arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to C. W. Kim.
The propagation of neutrinos in a gravitational field is studied by developing a method of calculating a covariant quantum-mechanical phase in a curved space-time. The result is applied to neutrino propagation in the Schwarzschild metric.
We have studied the constraints imposed by the results of neutrino oscillation experiments on the effective Majorana mass | | that characterizes the contribution of Majorana neutrino masses to the matrix element of neutrinoless double-beta decay. We have shown that in a general scheme with three Majorana neutrinos and a hierarchy of neutrino masses (which can be explained by the see-saw mechanism), the results of neutrino oscillation experiments imply rather strong constraints on the parameter | |. From the results of the first reactor long-baseline experiment CHOOZ and the Bugey experiment it follows that | | < 3x10^{-2} eV if the largest mass-squared difference is smaller than 2 eV^2. Hence, we conclude that the observation of neutrinoless double-beta decay with a probability that corresponds to | | > 10^{-1} eV would be a signal for a non-hierarchical neutrino mass spectrum and/or non-standard mechanisms of lepton number violation.
We have studied the position dependence of neutrino energy on the Kusenko-Segrè mechanism as an explanation of the proper motion of pulsars. The mechanism is also examined in three-generation mixing of neutrinos and in a non-adiabatic case. The position dependence of neutrino energy requires the higher value of magnetic field such as $B\sim 3\times 10^{15}$ Gauss in order to explain the observed proper motion of pulsars. It is shown that possible non-adiabatic processes decrease the neutrino momentum asymmetry, whereas an excess of electron neutrino flux over other flavor neutrino fluxes increases the neutrino momentum asymmetry. It is also shown that a general treatment with all three neutrinos does not modify the result of the two generation treatment if the standard neutrino mass hierarchy is assumed.
In order to investigate when neutrinos cease to oscillate in the framework of quantum field theory, we have reexamined the wave packet treatment of neutrino oscillations by taking different sizes of the wave packets of the particles involved in the production and detection processes. The treatment is shown to be considerably simplified by using the Grimus-Stockinger theorem which enables us to carry out the integration over the momentum of the propagating neutrino. Our new results confirm the recent observation by Kiers, Nussinov and Weiss that a precise measurement of the energies of the particles involved in the detection process would increase the coherence length. We also present a precise definition of the coherence length beyond which neutrinos cease to oscillate.
Leading finite temperature effects on the neutrino decoupling temperature in the early Universe have been studied. We have incorporated modifications of the dispersion relation and the phase space distribution due to the presence of particles in the heat bath at temperature around MeV. Since both the expansion rate of the Universe and the interaction rate of a neutrino are reduced by finite temperature effects, it is necessary to calculate thermal corrections as precisely as possible in order to find the net effect on the neutrino decoupling temperature. We have performed such a calculation by using the finite temperature field theory. It has been shown that the finite temperature effects increase the neutrino decoupling temperature by 4.4%, the largest contribution coming from the modification of the phase space due to the thermal bath.
We calculate the finite temperature self-energy for neutrinos in the presence of a constant magnetic field in a medium in the unbroken $SU(2) \otimes U(1)$ model. We obtain the exact dispersion relation for such neutrinos and find that the thermal effective mass is modified by the magnetic field. We also find a simple analytic expression for the dispersion relation and obtain the index of refraction for large neutrino momentum.
The propagation of neutrinos in a gravitational field is studied. A method of calculating a covariant quantum-mechanical phase in a curved space-time is presented. The result is used to calculate gravitational effects on the neutrino oscillation in the presence of a gravitational field. We restrict our discussion to the case of the Schwartzschild metric. Specifically, the cases of the radial propagation and the non-radial propagation are considered. A possible application to gravitational lensing of neutrinos is also suggested.
In this lecture we review some of the basic properties of neutrinos, in particular their mass and the oscillation behavior. First we discuss how to describe the neutrino mass. Then, under the assumption that neutrinos are massive and mixed, the fundamentals of the neutrino oscillations are discussed with emphasis on subtle aspects which have been overlooked in the past. We then review the terrestrial neutrino oscillation experiments in the framework of three generations of neutrinos with the standard mass hierarchy. Finally, a brief summary of the current status of the solar and atmospheric neutrino problems will be given.
The concepts of effective and dynamical neutrino mixing matrices are introduced in order to describe the behavior of neutrinos in matter. The former relates weak eigenstates to mass eigenstates, whereas the latter relates weak eigenstates to energy eigenstates in matter. It is shown that the dynamical mixing angles enable us to express the neutrino survival probability in the Sun without any resort to the Landau-Zener transition probability for the non-adiabatic process. Also discussed are effective CP violating phases that appear in the effective and dynamical mixing matrices in matter. Both two and three generation cases are discussed using the solar neutrinos as an example.
We have considered short-baseline neutrino oscillations, tritium beta-decay and neutrinoless double-beta decay in two schemes with an inverted mass spectrum and mixing of three and four massive neutrino fields. We have analyzed the results of the latest experiments on the search for oscillations of terrestrial neutrinos and we have discussed the compatibility of the LSND indication in favor of neutrino oscillations with the results of the other experiments. In the framework of the models under consideration, it is shown that the observation of neutrinoless double-beta decay could allow to obtain information about the CP violation in the lepton sector.
We show in a simple and general way that matter effects do not contribute to the averaged value of the probabilities of transition of solar $ν_e$'s into other states in the case of maximal mixing of any number of massive neutrinos. We also show that future solar neutrino experiments (Super-Kamiokande and SNO) will allow to test the model with maximal mixing of three massive neutrinos in a way that does not depend on the initial solar neutrino flux.
We have analyzed the results of the latest terrestrial neutrino oscillation experiments in the framework of a model with mixing of three massive neutrinos and a neutrino mass hierarchy ($ m_1 << m_2 << m_3 $). In this model, oscillations of the terrestrial neutrinos are characterized by three parameters, $ Δm^2 = m_3^2 - m_1^2 $ and the squared moduli of the two mixing matrix elements $U_{e3}$ and $U_{\mu3}$. Using the results of disappearance experiments and solar neutrino experiments, it is shown that only two regions of possible values of $|U_{e3}|^2$ and $|U_{\mu3}|^2$ are allowed: I. $|U_{e3}|^2$ and $|U_{\mu3}|^2$ are both small and II. $|U_{e3}|^2$ is small and $|U_{\mu3}|^2$ is large. If the mixing parameters are in the region I, $ ν_μ<-> ν_e $ oscillations are suppressed. In this case the LSND indication in favor of $ ν_μ<-> ν_e $ oscillations is not compatible with the negative results of all other experiments. If the mixing parameters are in the region II, $ ν_e <-> ν_τ$ oscillations are strongly suppressed. If massive neutrinos are Majorana particles, our analysis shows that neutrinoless double-beta decay could be observed in the experiments of the next generation only if the mixing parameters are in the region I.
Motivated by a recent rather surprising conclusion based on the 1992 PDG data on the pion, kaon and lepton decays that if three generations of neutrinos are assumed to be massive and mixed, the heaviest neutrino, $ν_3$, could have a mass in the range, $155~\mbox{MeV} \lsim m_3 \lsim 225~\mbox{MeV}$, we have analyzed the latest 1995 data on the leptonic decays of pion, $μ$ and $τ$ with the assumption that three generations of neutrinos are massive and mixed. It is shown that when the radiative corrections are included and the constraint {}from partial decay widths is imposed, the 1995 data are consistent with three massless neutrinos with no mixing. Various limits on the neutrino mass and mixing angle implied by the 1995 data are presented together with a critique of the previous analysis.
We have analyzed the results of reactor and accelerator neutrino oscillation experiments in a model with mixing of three neutrino fields and a neutrino mass hierarchy. It is shown that $ ν_μ\leftrightarrows ν_e $ oscillations with $ 0.6 \le Δm^2 \le 100 \, \mathrm{eV}^2 $ and amplitude larger than $ 2 \times 10^{-3} $ are not compatible with the existing limits on neutrino oscillations if the non-diagonal elements of the mixing matrix are small. Thus, if the excess of positron events recently observed in the LSND experiment is due to $ \barν_μ\to \barν_e $ oscillations, the mixing in the lepton sector is basically different from the CKM mixing of quarks.
A scale-dependent cosmology is proposed in which the Robertson-Walker metric and the Einstein equation are modified in such a way that $Ω_0$, $H_0$ and the age of the Universe all become scale-dependent. Its implications on the observational cosmology are discussed.
We study some observational consequences of a recently proposed scale--dependent cosmological model for an inhomogeneous Universe. In this model the Universe is pictured as being inside a highly dense and rapidly expanding shell with the underdense center. For nearby objects ($z \ll 1$), the linear Hubble diagram is shown to remain valid even in this model, which has been demonstrated both analytically and numerically. For large $z$, we present some numerical results of the redshift--luminosity distance relation and the behavior of the mass density as a function of the redshift. It is shown that the Hubble diagram in this model for a locally $open$ Universe ($Ω(t_0, r \sim 0)=0.1$) resembles that of the $flat$ Friedmann cosmology. This implies that study of the Hubble diagram cannot uniquely determine the value of $q_0$ or $Ω_0$ in a model--independent way. The model also accounts for the fact that $Ω_0$ is an increasing function of the redshift.
We have analyzed the results of reactor and accelerator neutrino oscillation experiments in the framework of a general model with mixing of three neutrino fields and a neutrino mass hierarchy that can accommodate the results of the solar neutrino experiments. It is shown that $ ν_μ\leftrightarrows ν_e $ oscillations with $ 0.6 \le Δm^2 \le 100 \, \mathrm{eV}^2 $ and amplitude larger than $ 2 \times 10^{-3} $ are not compatible with the existing limits on neutrino oscillations if the non-diagonal elements of the mixing matrix $ \left| U_{e3} \right| $ and $ \left| U_{\mu3} \right| $ are small. Thus, if the excess of electron events recently observed in the LSND experiment is due to $ ν_μ\leftrightarrows ν_e $ oscillations, the mixing in the lepton sector is basically different from the CKM mixing of quarks. If this type of mixing is realized in nature, the observation of $ ν_μ\leftrightarrows ν_e $ oscillations would not influence $ ν_μ\leftrightarrows ν_τ$ oscillations that are being searched for in the CHORUS and NOMAD experiments.
Anticipating future long-baseline neutrino experiments to search for neutrino oscillations in various oscillation channels, we have analyzed the atmospheric neutrino data in the framework of a model with mixing of three massive neutrino fields that can accommodate the data of solar neutrino experiments. The oscillations of atmospheric and terrestrial neutrinos are described in this model by three parameters: $ Δm^2 $ and the squared moduli of two elements of the mixing matrix, $ | U_{e3} |^2 $ and $ | U_{\mu3} |^2 $, which determine the amplitudes of oscillations among all active neutrinos. The results of the analysis of the atmospheric neutrino data are presented in the form of allowed regions in the plane of the two parameters oscillation amplitude and $ Δm^2 $ for all oscillation channels to be investigated in the future long-baseline oscillation experiments.