Neutrino Oscillations and Mass: A Comprehensive Review

[JamesJames]

I am in my senior year of undergrad studies and would like to read a research paper on the NEUTRINO MASS. I am hoping for it to be at a level which I can understand. I am taking particle physics right now. Are there any sites that would offer such documents?

James

 

[Chronos]

Sure is James. Go to www.arxiv.com. You will find plenty.

 

[JamesJames]

It does not seem to offer any research.

 

[Haelfix]

Heres a good reference paper
hep-ph/0202058

 

[jtbell]

Try the Particle Data Group

http://pdg.lbl.gov/

Follow the link to "Reviews, Tables and Plots" and you'll get a list of review-type articles on various topics. In the "Particle Properties" section there are a half-dozen papers listed under "Neutrinos", including one on "Neutrino mass, mixing and flavor change" which looks promising. I'm downloading it right now. This is a "review" article, not a "research" article, but it will have a list of references to original research articles at the end.

 

[JamesJames]

IS the SUPERKamiokande paper available somewhere online? IS it readable by a senior UNDERgraduate? 4th year undergrad?

 

[Haelfix]

I have the super K paper somewhere, but I doubt you'll be able to read it. Theres a lot of jargon and sophisticated error analysis inside, as well as a lot of technical experimental details.

The problem with giving a neutrino mass paper to an undergrad is that to really understand what's going on requires understanding of the full fledged electroweak model.

Having said that, you will be able to understand a few things, assuming you have quantum mechanics. The seesaw mechanism is pretty straightforward, as well as how a neutrino wavefunction can oscillate between different states. Other things get a bit challenging, like the MSW effect in the sun, but could in principle be understood.

Do read that paper I linked,
http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/hep-ph/pdf/0202/0202058.pdf

especially starting from p12. The stuff before is really fundamental, but you need QFT to be familiar with the equations.

 

[pelastration]

Maybe this link can bring you to some papers:

Quote: "MINOS ready to study mysterious neutrinos

A new five year research programme studying the properties of
mysterious particles called neutrinos is due to start on March 4th 2005.
The first neutrinos generated in a new particle accelerator beam for the
Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search (MINOS) were observed during
commissioning work last week at the Fermi National Accelerator
Laboratory, Fermilab, near Chicago in the USA. These neutrinos will be
sent on a 735 km journey through the Earth to a 5,500 ton detector
located in a historic iron mine near the Canadian border. This heralds
the successful completion of four years of construction and marks the
final stage of preparation for the experimental programme for UK
physicists, who are working with scientists from the USA, Russia,
Greece, France and Brazil."

"Recent experiments such as SNO (the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, Canada, involving UK scientists) and Super Kamiokande in Japan, have studied neutrinos from the sun and from cosmic rays striking the Earth and demonstrated that they are capable of transforming (oscillating) from one type to another as they fly through space. This property is of great interest to scientists and also requires that one or more of the neutrinos,
previously thought to be mass-less, do have a small mass."

http://www-numi.fnal.gov/PublicInfo/index.html
http://www-numi.fnal.gov/collab/institut.html
Images: http://www.pparc.ac.uk/Nw/minos_images.asp

 

[Andrew Mason]

IS the SUPERKamiokande paper available somewhere online? IS it readable by a senior UNDERgraduate? 4th year undergrad?

The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory independently concluded that neutrinos have rest mass: The main paper is located here:
http://xxx.lanl.gov/PS_cache/nucl-ex/pdf/0204/0204009.pdf

Other related papers are here:
http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/sno/publications.html

AM

 

[JamesJames]

Where can I find a derivation of the transformation probability for neutrinos to change to a neutrino of another flavor? It contains a sin^2 (theta) term and is proportional to L/E.

James

 

[Creator]

Where can I find a derivation of the transformation probability for neutrinos to change to a neutrino of another flavor? It contains a sin^2 (theta) term and is proportional to L/E.

James

Ask and you shall receive:

http://www.ps.uci.edu/%7Esuperk/oscmath1.html

Creator

 

[JamesJames]

Thanks, that is very useful..I understand it.

 

[JamesJames]

What is the meaning of fiducial volume? I have read this in several articles that I found..one being the K2K experiment description. Can someone explain this term.

James

 

[JamesJames]

This is from a neutrino timeline:
2004 SuperKamiokande and KamLAND present evidence for neutrino disappearance and reappearance, eliminating non-oscillations models.

Was a paper submitted? Is is available on the web?

James