Searches for heavy neutrinos from Z decays

• Published in: Physics letters. B 1992, Vol.274 (2), p.230-238
• Main Authors: Adye, T., Alvsvaag, S.J., Astier, P., Barbiellini, G., Battaglia, M., Begalli, M., Beilliere, P., Billoir, P., Bocci, V., Boratav, M., Borgeaud, P., Bostjancic, B., Braibant, S., Brummer, N., Camporesi, T., Cao, F., Carena, F., Castillo Gimenez, M.V., Cattai, A., Checchia, P., Crawley, H.B., Damgaard, G., David, P., Doroba, K., Drees, J., Forsbach, H., Gavillet, P., Gopal, G., Grossetete, B., Hajduk, Z., Hernandez, J.J., Higgins, C.O., Hofmokl, T., Holthuizen, D., Hooper, J.E., Houlden, M., Hultqvist, K., Iversen, P.-S., Jackson, J.N., Jean-Marie, B., Johansson, E.K., Jonker, M., Kalkanis, G., Klovning, A., Koratzinos, M., Korytov, A.V., Kourkoumelis, C., Kronkvist, I., Kruener-Marquis, U., Lapin, V., Leder, G., Lepeltier, V., Llosa, R., Lopez Aguera, M.A., Mandl, F., Mathis, L., Matteuzzi, C., Mazzucato, M., Meola, G., Moenig, K., Myatt, G., Nikolaenko, V., Orava, R., Ouraou, A., Papadopoulou, T., Pegoraro, M., Perevozchikov, V., Perrotta, A., Pol, M.E., Privitera, P., Pullia, A., Richardson, M., Ronnqvist, C., Rossi, U., Ruhlmann, V., Scuri, F., Siegrist, P., Smadja, G., Smith, G.R., Stocchi, A., Strauss, J., Szymanski, P., Tabarelli, T., Timmermans, J., Timofeev, V.G., Toker, O., Trainor, M.T., Turala, M., Ullaland, O., Ventura, L., Vertogradov, L.S., Vlasov, E., Wahlen, H., Werner, J., Williams, W.S.C., Wormald, D., Yamdagni, N., Zalewska, A., Zalewski, P., Zumerle, G.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Classical and quantum physics: mechanics and fields; Exact sciences and technology; General theory of scattering; High Energy Physics - Experiment; Physics
• ISSN: 0370-2693; 1873-2445
• DOI: 10.1016/0370-2693(92)90528-C

We have searched for possible fourth family heavy neutrinos, pair produced in Z 0 decays, in a sample of about 112 000 hadronic Z 0 final states collected with the DELPHI detector. For all mixing matrix elements we exclude a new Dirac neutrino lighter than 44.5 GeV at a 95% confidence level, if the neutrino couples to the electron or muon family, and lighter than 44.0 GeV, if the neutrino couples to the tau family. Depending on the values of the mixing element and to which lepton family the neutrino couples, we obtain mass limits up to 46.2 GeV. For all mixing matrix elements we exclude a new Majorana neutrino lighter than 39.0 GeV, if it couples to the electron or the muon family, and lighter than 38.2 GeV, if it couples to the tau family. Depending on the values of the mixing matrix element and to which lepton family the neutrino couples, we obtain mass limits up to 44.7 GeV. We also exclude stable new Dirac neutrinos lighter than 45.0 GeV and new Majorana neutrinos lighter than 39.5 GeV.