118491521
Model independent explorations of Majorana neutrino mass origins
The scale of neutrino mass generation may be too large to explore directly, but useful information may still be extracted from independent experimental channels. Here I survey various model independent probes of Majorana neutrino mass origins. An introduction to the concepts relevant to the analysis is followed by a discussion of the physical ranges of neutrino parameters within the context of standard and non-standard interactions. Armed with this, I move on to systematically analyze the properties of radiatively generated neutrino masses induced by nonrenormalizable lepton number violating effective operators of mass dimensions five through eleven. By fitting these to the observed light mass scale, I extract predictions for neutrino mixing as well as neutrinoless double beta decay, rare meson/tau decays and collider phenomenology. I find that many such models are already constrained by current data and many more will be probed in the near future. I then move on demonstrate the utility of a low scale seesaw mechanism via a viable sterile neutrino model that satisfies all oscillation data as well as solves problems associated with supernova kicks and heavy element nucleosynthesis. From this I extract predictions for tritium and neutrinoless double beta decay searches.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
120287965
Some remarks on causality, Lorentz invariance and the generalized Matthews' rule for a massive spin one vector field in an external potential
A massive spin one vector field is quantized in the presence of an external potential, with source linear in the vector field, to provide an illustration of the aspects of a quantum theory in an external potential, which are reflections of the causal nature of the corresponding classical theory. In the examples considered, the S operator of the quantum theory is found to be Lorentz invariant or not, according as the corresponding classical theory is causal or not. The normal dependence of the interaction hamiltonian, and the applicability of the generalized Matthews' rule are also discussed.
119095778
Initial optical results for the ChaMPlane Survey
We provide a brief description of the optical survey being conducted under the NOAO Long Term Surveys program in support of the Chandra Multiwavelength Plane (ChaMPlane) Survey (see paper by Grindlay et al. in this Volume). A representative photometry result is shown, along with spectroscopic followup.