Abstract
We explore the hypothesis that the unexplained data from Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector (LSND) and MiniBooNE experiments are evidence for a new, heavy neutrino mass-eigenstate that mixes with the muon-type neutrino and decays into an electron-type neutrino and a new, very light scalar particle. We consider two different decay scenarios, one with Majorana neutrinos, one with Dirac neutrinos; both fit the data equally well. We find a reasonable, albeit not excellent, fit to the data of MiniBooNE and LSND. The decaying-sterile-neutrino hypothesis, however, cleanly evades constraints from disappearance searches and precision measurements of leptonic meson decays, as long as 1 MeV ≳ m4 ≳ 10 keV. The Short-Baseline Neutrino Program (SBN) at Fermilab should be able to definitively test the decaying-sterile-neutrino hypothesis.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Explore related subjects
Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
LSND collaboration, Evidence for neutrino oscillations from the observation of \( {\overline{\nu}}_e \) appearance in a \( {\overline{\nu}}_{\mu } \) beam, Phys. Rev. D 64 (2001) 112007 [hep-ex/0104049] [INSPIRE].
MiniBooNE collaboration, A Search for Electron Neutrino Appearance at the ∆m2 ∼ 1 eV2 Scale, Phys. Rev. Lett. 98 (2007) 231801 [arXiv:0704.1500] [INSPIRE].
MiniBooNE collaboration, Significant Excess of ElectronLike Events in the MiniBooNE Short-Baseline Neutrino Experiment, Phys. Rev. Lett. 121 (2018) 221801 [arXiv:1805.12028] [INSPIRE].
MiniBooNE collaboration, Event Excess in the MiniBooNE Search for \( {\overline{\nu}}_{\mu } \) → \( {\overline{\nu}}_e \) Oscillations, Phys. Rev. Lett. 105 (2010) 181801 [arXiv:1007.1150] [INSPIRE].
G.H. Collin, C.A. Argüelles, J.M. Conrad and M.H. Shaevitz, First Constraints on the Complete Neutrino Mixing Matrix with a Sterile Neutrino, Phys. Rev. Lett. 117 (2016) 221801 [arXiv:1607.00011] [INSPIRE].
M. Dentler et al., Updated Global Analysis of Neutrino Oscillations in the Presence of eV-Scale Sterile Neutrinos, JHEP 08 (2018) 010 [arXiv:1803.10661] [INSPIRE].
S. Böser et al., Status of Light Sterile Neutrino Searches, Prog. Part. Nucl. Phys. 111 (2020) 103736 [arXiv:1906.01739] [INSPIRE].
A. Diaz, C.A. Argüelles, G.H. Collin, J.M. Conrad and M.H. Shaevitz, Where Are We With Light Sterile Neutrinos?, arXiv:1906.00045 [INSPIRE].
S. Palomares-Ruiz, S. Pascoli and T. Schwetz, Explaining LSND by a decaying sterile neutrino, JHEP 09 (2005) 048 [hep-ph/0505216] [INSPIRE].
S.N. Gninenko, The MiniBooNE anomaly and heavy neutrino decay, Phys. Rev. Lett. 103 (2009) 241802 [arXiv:0902.3802] [INSPIRE].
S.N. Gninenko and D.S. Gorbunov, The MiniBooNE anomaly, the decay \( {D}_s^{+}\to {\mu}^{+}{\nu}_{\mu } \) and heavy sterile neutrino, Phys. Rev. D 81 (2010) 075013 [arXiv:0907.4666] [INSPIRE].
S.N. Gninenko, A resolution of puzzles from the LSND, KARMEN and MiniBooNE experiments, Phys. Rev. D 83 (2011) 015015 [arXiv:1009.5536] [INSPIRE].
C. Dib, J.C. Helo, S. Kovalenko and I. Schmidt, Sterile neutrino decay explanation of LSND and MiniBooNE anomalies, Phys. Rev. D 84 (2011) 071301 [arXiv:1105.4664] [INSPIRE].
J. Schechter and J.W.F. Valle, Neutrino Decay and Spontaneous Violation of Lepton Number, Phys. Rev. D 25 (1982) 774 [INSPIRE].
Y. Chikashige, R.N. Mohapatra and R.D. Peccei, Spontaneously Broken Lepton Number and Cosmological Constraints on the Neutrino Mass Spectrum, Phys. Rev. Lett. 45 (1980) 1926 [INSPIRE].
Z.G. Berezhiani and M. Khlopov, Physics of cosmological dark matter in the theory of broken family symmetry (in Russian), Sov. J. Nucl. Phys. 52 (1990) 60 [INSPIRE].
A.G. Doroshkevich, A.A. Klypin and M.Y. Khlopov, Cosmological Models with Unstable Neutrinos, Sov. Astron. 32 (1988) 127.
G.B. Gelmini and M. Roncadelli, Left-Handed Neutrino Mass Scale and Spontaneously Broken Lepton Number, Phys. Lett. B 99 (1981) 411 [INSPIRE].
G.B. Gelmini and J.W.F. Valle, Fast Invisible Neutrino Decays, Phys. Lett. B 142 (1984) 181 [INSPIRE].
S. Bertolini and A. Santamaria, The Doublet Majoron Model and Solar Neutrino Oscillations, Nucl. Phys. B 310 (1988) 714 [INSPIRE].
A. Santamaria and J.W.F. Valle, Spontaneous R-Parity Violation in Supersymmetry: A Model for Solar Neutrino Oscillations, Phys. Lett. B 195 (1987) 423 [INSPIRE].
D. Cogollo, H. Diniz, C.A. de S. Pires and P.S. Rodrigues da Silva, The Seesaw mechanism at TeV scale in the 3-3-1 model with right-handed neutrinos, Eur. Phys. J. C 58 (2008) 455 [arXiv:0806.3087] [INSPIRE].
A. de Gouvêa, I. Martinez-Soler and M. Sen, Impact of neutrino decays on the supernova neutronization-burst flux, Phys. Rev. D 101 (2020) 043013 [arXiv:1910.01127] [INSPIRE].
M. Lindner, T. Ohlsson and W. Winter, A Combined treatment of neutrino decay and neutrino oscillations, Nucl. Phys. B 607 (2001) 326 [hep-ph/0103170] [INSPIRE].
C.W. Kim and W.P. Lam, Some remarks on neutrino decay via a Nambu-Goldstone boson, Mod. Phys. Lett. A 5 (1990) 297 [INSPIRE].
O.L.G. Peres and A. Smirnov, (3+1) spectrum of neutrino masses: A Chance for LSND?, Nucl. Phys. B 599 (2001) 3 [hep-ph/0011054] [INSPIRE].
A. de Gouvêa and A. Kobach, Global Constraints on a Heavy Neutrino, Phys. Rev. D 93 (2016) 033005 [arXiv:1511.00683] [INSPIRE].
D.A. Bryman and R. Shrock, Constraints on Sterile Neutrinos in the MeV to GeV Mass Range, Phys. Rev. D 100 (2019) 073011 [arXiv:1909.11198] [INSPIRE].
P.S. Pasquini and O.L.G. Peres, Bounds on Neutrino-Scalar Yukawa Coupling, Phys. Rev. D 93 (2016) 053007 [Erratum ibid. 93 (2016) 079902] [arXiv:1511.01811] [INSPIRE].
LSND collaboration, The Liquid scintillator neutrino detector and LAMPF neutrino source, Nucl. Instrum. Meth. A 388 (1997) 149 [nucl-ex/9605002] [INSPIRE].
J.M. Conrad and M.H. Shaevitz, Sterile Neutrinos: An Introduction to Experiments, Adv. Ser. Direct. High Energy Phys. 28 (2018) 391 [arXiv:1609.07803] [INSPIRE].
P. Huber, M. Lindner and W. Winter, Simulation of long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments with GLoBES (General Long Baseline Experiment Simulator), Comput. Phys. Commun. 167 (2005) 195 [hep-ph/0407333] [INSPIRE].
P. Huber, J. Kopp, M. Lindner, M. Rolinec and W. Winter, New features in the simulation of neutrino oscillation experiments with GLoBES 3.0: General Long Baseline Experiment Simulator, Comput. Phys. Commun. 177 (2007) 432 [hep-ph/0701187] [INSPIRE].
A. Strumia and F. Vissani, Precise quasielastic neutrino/nucleon cross-section, Phys. Lett. B 564 (2003) 42 [astro-ph/0302055] [INSPIRE].
MiniBooNE collaboration, The MiniBooNE Detector, Nucl. Instrum. Meth. A 599 (2009) 28 [arXiv:0806.4201] [INSPIRE].
MiniBooNE collaboration, Data release for arXiv:1805.12028, https://www-boone.fnal.gov/for physicists/data release/nue2018/.
MiniBooNE collaboration, The Neutrino Flux prediction at MiniBooNE, Phys. Rev. D 79 (2009) 072002 [arXiv:0806.1449] [INSPIRE].
MiniBooNE collaboration, Data release for arXiv:1207.4809, https://www-boone.fnal.gov/for_physicists/data_release/nue_nuebar_2012/efficiency/MB_nu_nubar_combined_release.html.
J. Kopp, P.A.N. Machado, M. Maltoni and T. Schwetz, Sterile Neutrino Oscillations: The Global Picture, JHEP 05 (2013) 050 [arXiv:1303.3011] [INSPIRE].
MINOS+ collaboration, Search for sterile neutrinos in MINOS and MINOS+ using a two-detector fit, Phys. Rev. Lett. 122 (2019) 091803 [arXiv:1710.06488] [INSPIRE].
KARMEN collaboration, Upper limits for neutrino oscillations \( {\overline{\nu}}_{\mu}\to {\overline{\nu}}_e \) from muon decay at rest, Phys. Rev. D 65 (2002) 112001 [hep-ex/0203021] [INSPIRE].
MINOS collaboration, The MINOS Detectors Technical Design Report, FERMILAB-DESIGN-1998-02 (1998) [INSPIRE].
K. Anderson et al., The NuMI Facility Technical Design Report, FERMILAB-DESIGN-1998-01 (1998) [INSPIRE].
MINOS collaboration, Combined analysis of νμ disappearance and νμ → νe appearance in MINOS using accelerator and atmospheric neutrinos, Phys. Rev. Lett. 112 (2014) 191801 [arXiv:1403.0867] [INSPIRE].
MicroBooNE, LAr1-ND and ICARUS-WA104 collaborations, A Proposal for a Three Detector Short-Baseline Neutrino Oscillation Program in the Fermilab Booster Neutrino Beam, arXiv:1503.01520 [INSPIRE].
G.V. Stenico, D.V. Forero and O.L.G. Peres, A Short Travel for Neutrinos in Large Extra Dimensions, JHEP 11 (2018) 155 [arXiv:1808.05450] [INSPIRE].
G. Magill, R. Plestid, M. Pospelov and Y.-D. Tsai, Dipole Portal to Heavy Neutral Leptons, Phys. Rev. D 98 (2018) 115015 [arXiv:1803.03262] [INSPIRE].
E. Bertuzzo, S. Jana, P.A.N. Machado and R. Zukanovich Funchal, Dark Neutrino Portal to Explain MiniBooNE excess, Phys. Rev. Lett. 121 (2018) 241801 [arXiv:1807.09877] [INSPIRE].
P. Ballett, S. Pascoli and M. Ross-Lonergan, U(1)′ mediated decays of heavy sterile neutrinos in MiniBooNE, Phys. Rev. D 99 (2019) 071701 [arXiv:1808.02915] [INSPIRE].
S. Hannestad, R.S. Hansen, T. Tram and Y.Y.Y. Wong, Active-sterile neutrino oscillations in the early Universe with full collision terms, JCAP 08 (2015) 019 [arXiv:1506.05266] [INSPIRE].
O. Fischer, Á. Hernández-Cabezudo and T. Schwetz, Explaining the MiniBooNE excess by a decaying sterile neutrino with mass in the 250 MeV range, Phys. Rev. D 101 (2020) 075045 [arXiv:1909.09561] [INSPIRE].
M.H. Moulai, C.A. Argüelles, G.H. Collin, J.M. Conrad, A. Diaz and M.H. Shaevitz, Combining Sterile Neutrino Fits to Short Baseline Data with IceCube Data, Phys. Rev. D 101 (2020) 055020 [arXiv:1910.13456] [INSPIRE].
M. Dentler, I. Esteban, J. Kopp and P. Machado, Decaying Sterile Neutrinos and the Short Baseline Oscillation Anomalies, Phys. Rev. D 101 (2020) 115013 [arXiv:1911.01427] [INSPIRE].
G.S. Karagiorgi, Searches for New Physics at MiniBooNE: Sterile Neutrinos and Mixing Freedom, FERMILAB-THESIS-2010-39 (2010) [https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1000269].
Open Access
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits any use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
ArXiv ePrint: 1911.01447
Rights and permissions
Open Access . This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits any use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
About this article
Cite this article
de Gouvêa, A., Peres, O.L.G., Prakash, S. et al. On the decaying-sterile-neutrino solution to the electron (anti)neutrino appearance anomalies. J. High Energ. Phys. 2020, 141 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP07(2020)141
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/JHEP07(2020)141