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Sterile neutrinos: propagation in matter and sensitivity to sterile mass ordering
A bstract We analytically calculate the neutrino conversion probability P μe in the presence of sterile neutrinos, with exact dependence on ∆ m 41 2 and with matter effects explicitly included. Using perturbative expansion in small parameters, the terms involving the small mixing angles θ 24 and θ 3...
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Published in: | The journal of high energy physics 2023-02, Vol.2023 (2), p.44-25, Article 44 |
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Main Authors: | , , , , , |
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Subjects: | |
Citations: | Items that this one cites |
Online Access: | Get full text |
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Summary: | A
bstract
We analytically calculate the neutrino conversion probability
P
μe
in the presence of sterile neutrinos, with exact dependence on
∆
m
41
2
and with matter effects explicitly included. Using perturbative expansion in small parameters, the terms involving the small mixing angles
θ
24
and
θ
34
can be separated out, with
θ
34
dependence only arising due to matter effects. We express
P
μe
in terms of the quantities of the form sin(
x
)
/x
, which helps in elucidating its dependence on matter effects and a wide range of
∆
m
41
2
values. Our analytic expressions allow us to predict the effects of the sign of
∆
m
41
2
at a long baseline experiment like DUNE. We numerically calculate the sensitivity of DUNE to the sterile mass ordering and find that this sensitivity can be significant in the range
∣
Δ
m
41
2
∣
∼
10
−
4
−
10
−
2
eV
2
, for either mass ordering of active neutrinos. The dependence of this sensitivity on the value of
∆
m
41
2
for all mass ordering combinations can be explained by investigating the resonance-like terms appearing due to the interplay between the sterile sector and matter effects. |
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ISSN: | 1029-8479 1029-8479 |
DOI: | 10.1007/JHEP02(2023)044 |