Sterile neutrinos at long baseline experiments

por Andrea Donini (IFT Madrid)

jueves 7 jun. 2007 12:00 → 13:00 Europe/Madrid

Sala Seminarios IFIC (Edf. Institutos de Investigación)

Sterile neutrinos are difficult to see, but also difficult to kill. In recent years, they have been extensively searched for as a consequence of the LSND results, that would indicate the existence of, at least, four neutrino mass eigenstates to understand all existing oscillation neutrino data within a non-exotic flavour mixing mechanism. Short baseline experiments and atmospheric neutrino data are in strong disagreement with LSND, as it is for the first MiniBooNE, too. This could be the end of the story for sterile neutrinos. However, sterile neutrinos can (still) be theoretically motivated. It is, therefore, interesting that new long baseline experiments such as the CNGS or the Neutrino Factory can improve our bounds on their possible mixing with active neutrinos, to seclude them in the realm of non-falsifiable but almost un-interacting (but for gravity) particles.