12442898
What can we learn from neutrino electron scattering
Precision tests of the standard model are essential for constraining models of new physics. Neutrino-electron elastic scattering offers a clean probe into many electroweak effects that are complimentary to the more canonical measurements done at collider facilities. Such reactions are rare, even as compared with the already tiny cross sections for neutrino-nucleon scattering, and competitive precision measurements have historically been challenging to obtain. Because of new existing and proposed high-flux neutrino sources, this is about to change. We present a topical survey of precision measurements that can be done with neutrino-electron scattering in light of these new developments. Specifically, we consider four distinct neutrino sources: nuclear reactors, neutrino factories, beta beams, and conventional beams. For each source we estimate the expected future precision of several representative observables, including the weak mixing angle, neutrino magnetic moments, and potential leptonic ${Z}^{\ensuremath{'}}$ couplings. We find that future neutrino-electron scattering experiments should add nontrivially to our understanding of fundamental physics.
119278741
Some radiative corrections to neutrino scattering: Neutral currents
With the advent of high precision neutrino scattering experiments comes the need for improved radiative corrections. We present a phenomenological analysis of some contributions to the production of photons in neutrino neutral current scattering that are relevant to experiments subsuming the 1 % level of accuracy.
119284838
Physical range of majorana neutrino mixing parameters
If neutrinos are Majorana fermions, the lepton mixing parameter space consists of six mixing parameters: three mixing angles and three CP-odd phases. A related issue concerns the physical range of the mixing parameters. What values should these take so that all physically distinguishable mixing scenarios are realized? We present a detailed discussion of the lepton mixing parameter space in the case of two and three active neutrinos and in the case of three active and N sterile neutrinos. We emphasize that this question, which has been a source of confusion even among neutrino physicists, is connected to an unambiguous definition of the neutrino mass eigenstates. We find that all Majorana phases can always be constrained to lie between 0 and {pi}, and that all mixing angles can be chosen positive and at most less than or equal to {pi}/2 provided the Dirac phases are allowed to vary between -{pi} and {pi}. We illustrate our results with several examples. Finally, we point out that, in the case of new flavor-changing neutrino interactions, the lepton mixing parameter space may need to be enlarged. We properly qualify this statement, and offer concrete examples.
118891248
Neutrino mass hierarchy, vacuum oscillations, and vanishing|Ue3|
Is the relatively isolated member of the neutrino mass spectrum heavier or lighter than the two closely-spaced members? This question--the character of the neutrino mass hierarchy--is of great theoretical interest. All previously identified experiments for addressing it via neutrino oscillations require that the currently unknown size of the U{sub e3} element of the leptonic mixing matrix (parameterized by the unknown {theta}{sub 13} mixing angle) be sufficiently large, and will utterly fail in the limit {theta}{sub 13}{yields}0. For this reason, we explore alternative oscillation approaches that would still succeed even if {theta}{sub 13} vanishes. We identify several alternatives that require neither a nonzero vertical bar U{sub e3} vertical bar nor the presence of significant matter effects (even if the latter are unavoidable in the case of long-baseline, Earth-based experiments). All include multiple percent-level neutrino oscillation measurements, usually involving muon-neutrino (or antineutrino) disappearance and very long baselines. We comment on the degree of promise that these alternative approaches show.
119115901
Pseudo-Dirac Neutrinos in the New Standard Model
The addition of gauge-singlet fermions to the standard model Lagrangian renders the neutrinos massive and allows one to explain all that is experimentally known about neutrino masses and lepton mixing by varying the values of the Majorana mass parameters M for the gauge singlets and the neutrino Yukawa couplings {lambda}. Here we explore the region of parameter space where M values are much smaller than the neutrino Dirac masses {lambda}v. In this region, neutrinos are pseudo-Dirac fermions. We find that current solar data constrain M values to be less than at least 10{sup -9} eV, and discuss the sensitivity of future experiments to tiny gauge-singlet fermion masses. We also discuss a useful basis for analyzing pseudo-Dirac neutrino mixing effects. In particular, we identify a simple relationship between elements of M and the induced enlarged mixing matrix and new mass-squared differences. These allow one to directly relate bounds on the new mass-squared differences to bounds on the singlet fermion Majorana masses.
121227319
What is the Energy Scale of the Physics Responsible for Neutrino Masses
The observed tiny but non-zero neutrino masses are often interpreted as evidence for new physics at energy scales above 1010 TeV. This statement is based on several assumptions, including (a) neutrinos are Ma-jorana fermions, (b) the physics responsible for neutrino masses is not very weakly coupled, and (c) the new physics sector – responsible for lepton number breaking – couples to the Standard Model in a 'simple' way. We point out that the issue of the energy scale associated to neutrino masses is far from a resolved and that we should turn to data in order to elucidate it. In particular, if one opts out of (c), the new physics responsible for neutrino masses could be associated to energy scales anywhere between 0.1 and 1012 TeV, even if one assumes that the new physics couplings to the standard model are order one. We study the neutrino phenomenology of all possible effective operators that break lepton number by two units and use those as estimates of the effect of 'all' models of high energy lepton-number breaking. We then estimate the effects of these different types of new physics on other lepton-number violating observables, including neutrinoless double-beta decay, collider signatures, and rare meson decays.
121923701
Constraints, causality and Lorentz invariance
Simple theories of interacting classical relativistic massive spin-1 and spin-3/2 fields are studied. In these examples, it is found that if a theory is acausal in the sense of Velo and Zwanziger, it is also not Lorentz covariant. The breakdown of Lorentz covariance is seen to manifest itself in the constraints, which must be satisfied by the interacting fields, not determining all the dependent fields components simultaneously in all inertial frames of reference. Some remarks on the present state of massive spin-3/2 theories are made.
120856316
The electromagnetic interaction of a massive spin one particle: some equivalence theorems and remarks
The minimal electromagnetic interaction is introduced into various free, quantum mechanical spin one formalisms, and it is found that the resulting theories are essentially equivalent. The situation does not prevail when, in addition, magnetic dipole or electric quadrupole interactions are considered. For simple such interactions in one formalism are found, in general, to be equivalent to structurally more complicated interactions in the other formalisms considered. Some known results on the acausal propagation of solutions of wave equations for a classical spin one particle in an external electromagnetic field are, with the aid of the above equivalence theorems, which are easily seen to apply to the classical case also, extended to include all the spin one formalisms considered herein.
122319907
The propagation of an interacting spin one field
123580085
The relationship between causality, in a classical relativistic field theory, and Lorentz invariance in the corresponding quantum theory, for a massive spin-one field in external potentials
A massive spin-one field, interacting with external potentials, is described in terms of the Stuckelberg formalism (1938). Some points, concerning necessary and sufficient conditions for the classical theory to be causal, in the sense of Velo and Zwanziger (1969 and 1971) are clarified. It is then shown that with a simple restriction on the type of interaction considered, the classical theory is causal, in the above sense, if and only if the corresponding quantum theory is Lorentz invariant, in that the S operator in the interaction picture is normal independent. Incidental in this demonstration is the result that the characteristic and Lee-Yang determinants share the same form. It is indicated how this result generalized to interactions between Stuckelberg, Klein-Gordon and electromagnetic fields and the validity of the result, in the more usual vector formalism is established.
122775679
An equivalence theorem for a massive spin one particle interacting with Dirac particles in quantum field theory
The (1,0)(+)(0,1) massive spin one field phi mu nu (x) is quantized following the method of Takahashi and Umezawa (1953). The interaction Hamiltonian in the interaction picture is then calculated for such a field interacting in a simple way with Dirac fields. In contrast with a remark of Kyriakopoulos (1969) the generalized Matthews' theorem is found to apply to the calculation of S matrix elements. The analogous theory in terms of the Proca field is given in outline, and the two theories are found to be inequivalent. A discussion of how the inequivalence arises is given; then it is demonstrated how equivalent theories may be constructed, and the equivalence is proved.