New constraints on heavy neutral leptons from Super-Kamiokande data

Journal Article · 12 March 2020 · European Physical Journal. C, Particles and Fields

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-020-7795-z · OSTI ID:1619343

Coloma, P. ^[1]; Hernández, P. ^[1]; Muñoz, V. ^[1]; Shoemaker, I. M. ^[2]

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1. Instituto de Física Corpuscular (IFIC), Valencia (Spain). Edificio Institutos Investigacion
2. Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA (United States). Center for Neutrino Physics

Heavy neutral leptons are predicted in many extensions of the Standard Model with massive neutrinos. If kinematically accessible, they can be copiously produced from kaon and pion decays in atmospheric showers, and subsequently decay inside large neutrino detectors. We perform a search for these long-lived particles using Super-Kamiokande multi-GeV neutrino data and derive stringent limits on the mixing with electron, muon and tau neutrinos as a function of the long-lived particle mass. We also present the limits on the branching ratio versus lifetime plane, which are helpful in determining the constraints in non-minimal models where the heavy neutral leptons have new interactions with the Standard Model.

• Research Organization: Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ. (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg, VA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC)
• Grant/Contract Number: SC0020250; FPA2017-85985-P; PROMETEO/2019/083; H2020-MSCAITN-2015//674896-ELUSIVES; 690575-InvisiblesPlus-H2020-MSCA-RISE-2015
• OSTI ID: 1619343
• Alternate ID(s): OSTI ID: 1803936
• Journal Information: European Physical Journal. C, Particles and Fields, Vol. 80, Issue 3; ISSN 1434-6044
• Publisher: SpringerCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English