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Moon Moon Devi

Publications and source records attributed to Moon Moon Devi.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Interplay of CPT-Violating and CPT-Conserving Lorentz Invariance Violation at DUNE

We present a study of Lorentz invariance violation (LIV) in neutrino oscillations, with primary emphasis on the interplay between CPT-violating and CPT-conserving Standard Model Extension (SME) coefficients. We find that $a_{ee}$ and $a_{\tau\tau}$ dominate among the diagonal LIV coefficients, whereas $a_{e\mu}$ and $a_{e\tau}$ provide the most significant off-diagonal contributions. In contrast, the corresponding $c_{\alpha\beta}$ coefficients have comparatively sub-leading effects. Taking DUNE as a representative long-baseline experiment, we show that the sensitivity to CP violation is modified by LIV in a parameter-specific manner. We find correlations between off-diagonal LIV parameters, and non-trivial dependence on the new phases. In absence of LIV, DUNE is expected to establish CP violation at $5\sigma$ for a limited fraction of $\delta_{CP}$ values. We find that the presence of $a_{ee}$, $a_{\tau\tau}$, $a_{e\mu}$ and $a_{e\tau}$ weakens the CP discovery potential, reducing the achievable significance to below $3\sigma$ over a substantial fraction of $\delta_{\rm CP}$. The independent impact of $c_{\alpha\beta}$ terms also results in suppression, but in combination with $a_{\alpha\beta}$, they introduce degeneracies, complicating the extraction of $\delta_{CP}$. This generally results in a deterioration of CP violation sensitivities below $5\sigma$. These findings emphasize the importance of incorporating LIV effects in precision oscillation studies at upcoming long-baseline experiments.

hep-ph

Neutrino mass ordering from the next Galactic supernova at DUNE, HK, and JUNO

The next Galactic core-collapse supernova (CCSN) will offer a unique opportunity to determine the neutrino mass ordering. We focus on two observables: the electron neutrino ($\nu_e$) neutronization burst and the rise-time of the electron antineutrino ($\bar{\nu}_e$) flux during the accretion phase. The neutronization burst, a sharp $\nu_e$ peak within $\sim 20$-$30$ ms, provides a clean and robust signature of mass ordering through its appearance or disappearance. During the accretion phase, the faster rise of heavy lepton flavor neutrinos ($\nu_x$) leads to a distinct faster rise-time behavior of the oscillated $\bar{\nu}_e$ signal, resulting in mass ordering discrimination. Using realistic CCSN simulations for multiple progenitor masses, we compute event rates and perform a statistical analysis for a Galactic ($10$~kpc) CCSN event at DUNE, Hyper-Kamiokande (HK), and JUNO detectors. The neutronization burst remains largely independent of SN hydrodynamic simulation models, with DUNE and HK achieving $\gtrsim 6\sigma$ and $\gtrsim 4\sigma$ sensitivity for normal (NO) to inverted ordering (IO) discrimination, respectively. However, the rise-time observable is prone to progenitor degeneracies. To mitigate this cumulative and ratio-based observables constructed at characteristic timescales ($20$ ms & $100$ ms) are used. The resulting confidence levels from the rise-time analysis to discriminate IO/NO in HK and JUNO are $\sim 5\sigma$ and $\sim 3\sigma$, respectively. Our results highlight the complementarity of detectors and observables, and demonstrate that combining neutronization burst and accretion phase information will be crucial for a definitive determination of the neutrino mass ordering in the next Galactic supernova.

hep-ph

Dark NSI & neutrino oscillations : probing via $\delta_{CP}$ measurements at DUNE and T2HK

We investigate the possibility of neutrinos interacting with a scalar dark matter field and the resulting implications for neutrino oscillations in the long-baseline sector. As our Universe is predominantly composed of dark matter, neutrinos propagating over astrophysical and terrestrial baselines inevitably traverse a dark matter background. The coherent forward scattering of neutrinos in such a background induces a medium-dependent correction to the mass-squared term in the effective neutrino Hamiltonian having opposing signs for neutrinos and antineutrinos. We study how the elements of this correction matrix, arising from coherent forward scattering of neutrinos with scalar dark matter background referred to as dark non-standard interactions (dark NSI), modify neutrino oscillation probabilities. Furthermore, we also study the effect of the off-diagonal elements and the associated phases on the measurement of leptonic CP violating phase focusing on the upcoming long-baseline superbeam experiments DUNE and T2HK. We show that dark NSI can lead to substantial enhancement or suppression of CP-violation sensitivity, depending on the true values of the dark NSI phases $\phi_{\alpha \beta}$. We further explored how the synergy of DUNE and T2HK can effectively mitigate the degeneracies due to the dark NSI phases, and can restore or even enhance the CP sensitivity as compared to the standard oscillation scenario.

hep-ph

A White Paper on The Multi-Messenger Science Landscape in India

The multi-messenger science using different observational windows to the Universe such as Gravitational Waves (GWs), Electromagnetic Waves (EMs), Cosmic Rays (CRs), and Neutrinos offer an opportunity to study from the scale of a neutron star to cosmological scales over a large cosmic time. At the smallest scales, we can explore the structure of the neutron star and the different energetics involved in the transition of a pre-merger neutron star to a post-merger neutron star. This will open up a window to study the properties of matter in extreme conditions and a guaranteed discovery space. On the other hand, at the largest cosmological scales, multi-messenger observations allow us to study the long-standing problems in physical cosmology related to the Hubble constant, dark matter, and dark energy by mapping the expansion history of the Universe using GW sources. Moreover, the multi-messenger studies of astrophysical systems such as white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes of different masses, all the way up to a high redshift Universe, will bring insightful understanding into the physical processes associated with them that are inaccessible otherwise. This white paper discusses the key cases in the domain of multi-messenger astronomy and the role of observatories in India which can explore uncharted territories and open discovery spaces in different branches of physics ranging from nuclear physics to astrophysics.

astro-ph.HE

Neutrino mass ordering sensitivities at DUNE, HK and KNO in presence of scalar NSI

The limitations of the Standard Model in explaining neutrino masses and neutrino mixing lead to the exploration of frameworks beyond the Standard Model (BSM). The possibility of neutrinos interacting with fermions via a scalar mediator is one of the interesting prospects. The study of neutrino non-standard interactions (NSI) is a well-motivated phenomenological scenario to explore new physics beyond the Standard Model. These new interactions may alter the standard neutrino oscillation probabilities, potentially leading to observable effects in experiments. It also allows for the exploration of absolute neutrino masses via oscillation experiments. It can modify the oscillation probabilities, which in turn can affect the physics sensitivities in long-baseline experiments. The linear scaling of the effects of scalar NSI with matter density also motivates its exploration in long-baseline (LBL) experiments. We will present our study on the impact of a scalar-mediated NSI on the mass ordering (MO) sensitivities of three long-baseline neutrino experiments, i.e., DUNE, HK and KNO. We study the impact on MO sensitivities at these experiments assuming that scalar NSI parameters are present in nature and are known from other non-LBL experiments. The presence of scalar NSI can notably impact the MO sensitivities of these experiments. Furthermore, we analyze the potential synergy by combining data from DUNE with HK and HK+KNO, thereby exploring a broader parameter space.

hep-ph

Neutrino Oscillations in Presence of Diagonal Elements of Scalar NSI: An Analytic Approach

Scalar Non-Standard Interactions (SNSI) in neutrinos can arise when a scalar mediator couples to both neutrinos and standard model fermions. This beyond the Standard Model (BSM) scenario is particularly interesting as the SNSI contribution appears as a density-dependent perturbation to the neutrino mass, rather than appearing as a matter-induced potential, and the neutrino oscillation probabilities uniquely depend on the absolute neutrino masses. In this work, we show the complex dependence of the SNSI contributions on the neutrino masses and discuss how the mass of the lightest neutrino would regulate any possible SNSI contribution in both mass ordering scenarios. We derive the analytic expressions for neutrino oscillation probabilities, employing the Cayley-Hamilton theorem, in the presence of diagonal elements of SNSI. The expressions are compact and shows explicit dependence on matter effects and the absolute neutrino masses. The analytic expressions calculated here allow us to obtain the dependence of the SNSI contribution on mass terms of the form $m_1 + m_2$, $m_2 - m_1$, $m_1c_{12}^2 + m_2s_{12}^2,$ $ m_1s_{12}^2 + m_2c_{12}^2$, and $m_3$. We then explore the non-trivial impact of neutrino mass ordering on the SNSI contribution. The dependence of the SNSI contribution on the 3$\nu$ parameters is then thoroughly explored using our analytic expressions.

hep-ph

The Sensitivity of DUNE in Presence of Off-Diagonal Scalar NSI Parameters

Scalar non-standard interactions (NSI) presents an exciting pathway for probing potential new physics that extends beyond the Standard Model (BSM). The scalar coupling of neutrinos with matter can appear as a sub-dominant effect that can impact the neutrino oscillation probabilities. The uniqueness of these interactions is that it can directly affect the neutrino mass matrix. This makes oscillations sensitive to the absolute neutrino mass. The effects of scalar NSI scales linearly with matter density which motivates its exploration in long-baseline sector. The presence of scalar NSI can influence the key measurements in the field of neutrino physics, including the precise determination of the leptonic CP phase ($\delta_{CP}$), neutrino mass ordering and the octant of $\theta_{23}$. The precise determination of $\delta_{CP}$ is one of the major goals of DUNE, which is an upcoming long-baseline experiment. A better understanding of the impact of scalar NSI on CP measurement sensitivities is crucial for accurate interpretation of $\delta_{CP}$ phase. In this work, we have explored the impact of the complex off-diagonal scalar NSI elements $\eta_{\alpha\beta}$ and their associated phases $\phi_{\alpha\beta}$ on the CP-measurement sensitivities at DUNE. We have explored the impact of the neutrino mass scale on these sensitivities. We look for constraining these off-diagonal elements for different neutrino mass scales. We also explore their correlation with $\delta_{CP}$, investigating potential degeneracies that can arise due to additional phases. We also perform a correlation study among different scalar NSI elements. We show that the inclusion of the complex scalar NSI elements can significantly modify the CP phase measurements.

hep-ph

Impact of scalar NSI on the neutrino mass ordering sensitivity at DUNE, HK and KNO

The study of neutrino non-standard interactions (NSI) is a well-motivated phenomenological scenario to explore new physics beyond the Standard Model. The possible scalar coupling of neutrinos ($\nu$) with matter is one of such new physics scenarios that appears as a sub-dominant effect that can impact the $\nu$-oscillations in matter. The presence of scalar NSI introduces an additional contribution directly to the $\nu$-mass matrix in the interaction Hamiltonian and subsequently to the $\nu$-oscillations. This indicates that scalar NSI may have a significant impact on measurements related to $\nu$-oscillations e.g. leptonic CP phase $(\delta_{CP})$, $\theta_{23}$ octant and neutrino mass ordering (MO). The linear scaling of the effects of scalar NSI with matter density also motivates its exploration in long-baseline (LBL) experiments. In this paper, we study the impact of a scalar-mediated NSI on the MO sensitivity of DUNE, HK and HK+KNO, which are upcoming LBL experiments. We study the impact on MO sensitivities at these experiments assuming that scalar NSI parameters are present in nature and is known from other non-LBL experiments. We observe that the presence of diagonal scalar NSI elements can significantly affect the $\nu$-mass ordering sensitivities. We then also combine the data from DUNE with HK and HK+KNO to explore possible synergy among these experiments in a wider parameter space. We also observe a significant enhancement in the MO sensitivities for the combined analysis.

hep-ph

Scalar NSI: A unique tool for constraining absolute neutrino masses via $\nu$-oscillations

In the standard interaction scenario, a direct measurement of absolute neutrino masses via neutrino oscillations is not feasible, as the oscillations depend only on the mass-squared differences. However, scalar non-standard interactions (SNSI) can introduce sub-dominant terms in the neutrino oscillation Hamiltonian that can directly affect the neutrino mass matrix, thereby making SNSI a unique tool for neutrino mass measurements. In this work, for the first time, we constrain the absolute masses of neutrinos by probing SNSI. We have explored the constraints on the lightest neutrino mass with different choices of $\delta_{CP}$ and $\theta_{23}$ for both neutrino mass hierarchies. We show that a bound on the neutrino mass can be induced in the presence of SNSI at DUNE. We find that the lightest neutrino mass can be constrained with $\eta_{\tau\tau}$ for normal mass hierarchy irrespective of the octant of $\theta_{23}$ and the value of the CP phase $\delta_{CP}$. This study suggests that SNSI can serve as an interesting avenue to constrain the absolute neutrino masses in long-baseline neutrino experiments via neutrino oscillations.

hep-ph

Investigating the effects of Lorentz Invariance Violation on the CP-sensitivities of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment

The neutrino oscillations offer great potential for probing new physics effects beyond the Standard Model. Any additional effect on neutrino oscillations can help understand the nature of these non-standard effects. The violation of fundamental symmetries may appear as new physics effects in various neutrino experiments. Lorentz symmetry is one such fundamental symmetry in nature, the violation of which implies a breakdown of space-time symmetry. The Lorentz Invariance Violation (LIV) is intrinsic in nature and its effects exist even in a vacuum. Neutrinos can be an intriguing probe for exploring such violations of Lorentz symmetry. The effect of violation of Lorentz Invariance can be explored through the impact on the neutrino oscillation probabilities. The effect of LIV is treated as a perturbation to the standard neutrino Hamiltonian considering the Standard Model Extension (SME) framework. In this work, we have probed the effect of LIV on the neutrino oscillation measurements considering the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) as a case study. The inclusion of LIV affects various neutrino oscillation parameters as it modifies the standard neutrino oscillation probabilities. We looked into the capability of DUNE in constraining the LIV parameters and then explored the impact of CPT-violating LIV terms on the mass-induced neutrino oscillation probabilities. We have also probed the influence of LIV parameters on the CP-measurement sensitivity at DUNE.

hep-ph

Imprints of scalar NSI on the CP-violation sensitivity using synergy among DUNE, T2HK and T2HKK

The Non-Standard Interactions (NSIs) are subdominant effects, often appearing in various extensions of SM, which may impact the neutrino oscillations through matter. It is important and interesting to explore the impact of NSIs in the ongoing and upcoming precise neutrino oscillations experiments. In this work, we have studied the imprints of a scalar-mediated NSI in three upcoming long-baseline (LBL) experiments (DUNE, T2HK, T2HKK). The effects of scalar NSI appears as a medium-dependent correction to the neutrino mass term. Its contribution scales linearly with matter density, making LBL experiments a suitable candidate to probe its effects. We show that the scalar NSI may significantly impact the oscillation probabilities, event rates at the detectors and the $χ^2$-sensitivities of $δ_{CP}$ measurements. We present the results of a combined analysis involving the LBL experiments (DUNE+T2HK, DUNE+T2HKK, DUNE+T2HK+T2HKK) which offer a better capability of constraining the scalar NSI parameters as well as an improved sensitivity towards CP-violation.

hep-ph

Sterile Neutrinos: Propagation in Matter and Sensitivity to Sterile Mass Ordering

We analytically calculate the neutrino conversion probability $P_{μe}$ in the presence of sterile neutrinos, with exact dependence on $Δm^2_{41}$ and with matter effects explicitly included. Using perturbative expansion in small parameters, the terms involving the small mixing angles $θ_{24}$ and $θ_{34}$ can be separated out, with $θ_{34}$ dependence only arising due to matter effects. We express $P_{μe}$ in terms of the quantities of the form $\sin(x)/x$, which helps in elucidating its dependence on matter effects and a wide range of $Δm^2_{41}$ values. Our analytic expressions allow us to predict the effects of the sign of $Δm^2_{41}$ at a long baseline experiment like DUNE. We numerically calculate the sensitivity of DUNE to the sterile mass ordering and find that this sensitivity can be significant in the range $|Δm^2_{41}| \sim (10^{-4} - 10^{-2})$ eV$^2$, for either mass ordering of active neutrinos. The dependence of this sensitivity on the value of $Δm^2_{41}$ for all mass ordering combinations can be explained by investigating the resonance-like terms appearing due to the interplay between the sterile sector and matter effects.

hep-ph

Exploring the effects of Scalar Non Standard Interactions on the CP violation sensitivity at DUNE

The Neutrino oscillations have provided an excellent opportunity to study new-physics beyond the Standard Model, popularly known as BSM. The unknown couplings involving neutrinos, termed non-standard interactions (NSI), may appear as `new-physics' in different neutrino experiments. The neutrino NSI offers significant effects on neutrino oscillations and CP-sensitivity, which may be probed in various neutrino experiments. The idea of neutrinos coupling with a scalar has evolved recently and looks promising. The effects of scalar NSI may appear as a perturbation to the neutrino mass matrix in the neutrino Hamiltonian. It modifies the neutrino mass matrix and may provide a direct possibility of probing neutrino mass models. As the scalar NSI affects the neutrino mass matrix in the Hamiltonian, its effect is energy independent. Moreover, the matter effects due to scalar NSI scales linearly with the matter density. In this work, we have performed a model-independent study of the effects of scalar NSI at long baseline neutrino experiments, taking DUNE as a case study. We have performed such a thorough study for DUNE for the first time. Various neutrino parameters may get affected due to the inclusion of scalar NSI as it modifies the effective mass matrix of neutrinos. We have explored the impact of scalar NSI in neutrino oscillations and its impact on the measurements of various mixing parameters. We have probed the effects of scalar NSI on different oscillation channels relevant to the experiment. We have also explored the impact of various possible elements in the scalar NSI term on the CP-violation sensitivity at DUNE.

hep-ph

Active-sterile neutrino oscillations at INO-ICAL over a wide mass-squared range

We perform a detailed analysis for the prospects of detecting active-sterile oscillations involving a light sterile neutrino, over a large $Δm^2_{41}$ range of $10^{-5}$ eV$^2$ to $10^2$ eV$^2$, using 10 years of atmospheric neutrino data expected from the proposed 50 kt magnetized ICAL detector at the INO. This detector can observe the atmospheric $ν_μ$ and $\barν_μ$ separately over a wide range of energies and baselines, making it sensitive to the magnitude and sign of $Δm^2_{41}$ over a large range. If there is no light sterile neutrino, ICAL can place competitive upper limit on $|U_{μ4}|^2 \lesssim 0.02$ at 90\% C.L. for $Δm^2_{41}$ in the range $(0.5 - 5) \times 10^{-3}$ eV$^2$. For the same $|Δm^2_{41}|$ range, ICAL would be able to determine its sign, exploiting the Earth's matter effect in $μ^{-}$ and $μ^{+}$ events separately if there is indeed a light sterile neutrino in Nature. This would help identify the neutrino mass ordering in the four-neutrino mixing scenario.

hep-ph

UHECR primary identification using the lateral profile of muons in EAS

New developments in detector technology allow for a realistic cost of large area surface detectors for cosmic ray air showers, with some limitations on particle identification, energy resolutions, directional information and dynamic range. In this paper, we present a simulation study using CORSIKA to quantify the lateral profile of the muons at ground level, characterized by their energy spectrum and lateral spread, and combine it with the depth at shower maximum (X$_{max}$) of an EAS initiated by a primary at energies $10^{16}$ eV - $10^{19}$ eV. Using different primaries, we show that the combined muon observables and X$_{max}$ can identify the primary in a large fraction of the events, depending on the energy and the detector performance. This study provides important input parameters for the design of a future muon detector for surface array, which will be able to boost the knowledge of primaries and of the QCD interactions in the atmosphere.

astro-ph.IM

Physics Potential of the ICAL detector at the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO)

The upcoming 50 kt magnetized iron calorimeter (ICAL) detector at the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) is designed to study the atmospheric neutrinos and antineutrinos separately over a wide range of energies and path lengths. The primary focus of this experiment is to explore the Earth matter effects by observing the energy and zenith angle dependence of the atmospheric neutrinos in the multi-GeV range. This study will be crucial to address some of the outstanding issues in neutrino oscillation physics, including the fundamental issue of neutrino mass hierarchy. In this document, we present the physics potential of the detector as obtained from realistic detector simulations. We describe the simulation framework, the neutrino interactions in the detector, and the expected response of the detector to particles traversing it. The ICAL detector can determine the energy and direction of the muons to a high precision, and in addition, its sensitivity to multi-GeV hadrons increases its physics reach substantially. Its charge identification capability, and hence its ability to distinguish neutrinos from antineutrinos, makes it an efficient detector for determining the neutrino mass hierarchy. In this report, we outline the analyses carried out for the determination of neutrino mass hierarchy and precision measurements of atmospheric neutrino mixing parameters at ICAL, and give the expected physics reach of the detector with 10 years of runtime. We also explore the potential of ICAL for probing new physics scenarios like CPT violation and the presence of magnetic monopoles.

physics.ins-det

Design, development and performance study of six-gap glass MRPC detectors

The Multigap Resistive Plate Chambers (MRPCs) are gas ionization detectors with multiple gas sub-gaps made of resistive electrodes. The high voltage (HV) is applied on the outer surfaces of outermost resistive plates only, while the interior plates are left electrically floating. The presence of multiple narrow sub--gaps with high electric field results in faster signals on the outer electrodes, thus improving the detector's time resolution. Due to their excellent performance and relatively low cost, the MRPC detector has found potential application in Time-of-Flight (TOF) systems. Here we present the design, fabrication, optimization of the operating parameters such as the HV, the gas mixture composition, and, performance of six--gap glass MRPC detectors of area 27cm $\times$ 27 cm, which are developed in order to find application as trigger detectors, in TOF measurement etc. The design has been optimized with unique spacers and blockers to ensure a proper gas flow through the narrow sub-gaps, which are 250 $μ$m wide. The gas mixture consisting of R134A, Isobutane and SF$_{6}$, and the fraction of each constituting gases has been optimized after studying the MRPC performance for a set of different concentrations. The counting efficiency of the MRPC is about 95% at $17.9$ kV. At the same operating voltage, the time resolution, after correcting for the walk effect, is found to be about $219$ ps.

physics.ins-det

Simulation studies of hadron energy resolution as a function of iron plate thickness at INO-ICAL

We report on a detailed simulation study of the hadron energy resolution as a function of the thickness of the absorber plates for the proposed Iron Calorimeter (ICAL) detector at the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO). We compare the hadron resolutions obtained with absorber thicknesses in the range 1.5--8 cm for neutrino interactions in the energy range 2--15 GeV, which is relevant to hadron production in atmospheric neutrino interactions. We find that at lower energies, the thickness dependence of energy resolution is steeper than at higher energies, however there is a thickness-independent contribution that dominates at the lower thicknesses discussed in this work. As a result, the gain in hadron energy resolution with decreasing plate thickness is marginal. We present the results in the form of fits to a function with energy-dependent exponent.

physics.ins-det