Resolution of puzzles from the LSND, KARMEN, and MiniBooNE experiments

Physics – High Energy Physics – High Energy Physics - Phenomenology

Scientific paper

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24 pages, 28 figures, version to appear in PRD

Scientific paper

10.1103/PhysRevD.83.015015

This work has attempted to reconcile puzzling neutrino oscillation results from the LSND, KARMEN and MiniBooNE experiments. We show that the LSND evidence for $\bar{\nu}_\mu \to \bar{\nu}_e$ oscillations, its long-standing disagreement with the results from KARMEN, and the anomalous event excess observed by MiniBooNE in $\nu_\mu$ and $\bar{\nu}_\mu$ data could all be explained by the existence of a heavy sterile neutrino ($\nu_h$). All these results are found to be consistent with each other assuming that the $\nu_h$ is created in $\nu_\mu$ neutral-current interactions and decays radiatively into a photon and a light neutrino. Assuming the $\nu_h$ is produced through mixing with $\nu_\mu$, the combined analysis of the LSND and MiniBooNe excess events suggests that the $\nu_h$ mass is in the range from 40 to 80 MeV, the mixing strength is $|U_{\mu h}|^2 \simeq 10^{-3}-10^{-2}$, and the lifetime is $\tau_{\nu_h} \lesssim 10^{-9}$ s. Surprisingly, this LSND-MiniBooNE parameters window is found to be unconstrained by the results from the most sensitive experiments searching for heavy neutrino. We set new limits on $|U_{\mu h}|^2$ for the LSND-MiniBooNE favorable mass region from the precision measurements of the Michel spectrum by the TWIST experiment. The results obtained provide a strong motivation for a sensitive search for the $\nu_h$ in a near future $ K$ decay or neutrino experiments, which fit well in the existing/planned experimental programs at CERN or FNAL. The question of whether the heavy neutrino is Dirac or Majorana particle is briefly discussed.

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