Constraints on sterile neutrinos in the MeV to GeV mass range

Bryman, D. A.; Shrock, Robert

doi:10.1103/physrevd.100.073011

Cited by 104 publications

(111 citation statements)

References 242 publications

(204 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

109

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Above M N 2 GeV, the strongest constraints come from DELPHI [133] and lepton universality measurements [124]. Recently, precise measurements of the ratio Br(π + → e + ν e )/Br(π + → µ + ν µ ) have allowed for improved limits for M N 60 MeV [125,126]. For M N between roughly 150 MeV and 450 MeV, we include a preliminary limit from the NA62 experiment [134] that is stronger than any existing ones in this range.…”

Section: Existing Limitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Searches for decays of new particles in the DUNE Multi-Purpose near Detector

Berryman

Gouvêa

Fox

et al. 2020

J. High Energ. Phys.

166

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

One proposed component of the upcoming Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) near detector complex is a multi-purpose, magnetized, gaseous argon time projection chamber: the Multi-Purpose Detector (MPD). We explore the new-physics potential of the MPD, focusing on scenarios in which the MPD is significantly more sensitive to new physics than a liquid argon detector, specifically searches for semi-long-lived particles that are produced in/near the beam target and decay in the MPD. The specific physics possibilities studied are searches for dark vector bosons mixing kinetically with the Standard Model hypercharge group, leptophilic vector bosons, dark scalars mixing with the Standard Model Higgs boson, and heavy neutral leptons that mix with the Standard Model neutrinos. We demonstrate that the MPD can extend existing bounds in most of these scenarios. We illustrate how the ability of the MPD to measure the momentum and charge of the final state particles leads to these bounds. arXiv:1912.07622v1 [hep-ph] 16 Dec 2019 Liquid Argon Near Detector: The liquid argon near detector has a width (transverse to the beam direction) of 7 m, a height of 3 m, and a length (in the beam direction) of 5 m. The fiducial mass of the near detector is 50 t of argon. See Ref. [2] for more detail.Multi-Purpose Detector: The Multi-Purpose Detector (MPD) is a magnetic spectrometer with a cylindrical high-pressure gaseous argon time projection chamber (HPTPC) at its heart. The HPTPC has a diameter of 5 m and a length of 5 m. It is surrounded by an electromagnetic calorimeter (ECAL) and the HPTPC+ECAL system is situated inside a magnet with 0.5 T central field. The axis of the cylinder is perpendicular to the beam direction. However, for simplicity, when simulating our signals (see Section 3), * Some projections of DUNE operation include the possibility of an upgraded beam (roughly twice the number of protons on target per year) that can operate in the second half of the experiment. We assume a constant number of protons on target per year, so our ten-year projection is equivalent to a shorter operation time with such an upgraded beam. † This is in contrast with the LArTPC, where the conversion distance of photons is O(10 cm). Far more photons can fake the signal of e + e − in the LArTPC than in the HPTPC. * Ref. [63] provides a thorough review of searches for dark photons and existing constraints. * The results of this analysis in antineutrino mode are qualitatively equivalent.

show abstract

Section: Existing Limitsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Searches for decays of new particles in the DUNE Multi-Purpose near Detector

Berryman

Gouvêa

Fox

et al. 2020

J. High Energ. Phys.

166

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For sterile neutrinos with masses O(100) MeV and mixing only with ν τ , the charged-current processes are kinematically forbidden. Thus, in the following we will only consider the allowed neutral-current decay processes [38][39][40][41][42] ν 4 → νπ 0 ,…”

Section: Heavy Sterile Neutrino Decaysmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heavy sterile neutrino emission in core-collapse supernovae: constraints and signatures

Mastrototaro¹,

Mirizzi

Serpico

et al. 2020

J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Heavy sterile neutrinos with masses O(100) MeV mixing with active neutrinos can be produced in the core of a collapsing supernova (SN). In order to avoid an excessive energy loss, shortening the observed duration of the SN 1987A neutrino burst, we show that the active-sterile neutrino mixing angle should satisfy sin 2 θ 5 × 10 −7 . For a mixing with tau flavour, this bound is much stronger than the ones from laboratory searches. Moreover, we show that in the viable parameter space the decay of such "heavy" sterile neutrinos in the SN envelope would lead to a very energetic flux of daughter active neutrinos; if not too far below current limits, this would be detectable in large underground neutrino observatories, like Super-Kamiokande, as a (slightly time-delayed) high-energy bump in the spectrum of a forthcoming Galactic SN event.

show abstract

“…Utilising the helicity suppression of the π → eν decay channel in comparision to π → µν channel, the presence of N induces extra peaks in the lower positron energy region. Improving on previous results limited by the background µ + → e + ν eνµ , the collaboration set limits at the level of |V N | 2 10 −8 in the range 60 MeV < m N < 129 MeV [84][85][86].…”

Section: Meson Decays and Beam-dump Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neutrinoless double beta decay versus other probes of heavy sterile neutrinos

Bolton

Deppisch

Dev³

2020

J. High Energ. Phys.

155

138

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We make a comparative study of the neutrinoless double beta decay constraints on heavy sterile neutrinos versus other direct and indirect constraints from both lepton number conserving and violating processes, as a sensitive probe of the extent of lepton number violation and possible interference effects in the sterile sector. To this effect, we introduce a phenomenological parametrisation of the simplified one-generation seesaw model with one active and two sterile neutrino states in terms of experimentally measurable quantities, such as active-sterile neutrino mixing angles, CP phases, masses and mass splittings. This simple parametrisation enables us to analytically derive a spectrum of possible scenarios between the canonical seesaw with purely Majorana heavy neutrinos and inverse seesaw with pseudo-Dirac ones. We then go on to constrain the simplified parameters of this model from various experiments in energy, intensity and cosmic frontiers. We emphasise that the constraints from lepton number violating processes strongly depend on the mass splitting between the two sterile states and the relative CP phase between them. This is particularly relevant for the neutrinoless double beta decay constraint, which could now get significantly weaker for small mass splitting and opposite CP parities between the sterile states. It is important to keep this in mind while comparing the neutrinoless double beta decay constraint with the direct search limits in the electron flavour from high-energy colliders.

show abstract

Constraints on sterile neutrinos in the MeV to GeV mass range

Cited by 104 publications

References 242 publications

Searches for decays of new particles in the DUNE Multi-Purpose near Detector

Searches for decays of new particles in the DUNE Multi-Purpose near Detector

Heavy sterile neutrino emission in core-collapse supernovae: constraints and signatures

Neutrinoless double beta decay versus other probes of heavy sterile neutrinos

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About