Non-Standard Models, Solar Neutrinos, and Large θ13\theta_{13}

May 24, 2013
18 pages
Published in:
  • Phys.Rev.D 88 (2013) 5, 053010
  • Published: Sep 20, 2013
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Abstract: (APS)
Solar neutrino experiments have yet to see directly the transition region between matter-enhanced and vacuum oscillations. The transition region is particularly sensitive to models of nonstandard neutrino interactions and propagation. We examine several such nonstandard models, which predict a lower-energy transition region and a flatter survival probability for the B8 solar neutrinos than the standard large-mixing angle (LMA) model. We find that while some of the nonstandard models provide a better fit to the solar neutrino data set, the large measured value of θ13 and the size of the experimental uncertainties lead to a low statistical significance for these fits. We have also examined whether simple changes to the solar density profile can lead to a flatter B8 survival probability than the LMA prediction, but find that this is not the case for reasonable changes. We conclude that the data in this critical region are still too poor to determine whether any of these models, or the LMA model, is the best description of the data.
  • 13.15.+g
  • 14.60.Pq
  • neutrino: solar
  • neutrino: interaction
  • density: solar
  • propagation
  • neutrino: oscillation
  • neutrino: mixing
  • new physics