68% CL) is in agreement with the upper limit constraint on fS from the X-ray non-detection and Ly-α forest measurements that rejects fS=1 at 3σ. However, we expect that the future BAO and weak lensing surveys, such as EUCLID, will provide much more robust constraints.

The Neutrino Decay of the Free Neutron and the Neutrino Structure According to the Planck Vacuum Theory

The Planck vacuum (PV) theory derives equations for the neutrino and antineutrino, and relates them to the unstable free neutron and antineutron. Remarkably, these neu- trons and neutrinos share the same wavefunction solutions that describe the proton and electron and their antiparticle cores. The neutrino and antineutrino are chargeless and massless; so their propagation through matter goes unnoticed, making these neutrinos invisible. The equations to follow that describe these pseudo-particles are the theoretical embodiment of the circa 1930 Pauli neutrino hypothesis. Finally, depending on one’s perspective, the neutrons can be viewed as decaying meta-particles or as stable nuclear particles.

Invisible neutrino decay: first vs second oscillation maximum

We study the physics potential of the long-baseline experiments T2HK, T2HKK and ESSνSB in the context of invisible neutrino decay. We consider normal mass ordering and assume the state ν3 as unstable, decaying into sterile states during the flight and obtain constraints on the neutrino decay lifetime (τ3). We find that T2HK, T2HKK and ESSνSB are sensitive to the decay-rate of ν3 for τ3/m3 ≤ 2.72 × 10−11s/eV, τ3/m3 ≤ 4.36 × 10−11s/eV and τ3/m3 ≤ 2.43 × 10−11s/eV respectively at 3σ C.L. We compare and contrast the sensitivities of the three experiments and specially investigate the role played by the mixing angle θ23. It is seen that for experiments with flux peak near the second oscillation maxima, the poorer sensitivity to θ23 results in weaker constraints on the decay lifetime. Although, T2HKK has one detector close to the second oscillation maxima, having another detector at the first oscillation maxima results in superior sensitivity to decay. In addition, we find a synergy between the two baselines of the T2HKK experiment which helps in giving a better sensitivity to decay for θ23 in the higher octant. We discuss the octant sensitivity in presence of decay and show that there is an enhancement in sensitivity which occurs due to the contribution from the survival probability Pμμ is more pronounced for the experiments at the second oscillation maxima. We also obtain the combined sensitivity of T2HK+ESSνSB and T2HKK+ESSνSB as τ3/m3 ≤ 4.36 × 10−11s/eV and τ3/m3 ≤ 5.53 × 10−11s/eV respectively at 3σ C.L.

Exploring invisible neutrino decay at ESSnuSB

We explore invisible neutrino decay in which a heavy active neutrino state decays into a light sterile neutrino state and present a comparative analysis of two baseline options, 540 km and 360 km, for the ESSnuSB experimental setup. Our analysis shows that ESSnuSB can put a bound on the decay parameter τ3/m3 = 2.64 (1.68) × 10−11 s/eV for the baseline option of 360 (540) km at 3σ. The expected bound obtained for 360 km is slightly better than the corresponding one of DUNE for a charged current (CC) analysis. Furthermore, we show that the capability of ESSnuSB to discover decay, and to measure the decay parameter precisely, is better for the baseline option of 540 km than that of 360 km. Regarding effects of decay in δCP measurements, we find that in general the CP violation discovery potential is better in the presence of decay. The change in CP precision is significant if one assumes decay in data but no decay in theory.