Search

Nuclear de-excitations associated with neutrino-nucleus interactions and nucleon decays are playing an increasingly significant role in neutrino experiments. We explore the GEMINI++ code and estimate its ability to account for the de-excitation processes of highly excited $^{11}$B$^*$ and $^{15}$N$^*$, which can be created in the liquid scintillator and water Cherenkov detectors respectively. It is found that GEMINI++ can not describe the nuclear experimental data of $^{11}$B$^*$ and $^{15}$N$^*$ well. To improve its performance for de-excitations of light nuclei, we modify GEMINI++ and then develop a code of GEMINI++4$\nu$, which can give the best predictions compared with experimental measurements among some widely used statistical model codes., Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables

We explore the neutrino signals from proton decays catalyzed by GUT monopoles in the Sun. Three typical proton decay modes, $p \rightarrow e^+ + (\rho^0, \eta, \omega...) \rightarrow \pi^+$, $p \rightarrow \mu^+ K^0$ and $p \rightarrow \bar{\nu}_e \pi^+$, have been analyzed for the Super-Kamiokande experiment. The monopole-induced neutrinos arise from interactions and subsequent decays of the proton decay products. To obtain the neutrino energy spectra, we use the Geant4 software to simulate propagations of daughter particles in the highly-dense solar center. It is found that $K^0$ can produce a large amount of 236 MeV monoenergetic $\nu_\mu$ neutrinos through the charge exchange process $K^0 + p \rightarrow K^+ + n$ and the subsequent decay $K^+ \rightarrow \mu^+ \nu_\mu$ at rest. Based on this interesting feature, $p \rightarrow \mu^+ K^0$ can give the best discovery potential among three decay modes for most of the parameter space. In addition, we present the Super-Kamiokande sensitivities to the monopole flux for three proton decay modes., Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures, 3 tables; Some comments and 3 references added; the version accepted for publication in JCAP

We implement the de-excitation processes of residual nuclei associated with proton decays in $^{12} {\rm C}$ based on the GENIE generator and TALYS code. To derive the reasonable excitation energy spectra of residual nuclei $^{11} {\rm B}$, $^{10} {\rm B}$ and $^{10} {\rm Be}$, the default GENIE nucleon decay generator is modified in terms of the Spectral Function nuclear model. Then we use the TALYS code to estimate the de-excitation processes of residual nuclei. The TALYS calculation can partly account for the experimental data., Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures and 7 tables; v3: some discussions added, to appear in Physics Letters B

We explore the low energy neutrinos from stopped cosmic ray muons in the Earth. Based on the muon intensity at the sea level and the muon energy loss rate, the depth distributions of stopped muons in the rock and sea water can be derived. Then we estimate the $\mu^-$ decay and nuclear capture probabilities in the rock. Finally, we calculate the low energy neutrino fluxes and find that they depend heavily on the detector depth $d$. For $d = 1000$ m, the $\nu_e$, $\bar{\nu}_e$, $\nu_\mu$ and $\bar{\nu}_\mu$ fluxes in the range of 13 MeV $ \leq E_\nu \leq$ 53 MeV are averagely $10.8 \%$, $6.3\%$, $3.7 \%$ and $6.2 \%$ of the corresponding atmospheric neutrino fluxes, respectively. The above results will be increased by a factor of 1.4 if the detector depth $d < 30$ m. In addition, we find that most neutrinos come from the region within 200 km and the near horizontal direction, and the $\bar{\nu}_e$ flux depends on the local rock and water distributions., Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures, 1 table; v2: minor changes and a figure added, published in Phys. Rev. D

We study the interface effects in strangelets adopting mean-field approximation (MFA). Based on an equivparticle model, the linear confinement and leading-order perturbative interactions are included with density-dependent quark masses. By increasing the confinement strength, the surface tension and curvature term of strange quark matter (SQM) become larger, while the perturbative interaction does the opposite. For those parameters constrained according to the 2$M_\odot$ strange star, the surface tension is $\sim$2.4 MeV/fm${}^2$, while unstable SQM indicates a slightly larger surface tension. The obtained results are then compared with those predicted by the multiple reflection expansion (MRE) method. In contrast to the bag model case, it is found that MRE method overestimates the surface tension and underestimates the curvature term. To reproduce our results, the density of states in the MRE approach should be modified by proper damping factors.

We take the JUNO experiment as an example to explore nuclearites in the future large liquid scintillator detector. Comparing to the previous calculations, the visible energy of nuclearites across the liquid scintillator will be reestimated for the liquid scintillator based detector. Then the JUNO sensitivities to the nuclearite flux are presented. It is found that the JUNO projected sensitivities can be better than $7.7 \times 10^{-17} {\rm cm^{-2} s^{-1} sr^{-1}}$ for the nuclearite mass $10^{15} \; {\rm GeV} \leq M \leq 10^{24}$ GeV and initial velocity $10^{-4} \leq \beta_0 \leq 10^{-1}$ with a 20 year running. Note that the JUNO will give the most stringent limits for downgoing nuclearites with $1.6 \times 10^{13} \; {\rm GeV} \leq M \leq 4.0 \times 10^{15}$ GeV and a typical galactic velocity $\beta_0 = 10^{-3}$., Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, minor changes in title and text, published in Phys. Rev. D

We explore the electron neutrino signals from light dark matter (DM) annihilation in the Sun for the large liquid scintillator detector JUNO. In terms of the spectrum features of three typical DM annihilation channels $\chi \chi \rightarrow \nu \bar{\nu},\tau^+ \tau^-, b \bar{b}$, we take two sets of selection conditions to calculate the expected signals and atmospheric neutrino backgrounds based on the Monte Carlo simulation data. Then the JUNO sensitivities to the spin independent DM-nucleon and spin dependent DM-proton cross sections are presented. It is found that the JUNO projected sensitivities are much better than the current spin dependent direct detection experimental limits for the $\nu \bar{\nu}$ and $\tau^+ \tau^-$ channels. In the spin independent case, the JUNO will give the better sensitivity to the DM-nucleon cross section than the LUX and CDMSlite limits for the $\nu \bar{\nu}$ channel with the DM mass lighter than 6.5 GeV. If the $\nu \bar{\nu}$ or $\tau^+ \tau^-$ channel is dominant, the future JUNO results are very helpful for us to understand the tension between the DAMA annual modulation signal and other direct detection exclusions., Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, minor changes, published in JCAP

We explore the momentum and velocity dependent elastic scattering between the dark matter (DM) particles and the nuclei in detectors and the Sun. In terms of the non-relativistic effective theory, we phenomenologically discuss ten kinds of momentum and velocity dependent DM-nucleus interactions and recalculate the corresponding upper limits on the spin-independent DM-nucleon scattering cross section from the current direct detection experiments. The DM solar capture rate is calculated for each interaction. Our numerical results show that the momentum and velocity dependent cases can give larger solar capture rate than the usual contact interaction case for almost the whole parameter space. On the other hand, we deduce the Super-Kamiokande's constraints on the solar capture rate for eight typical DM annihilation channels. In contrast to the usual contact interaction, the Super-Kamiokande and IceCube experiments can give more stringent limits on the DM-nucleon elastic scattering cross section than the current direct detection experiments for several momentum and velocity dependent DM-nucleus interactions. In addition, we investigate the mediator mass's effect on the DM elastic scattering cross section and solar capture rate., Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables. minor changes and a reference added, published in Nuclear Physics B

We explore the singlet scalar dark matter (DM) from direct detections and high energy neutrino signals generated by the solar DM annihilation. Two singlet scalar DM models are discussed, one is the real singlet scalar DM model as the simple extension of the standard model (SSDM-SM) with a discrete Z_2 symmetry, and another is the complex singlet scalar DM model as the simple extension of the left-right symmetric two Higgs bidoublet model (SSDM-2HBDM) with $P$ and CP symmetries. To derive the Sun capture rate, we consider the uncertainties in the hadronic matrix elements and calculate the spin-independent DM-nucleon elastic scattering cross section. We find that the predicted neutrino induced upgoing muon fluxes in the region 3.7 GeV < m_D < 4.2 GeV slightly exceed the Super-Kamiokande limit in the SSDM-SM. However, this exceeded region can be excluded by the current DM direct detection experiments. For the SSDM-2HBDM, one may adjust the Yukawa couplings to avoid the direct detection limits and enhance the predicted muon fluxes. For the allowed parameter space of the SSDM-SM and SSDM-2HBDM, the produced muon fluxes in the Super-Kamiokande and muon event rates in the IceCube are less than the experiment upper bound and atmosphere background, respectively., Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in Nuclear Physics B

We investigate singlet scalar dark matter (DM) candidate in a left-right symmetric gauge model with two Higgs bidoublets (2HBDM) in which the stabilization of the DM particle is induced by the discrete symmetries P and CP. According to the observed DM abundance, we predict the DM direct and indirect detection cross sections for the DM mass range from 10 GeV to 500 GeV. We show that the DM indirect detection cross section is not sensitive to the light Higgs mixing and Yukawa couplings except the resonance regions. The predicted spin-independent DM-nucleon elastic scattering cross section is found to be significantly dependent on the above two factors. Our results show that the future DM direct search experiments can cover the most parts of the allowed parameter space. The PAMELA antiproton data can only exclude two very narrow regions in the 2HBDM. It is very difficult to detect the DM direct or indirect signals in the resonance regions due to the Breit-Wigner resonance effect., Comment: 24 pages, 8 figures. minor changes and a reference added, published in Phys. Rev. D

We present an undated comprehensive analysis for the simplest dark matter model in which a real singlet scalar with a $Z_2$ symmetry is introduced to extend the standard model. According to the observed dark matter abundance, we predict the dark matter direct and indirect detection cross sections for the whole parameter space. The Breit-Wigner resonance effect has been considered to calculate the thermally averaged annihilation cross section. It is found that three regions can be excluded by the current direct and indirect dark matter search experiments. In addition, we also discuss the implication of this model for the Higgs searches at colliders., Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures. discussion and references added, published in JHEP

$SU(2)_L$ triplet scalars appear in models motivated for the left-right symmetry, neutrino masses and dark matter (DM), etc.. If the triplets are the main decay products of the DM particle, and carry nonzero lepton numbers, they may decay dominantly into lepton pairs, which can naturally explain the current experimental results reported by PAMELA and Fermi-LAT or ATIC. We discuss this possibility in an extended left-right symmetric model in which the decay of DM particle is induced by tiny soft charge-conjugation ($C$) violating interactions, and calculate the spectra for cosmic-ray positrons, neutrinos and gamma-rays. We show that the DM signals in the flux of high energy neutrinos can be significantly enhanced, as the triplets couple to both charged leptons and neutrinos with the same strength. In this scenario, the predicted neutrino-induced muon flux can be several times larger than the case in which DM particle only directly decays into charged leptons. In addition, the charged components of the triplet may give an extra contribution to the high energy gamma-rays through internal bremsstrahlung process, which depends on the mass hierarchy between the DM particle and the triplet scalars., Comment: 27 pages, 10 figures

We investigate the dark matter annihilation in the brane-world and quintessence scenarios, in which the modified cosmological expansion rate can enhance the thermal relic density of dark matter. According to the observed dark matter abundance, we constrain the thermally averaged annihilation cross section <\sigma v> in these two scenarios. In addition, the big bang nucleosynthesis and the partial-wave unitarity are also used to place bounds on <\sigma v>. It is found that both scenarios can lead to a large annihilation cross section, so they can be used to explain the recent PAMELA, ATIC and PPB-BETS anomalies., Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures. Comments and references added, publication in Phys. Rev. D

The Breit-Wigner enhancement of the thermally averaged annihilation cross section <\sigma v> is shown to provide a large boost factor when the dark matter annihilation process nears a narrow resonance. We explicitly demonstrate the evolution behavior of the Breit-Wigner enhanced <\sigma v> as the function of universe temperature for both the physical and unphysical pole cases. It is found that both of the cases can lead an enough large boost factor to explain the recent PAMELA, ATIC and PPB-BETS anomalies. We also calculate the coupling of annihilation process, which is useful for an appropriate model building to give the desired dark matter relic density., Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, references added, accepted for publication in Physical Review D

We propose a dark matter (DM) scenario in an extension of a left-right symmetric model with a gauge-singlet scalar field. The gauge-singlet scalar can automatically become a DM candidate, provided that both P and CP symmetries are only broken spontaneously. Thus no extra discrete symmetries are needed to make the DM candidate stable. After constraining the model parameters from the observed relic DM density we make predictions for direct detection experiments. We show that for some parameter range, the predicted WIMP-nucleon elastic scattering cross section can reach the current experimental upper bound, which can be tested by the experiments in the near future., Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures, references added

In the framework of Left-Right symmetric model, we investigate an interesting scenario, in which the so-called VEV seesaw problem can be naturally solved with Z_2 symmetry. In such a scenario, we find a pair of stable weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), which may be the cold dark matter candidates. However, the WIMP-nucleon cross section is 3-5 orders of magnitude above the present upper bounds from the direct dark matter detection experiments for $m \sim 10^2-10^4 $ GeV. As a result, the relic number density of two stable particles has to be strongly suppressed to a very small level. Nevertheless, our analysis shows that this scenario can't provide very large annihilation cross sections so as to give the desired relic abundance except for the resonance case. Only for the case if the rotation curves of disk galaxies are explained by the Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND), the stable WIMPs could be as the candidates of cold dark matter., Comment: 25 pages, 4 figures, 5 tables. typos corrected, a figure added, accepted for publication in Physical Review D

In the framework of type II seesaw mechanism we discuss the number of sterile right-handed Majorana neutrinos being the warm dark matter (WDM). When the type II seesaw mass term $M_\nu ^{II}$ is far less than the type I seesaw mass term $M_\nu ^{I}$, only one of three sterile neutrinos may be the WDM particle. On the contrary, the WDM particles may contain all sterile neutrinos. If $M_\nu ^{II} \sim M_\nu ^{I}$, the allowed number is not more than $N - 1$ for $N$ sterile neutrinos. It is worthwhile to stress that three different types of neutrino mass spectrum are permitted when $M_\nu ^{II} \gg M_\nu ^{I}$ and $M_\nu ^{II} \sim M_\nu ^{I}$., Comment: 8 pages

We present a review of neutrino phenomenology in the minimal seesaw model (MSM), an economical and intriguing extension of the Standard Model with only two heavy right-handed Majorana neutrinos. Given current neutrino oscillation data, the MSM can predict the neutrino mass spectrum and constrain the effective masses of the tritium beta decay and the neutrinoless double-beta decay. We outline five distinct schemes to parameterize the neutrino Yukawa-coupling matrix of the MSM. The lepton flavor mixing and baryogenesis via leptogenesis are investigated in some detail by taking account of possible texture zeros of the Dirac neutrino mass matrix. We derive an upper bound on the CP-violating asymmetry in the decay of the lighter right-handed Majorana neutrino. The effects of the renormalization-group evolution on the neutrino mixing parameters are analyzed, and the correlation between the CP-violating phenomena at low and high energies is highlighted. We show that the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry of the Universe can naturally be interpreted through the resonant leptogenesis mechanism at the TeV scale. The lepton-flavor-violating rare decays, such as $\mu \to e + \gamma$, are also discussed in the supersymmetric extension of the MSM., Comment: 50 pages, 22 EPS figures, macro file ws-ijmpe.cls included, accepted for publication in Int. J. Mod. Phys. E

We investigate the lepton flavor violating (LFV) rare decays in the supersymmetric minimal seesaw model in which the Frampton-Glashow-Yanagida ansatz is incorporated. The branching ratio of $\mu \to e \gamma$ is calculated in terms of the Snowmass Points and Slopes (SPS). We find that the inverted mass hierarchy is disfavored by all SPS points. In addition, once the ratio of BR$(\tau \to \mu \gamma)$ to BR$(\mu \to e \gamma)$ is measured, one may distinguish the normal and inverted neutrino mass hierarchies, and confirm the masses of heavy right-handed Majorana neutrinos by means of the LFV processes and the thermal leptogenesis mechanism. It is worthwhile to stress that this conclusion is independent of the supersymmetric parameters., Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, 1 table. Comments and references added, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D

In the framework of type II seesaw mechanism we propose two simple but instructive ansatze for neutrino mixing and leptogenesis. In each ansatz, the effective Majorana neutrino mass matrix is composed of two parts -- the part with Z_2 symmetry arises from the ordinary type I seesaw mechanism and the part with S_3 symmetry arises from an additional Higgs triplet vacuum expectation value. The two ansatze can simultaneously account for the current neutrino oscillation data and the cosmological baryon number asymmetry via leptogenesis., Comment: RevTex 14 pages, 1 table. More discussions and references added. To appear in Phys. Rev. D

We show that all nontrivial CP-violating phases can be determined in terms of three lepton flavor mixing angles and the ratio of $\Delta m^2_{\rm sun}$ to $\Delta m^2_{\rm atm}$ in the minimal seesaw model in which the Frampton-Glashow-Yanagida (FGY) ansatz is incorporated. This important point allows us to make very specific predictions for the cosmological baryon number asymmetry and CP violation in neutrino oscillations. A measurement of the smallest neutrino mixing angle will sensitively test the FGY ansatz, in particular in the case that three light neutrinos have a normal mass hierarchy., Comment: RevTex 13 pages (3 PS figures included). A new figure and references added

We explore some important implications of the KamLAND measurment on the lepton flavor mixing matrix $V$ and the neutrino mass matrix $M$. The model-independent constraints on nine matrix elements of $V$ are obtained to a reasonable degree of accuracy. We find that nine two-zero textures of $M$ are compatible with current experimental data, but two of them are only marginally allowed. Instructive predictions are given for the absolute neutrino masses, Majorana phases of CP violation, effective masses of the tritium beta decay and neutrinoless double beta decay., Comment: RevTex 15 pages (4 PS figures included)

As a viable alternative to the LMA solution to the solar neutrino problem, the LOW solution is confronted with two-zero textures of the $3\times 3$ neutrino mass matrix. We find out nine acceptable textures, from which instructive predictions can be obtained for the absolute values of neutrino masses, Majorana phases of CP violation, and effective masses of the tritium beta decay and neutrinoless double beta decay., Comment: LaTex, 14 pages, 4 figures

We present a classification of the unitarity quadrangles in the four-neutrino mixing scheme. We find that there are totally thirty-six distinct topologies among twelve different unitarity quadrangles. Concise relations are established between the areas of those unitarity quadrangles and the rephasing invariants of CP and $T$ violation., Comment: RevTex 10 pages. Minor changes made. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D

We calculate the rephasing invariants of CP and T violation in a favorable parametrization of the 4x4 lepton flavor mixing matrix. Their relations with the CP- and T-violating asymmetries in neutrino oscillations are derived, and the matter effects are briefly discussed., Comment: RevTex 9 pages. Slight changes. Phys. Rev. D (in press)