Brief history of the neutrino(s)1930: Pauli postulates the neutrino (energy conservation in decays)
1934: Fermi builds a theory of beta decays
1956: Cowan and Reines discover the neutrino (emitted by nuclear reactors)
1955: Maximal parity violation in decays
1956: V-A theory : only left-handed neutrinos interact
1962: Second variety (or flavor) of neutrinos : ≠ e
1970-1990’s: neutrinos intensively used to probe nucleon structure
1990: 3 families of neutrinos from Z0 width
2000: Third flavor () is observed
MINIMAL STANDARD MODEL: 3 families of massless neutrinos
1998-2000: neutrinos have a mass
What we know and what we want to know
● most probably 3 families of light standard (V-A) neutrinos: e
● neutrinos are massive: we know splittings between square masses
● absolute mass scale?
-> fondamental for cosmology and unification scheme of interactions
● are neutrinos their own antiparticle (Majorana neutrinos) or not (Dirac neutrinos)
(for Majorana neutrinos, neutrinos and antineutrinos differ only by their helicity)
● what is the magnetic moment of the neutrinos?
● are neutrinos stable?
● relation between neutrino flavor eigenstates and mass eigenstates (mixing matrix) only partially known
● Is there CP violation in the neutrino sector? (LEPTOGENESIS)
Which experiments ?● absolute mass scale:
time of flight: Supernova 1987A m< 20 eV
end of electron beta spectrum : Tritium m< 2.5 eV
Fluctuations of Cosmological Microwave Background: WMAP m<0.23 eV
● Dirac/Majorana:
search for neutrinoless double beta decay (possible clue to absolute mass scale)
● Magnetic moment
neutrino diffusion on electron at low energy
● Mixing matrix, mass splittings, CP violation flavor oscillations Use all possible neutrino sources: Sun, reactors, atmospheric showers, accelerators of various energies……
Magnetic moment of neutrinos
MUNU experiment at Bugey reactor
< 1.2 10-10 B
Also: recent projects using 20 kg of tritium with TPC/MicroMegas detector
Neutrinoless double beta decaysNEMO experiment in
Frejus tunnelbest present limit: 76Ge (HM)
m eff < 0.4-0.8 eV
expected sensitivity
0.2-0.4 eV
Future projects:
towards 1 ton of isotopes
(CUORE, GENIUS)
0.01 eV ??!!
Flavor oscillations |e> = cos |1> + sin |2> |> = – sin |1> + cos |2>
|(t=0)> = |e> |(t)> = exp(-iE1t) cos |1> + exp(-iE2t) sin |2>
P(e –>) = |<|(t)>|2 = sin22 sin2 (m2/4E t)
mm12 –m2
2
L osc (m) = 2.5 E (MeV) /m2(eV2)
The solar neutrinos
All experiments (Homestake, GALLEX, SAGE, SuperK) have found an important deficit for the flux of solar e
SNO has measured the total neutrino flux (neutral current on deuterium and found NO deficit
KamLand has confirmed a nearly maximal oscillation for reactor antineutrinos over 200 km
PROOF OF FLAVOUR OSCILLATIONS with m2 = 7 10-5 eV2
Mixing matrix: the missing parameters
1
e
l = Ul i i
U is a unitary matrix:
3 angles : 12 , 13 , 23
plus 1 CP violating phase
3 masses m1, m2, m3
SUN : m122 = 7 10-5 eV2 , 12~ 35o
ATM : m232 = 2.5 10-3 eV2 , 23 = 45o
Missing : 13 and the phase
both govern the e oscillation at the atmospheric frequency
We know that 13 is < 10o
we have to look for a small oscillation
Neutrino superbeamsStrategy to measure 13 :
Build an intense neutrino beam using a high power proton driver
Install a detector at the oscillation maximum Lopt = 500 km x E (GeV)
● The detector should be installed deep underground
● For sensitivities of 1 degree on 13 , its mass should be about 1 megaton
● only realistic technique : Water Cerenkov
● bonus : unprecedented sensitivity on proton lifetime and SN explosions
: Projects
● USA NuMI off-axis FNAL injector (0.4 MW) + fine grained calorimeter (50 kt)
MI upgrade ? BNL superbeam ?
● Japan : JHF proton driver 0.8 MW + SuperKamioka
upgrade to 4 MW and HyperKamioka (1 MTon)
● Europe : CERN SPL (4 MW) + Water Cerenkov (0.5 to 1 Mton) at Frejus
Neutrino beta beams
A new idea by Piero Zucchelli
Produce intense e (anti-e) beams by accelerating ( around 70) and storing radioactive ions in a storage ring
Advantages:
● strongly collimated neutrino beams ( Q = / Q )
● perfectly known spectrum (beta decay)
● very high flavor purity
With present technologies, an anti-ne beam produced by 6He is
competitive with the SPL superbeam
Superbeam / betabeam synergy
search for CP violation:
with only superbeam:
run 3 years in neutrinos and 7 years in antineutrinos
compare e and anti- anti-e
with superbeam and beta beam:
run 10 years and study simultaneously
e with the superbeam and
e with the beta beam (using 18 Ne )
Can betabeams do everything ?
Very recently, it has been suggested to store simultaneously ( with no
intensity loss ) both 6 He and 18 Ne in the same storage ring.
This opens the possibility to study CP violation with only beta beams
Potentialities are presently under study (compromise on beam energies)
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