New detector could reveal hidden physics in neutrino behavior
A proposed physics experiment could detect subtle deviations in how neutrinos interact with matter, constraining theoretical models of physics beyond current understanding. The finding matters because it could validate or eliminate competing theories about fundamental forces, shaping the next generation of particle physics research and detector design.
Originaltitel: Searching non-standard interactions with atmospheric neutrinos at ESSnuSB
A bstract Atmospheric neutrinos provide a unique avenue to study neutrino interactions in matter. In this work, the prospects of constraining non-standard neutrino interactions with atmospheric neutrino oscillations are investigated for the proposed ESSnuSB far detector. By analyzing atmospheric neutrino samples equivalent to 5.4 Mt·year exposure, it is found that ESSnuSB could be able to set the upper bounds $$ \mid {\epsilon}_{e\mu}^m\mid <0.053 $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mo>∣</mml:mo> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mi>ϵ</mml:mi> <mml:mi>eμ</mml:mi> <mml:mi>m</mml:mi> </mml:msubsup> <mml:mo>∣</mml:mo> <mml:mo><</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.053</mml:mn> </mml:math> , $$ \mid {\epsilon}_{e\tau}^m\mid <0.057 $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mo>∣</mml:mo> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mi>ϵ</mml:mi> <mml:mi>eτ</mml:mi> <mml:mi>m</mml:mi> </mml:msubsup> <mml:mo>∣</mml:mo> <mml:mo><</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.057</mml:mn> </mml:math> , $$ \mid {\epsilon}_{\mu \tau}^m\mid <0.021 $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mo>∣</mml:mo> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mi>ϵ</mml:mi> <mml:mi>μτ</mml:mi> <mml:mi>m</mml:mi> </mml:msubsup> <mml:mo>∣</mml:mo> <mml:mo><</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.021</mml:mn> </mml:math> , $$ {\epsilon}_{ee}^m-{\epsilon}_{\mu \mu}^m<0.075 $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mi>ϵ</mml:mi> <mml:mi>ee</mml:mi> <mml:mi>m</mml:mi> </mml:msubsup> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mi>ϵ</mml:mi> <mml:mi>μμ</mml:mi> <mml:mi>m</mml:mi> </mml:msubsup> <mml:mo><</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.075</mml:mn> </mml:math> and $$ \mid {\epsilon}_{\tau \tau}^m-{\epsilon}_{\mu \mu}^m\mid <0.031 $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mo>∣</mml:mo> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mi>ϵ</mml:mi> <mml:mi>ττ</mml:mi> <mml:mi>m</mml:mi> </mml:msubsup> <mml:mo>−</mml:mo> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mi>ϵ</mml:mi> <mml:mi>μμ</mml:mi> <mml:mi>m</mml:mi> </mml:msubsup> <mml:mo>∣</mml:mo> <mml:mo><</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0.031</mml:mn> </mml:math> at 90% CL, when the results are minimized for $$ {\phi}_{e\mu}^m $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mi>ϕ</mml:mi> <mml:mi>eμ</mml:mi> <mml:mi>m</mml:mi> </mml:msubsup> </mml:math> , $$ {\phi}_{e\tau}^m $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mi>ϕ</mml:mi> <mml:mi>eτ</mml:mi> <mml:mi>m</mml:mi> </mml:msubsup> </mml:math> and $$ {\phi}_{\mu \tau}^m $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mi>ϕ</mml:mi> <mml:mi>μτ</mml:mi> <mml:mi>m</mml:mi> </mml:msubsup> </mml:math> and normal ordering is assumed for neutrino masses. It is also shown that the presence of non-standard interactions could affect the sensitivities to neutrino mass ordering and θ 23 octant in comparison to the standard interaction scheme. The results of this work highlight the complementarity between atmospheric and accelerator neutrino programs in ESSnuSB.