Phenomenological study of neutrino experiments that use land-based sources

Author(s)

Walter José da Costa Teves

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Paulo. , gráficos, ilustrações, tabelas.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Física (IF/SBI)
• Defense date: 2003-12-17

Examining board members

Renata Zukanovich Funchal; Marcelo Moraes Guzzo; Francisco Krmpotic; Orlando Luis Goulart Peres; Antonio Fernando Ribeiro de Toledo Piza

• Advisor: Renata Zukanovich Funchal
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Physics
• Indexed in: Banco de Dados Bibliográficos da USP-DEDALUS
• Location: Universidade de São Paulo. Biblioteca do Instituto de Física; IF/TIFUSP; T353e D

Abstract

In this thesis, we have done two kind of phenomenological studies through a detailed analysis of present and future terrestrial experiments. In the first study, we analyze two exotic mechanisms of flavour conversion: quantum decoherence and non-standard neutrino-matter interactions. In the case of decoherence, we impose constraints on the decoherence parameter and test how to distinguish between the pure decoherence solution and the standard neutrino ascillation mechanism in the contexto f two neutrino generations. For non-standard interactions, assuming it as a sub-leading process compared to the standard oscillation, we find the possible limits that can be achieved on the strength of these interactions using a future neutrino factory. In the second part of the study, we determine the solar oscillation parameters using a combined analysis of solar neutrino and KamLAND data, and estimate the precision on the atmospheric mixing parameters by that can be accomplished by the LongBaseline experiments MINOS, ICARUS and OPERA. Finally, we investigate the capability of future neutrinoless Double beta decay experiments to determine the non-oscillation parameters. (AU)