Probing mass orderings in presence of a very light sterile neutrino in a liquid argon detector

Journal Article · 11 October 2023 · Nuclear Physics. B

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nuclphysb.2023.116370 · OSTI ID:2202954

Chatterjee, Animesh  ^[1]; Goswami, Srubabati  ^[2]; Pan, Supriya  ^[3]

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1. Physical Research Laboratory (India); European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva (Switzerland)
2. Physical Research Laboratory (India)
3. Physical Research Laboratory (India); Indian Inst. of Technology (IIT) (India)

Results from experiments like LSND and MiniBooNE hint towards the possible presence of an extra eV scale sterile neutrino. The addition of such a neutrino will significantly impact the standard three flavor neutrino oscillations. In particular, it can give rise to additional degeneracies due to additional sterile parameters. For an eV scale sterile neutrino, the cosmological constraints dictate that the sterile state is heavier than the three active states. However, for lower masses of sterile neutrinos, the sterile state can be lighter than one and/or more of the three states. In such cases, the mass ordering of the sterile neutrinos also becomes unknown, along with the mass ordering of the active states. In this paper, we explore the mass ordering sensitivity in the presence of a sterile neutrino assuming the mass squared difference |Δ₄₁| to be in the range 10^–4 –1 eV². We study (i) how the ordering of the active states, i.e. the determination of the sign of Δ₃₁ gets affected by the presence of a sterile neutrino in the above mass range, (ii) the possible determination of the sign of Δ₄₁ for Δ₄₁ in the range 10^–4 –0.1 eV². This analysis is done in the context of a liquid argon detector using beam neutrinos traveling a distance of 1300 km and atmospheric neutrinos that propagate through a distance ranging from 10 – 10000 km, allowing resonant matter effects. Apart from presenting separate results from these sources, we also do a combined study and probe the synergy between these two in giving an enhanced sensitivity.

• Research Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-07CH11359
• OSTI ID: 2202954
• Report Number(s): FERMILAB-PUB--23-494-V; arXiv:2307.12885; oai:inspirehep.net:2679845
• Journal Information: Nuclear Physics. B, Journal Name: Nuclear Physics. B Vol. 996; ISSN 0550-3213
• Publisher: ElsevierCopyright Statement
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English