arXiv subjects

A. Ioannisian

Publications and source records attributed to A. Ioannisian.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2022

Quantum gravity phenomenology at the dawn of the multi-messenger era -- A review

The exploration of the universe has recently entered a new era thanks to the multi-messenger paradigm, characterized by a continuous increase in the quantity and quality of experimental data that is obtained by the detection of the various cosmic messengers (photons, neutrinos, cosmic rays and gravitational waves) from numerous origins. They give us information about their sources in the universe and the properties of the intergalactic medium. Moreover, multi-messenger astronomy opens up the possibility to search for phenomenological signatures of quantum gravity. On the one hand, the most energetic events allow us to test our physical theories at energy regimes which are not directly accessible in accelerators; on the other hand, tiny effects in the propagation of very high energy particles could be amplified by cosmological distances. After decades of merely theoretical investigations, the possibility of obtaining phenomenological indications of Planck-scale effects is a revolutionary step in the quest for a quantum theory of gravity, but it requires cooperation between different communities of physicists (both theoretical and experimental). This review is aimed at promoting this cooperation by giving a state-of-the art account of the interdisciplinary expertise that is needed in the effective search of quantum gravity footprints in the production, propagation and detection of cosmic messengers.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2020

A new analysis of the MiniBooNE low-energy excess

We present the results of a new analysis of the data of the MiniBooNE experiment taking into account the additional background of photons from $Δ^{+/0}$ decay proposed in arXiv:1909.08571 and additional contributions due to coherent photon emission, incoherent production of higher mass resonances, and incoherent non-resonant nucleon production. We show that the new background can explain part of the MiniBooNE low-energy excess and the statistical significance of the MiniBooNE indication in favor of short-baseline neutrino oscillation decreases from $5.1σ$ to $3.6σ$. We also consider the implications for short-baseline neutrino oscillations in the 3+1 active-sterile neutrino mixing framework. We show that the new analysis of the MiniBooNE data indicates smaller active-sterile neutrino mixing and may lead us towards a solution of the appearance-disappearance tension in the global fit of short-baseline neutrino oscillation data.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2019

A Standard Model explanation for the excess of electron-like events in MiniBooNE

We study the dependence of neutral current (NC) neutrino-induced $π^0$/photon production ($ν_μ+ A \to ν_μ+1π^0 / γ+ X$) on the atomic number of the target nucleus, A, at 4-momentum transfers relevant to the MiniBooNE experiment: $Δ$ resonance mass region. Our conclusion is based on experimental data for photon-nucleus interactions from the A2 collaboration at the Mainz MAMI accelerator. We work in the approximation that decays of $Δ$ resonance unaffected by its production channel, via photon or Z boson. $1π^0+X$ production scales as A$^{2/3}$, the surface area of the nucleus. Meanwhile the photons created in $Δ$ decays will leave the nucleus, and that cross section will be proportional to the atomic number of the nucleus. Thus the ratio of photon production to $π^0$ production is proportional to A$^{1/3}$. For carbon $^{12}$C this factor is $\approx$2.3. MiniBooNE normalises the rate of photon production to the measured $π^0$ production rate. The reduced neutral pion production rate would yield at least twice as many photons as previously expected, thus significantly lowering the number of unexplained electron-like events.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2018

Hyper-Kamiokande Design Report

On the strength of a double Nobel prize winning experiment (Super)Kamiokande and an extremely successful long baseline neutrino programme, the third generation Water Cherenkov detector, Hyper-Kamiokande, is being developed by an international collaboration as a leading worldwide experiment based in Japan. The Hyper-Kamiokande detector will be hosted in the Tochibora mine, about 295 km away from the J-PARC proton accelerator research complex in Tokai, Japan. The currently existing accelerator will be steadily upgraded to reach a MW beam by the start of the experiment. A suite of near detectors will be vital to constrain the beam for neutrino oscillation measurements. A new cavern will be excavated at the Tochibora mine to host the detector. The experiment will be the largest underground water Cherenkov detector in the world and will be instrumented with new technology photosensors, faster and with higher quantum efficiency than the ones in Super-Kamiokande. The science that will be developed will be able to shape the future theoretical framework and generations of experiments. Hyper-Kamiokande will be able to measure with the highest precision the leptonic CP violation that could explain the baryon asymmetry in the Universe. The experiment also has a demonstrated excellent capability to search for proton decay, providing a significant improvement in discovery sensitivity over current searches for the proton lifetime. The atmospheric neutrinos will allow to determine the neutrino mass ordering and, together with the beam, able to precisely test the three-flavour neutrino oscillation paradigm and search for new phenomena. A strong astrophysical programme will be carried out at the experiment that will detect supernova neutrinos and will measure precisely solar neutrino oscillation.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2018

Physics Potentials with the Second Hyper-Kamiokande Detector in Korea

Hyper-Kamiokande consists of two identical water-Cherenkov detectors of total 520~kt with the first one in Japan at 295~km from the J-PARC neutrino beam with 2.5$^{\textrm{o}}$ Off-Axis Angles (OAAs), and the second one possibly in Korea in a later stage. Having the second detector in Korea would benefit almost all areas of neutrino oscillation physics mainly due to longer baselines. There are several candidate sites in Korea with baselines of 1,000$\sim$1,300~km and OAAs of 1$^{\textrm{o}}$$\sim$3$^{\textrm{o}}$. We conducted sensitivity studies on neutrino oscillation physics for a second detector, either in Japan (JD $\times$ 2) or Korea (JD + KD) and compared the results with a single detector in Japan. Leptonic CP violation sensitivity is improved especially when the CP is non-maximally violated. The larger matter effect at Korean candidate sites significantly enhances sensitivities to non-standard interactions of neutrinos and mass ordering determination. Current studies indicate the best sensitivity is obtained at Mt. Bisul (1,088~km baseline, $1.3^\circ$ OAA). Thanks to a larger (1,000~m) overburden than the first detector site, clear improvements to sensitivities for solar and supernova relic neutrino searches are expected.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2017

Transition Radiation by Neutrinos at an Edge of Magnetic Field

We calculate the transition radiation process $ν\to νγ$ at an interface of magnetic field and vacuum. The neutrinos are taken to be with only standard-model couplings. The magnetic field fulfills the dual purpose of inducing an effective neutrino-photon vertex and of modifying the photon dispersion relation. The transition radiation occurs when at least one of those quantities have different values in different media. The neutrino mass is ignored due to its negligible contribution. We present a result for the probability of the transition radiation which is both accurate and analytic.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2001

Neutrino Unification

Present neutrino data are consistent with neutrino masses arising from a common seed at some ``neutrino unification'' scale $M_X$. Such a simple theoretical ansatz naturally leads to quasi-degenerate neutrinos that could lie in the electron-volt range with neutrino mass splittings induced by renormalization effects associated with supersymmetric thresholds. In such a scheme the leptonic analogue of the Cabibbo angle $θ_{\odot}$ describing solar neutrino oscillations is nearly maximal. Its exact value is correlated with the smallness of $θ_{reactor}$. These features agree both with latest data on the solar neutrino spectra and with the reactor neutrino data. The two leading mass-eigenstate neutrinos present in \ne form a pseudo-Dirac neutrino, avoiding conflict with neutrinoless double beta decay.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2001

Phenomenology of neutrino physics in the Kaluza-Klein theories of low scale gravity

We discuss the phenomenological consequences of theories which describe sterile neutrinos in large extra dimensions. We show that the Kaluza-Klein tower of the singlet neutrinos, albeit tiny individual contribution in electroweak processes, act cumulatively, giving rise to non-universality of the weak interactions of the light neutrinos and to flavour-violating radiative processes. Owing to these non-decoupling effects of th Kaluza--Klein neutrinos, we derive strong constraints on the parameters of the theory that originates from the non-observation of flavour-violating and universality-breaking phenomena. In this theory we propose a four-neutrino model which can reconcile the existing data coming from underground experiments in terms of neutrino oscillations, together with the hint from the LSND experiment and a possible neutrino contribution to the hot dark matter of the Universe.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2000

Light Sterile Neutrino from extra dimensions and Four-Neutrino Solutions to Neutrino Anomalies

We propose a four-neutrino model which can reconcile the existing data coming from underground experiments in terms of neutrino oscillations, together with the hint from the LSND experiment and a possible neutrino contribution to the hot dark matter of the Universe. It applies the idea that extra compact dimensions, probed only by gravity and possibly gauge-singlet fields, can lower the fundamental scales such as the Planck, string or unification scales. Our fourth light neutrino $ν_s$ ($s$ for sterile) is identified with the zero mode of the Kaluza-Klein states. To first approximation ν_sterile combines with the nu_mu in order to form a Dirac neutrino with mass in the eV range leaving the other two neutrinos massless. The smallness of this mass scale (suitable for LSND and Hot Dark Matter) arises without appealing neither to a see-saw mechanism nor to a radiative mechanism, but from the volume factor associated with the canonical normalization of the wave-function of the bulk field in the compactified dimensions. % On the other hand the splitting between \nm and ν_sterile (atmospheric scale) as well as the mass of the two other neutrinos (solar mass scale) arise from the violation of the fermion number on distant branes. We also discuss alternative scenarios involving flavour-changing interactions. In one of them \ne can be in the electron-volt range and therefore be probed in beta decay studies.

hep-ph↗

arXiv1999

Neutrino- Photon Interactions at Low Energy

We discuss $ν- γ$ interactions in the presence of a homogeneous magnetic field with energies less than pair production threshold. The neutrinos are taken to be massless with only standard-model couplings. The magnetic field fulfills the dual purpose of inducing an effective neutrino-photon vertexes and of modifying the photon dispersion relation. Our conclusion is $ν- γ$ interactions are too weak to be of importance for pulsar physics.

hep-ph↗

arXiv1999

Cherenkov radiation by neutrinos

We discuss the Cherenkov process $ν\toνγ$ in the presence of a homogeneous magnetic field. The neutrinos are taken to be massless with only standard-model couplings. The magnetic field fulfills the dual purpose of inducing an effective neutrino-photon vertex and of modifying the photon dispersion relation such that the Cherenkov condition $ω<|{\bf k}|$ is fulfilled. For a field strength $B_{\rm crit}=m_e^2/e=4.41\times10^{13} Gauss$ and for $E=2m_e$ the Cherenkov rate is about $6\times10^{-11}s^{-1}$.

hep-ph↗