New Directions in Theoretical Neutrino Physics

Projektinformationen

nuDirections

ID Finanzhilfevereinbarung: 637506

DOI

10.3030/637506

Projekt abgeschlossen

EK-Unterschriftsdatum 1 April 2015

Startdatum 1 September 2015

Enddatum 31 August 2020

Finanziert unter

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Gesamtkosten

€ 806 600,00

EU-Beitrag

€ 806 600,00

Koordiniert durch

ORGANISATION EUROPEENNE POUR LA RECHERCHE NUCLEAIRE
Switzerland

Periodic Reporting for period 5 - nuDirections (New Directions in Theoretical Neutrino Physics)

Berichtszeitraum: 2020-04-01 bis 2020-08-31

Zusammenfassung vom Kontext und den Gesamtzielen des Projekts

Neutrinos are among the most mysterious particles known in fundamental physics, not least because interact extremely weakly with other matter and are therefore very hard to detect. In the Standard Model of particle physics, neutrinos come in three different types (called "flavours"), but for several years, the hypothesis that more than these three neutrino flavours exist, has received considerable attention. One of the foremost goals of the project "nuDirection" is to address the possible existence of a fourth, "sterile", neutrino from the theoretical and phenomenological side. By interpreting and combing data from a large number of experiments, we assess the viability of scenarios with more than three neutrino flavours. We also disucss such scenarios in a broader context, encompassing in particular their consequences for cosmology and astrophysics. Beyond sterile neutrinos, we explore more general extensions of the neutrino sector of the standard model. Several controversial experimental hints exist for neutrino physics beyond the three-flavour paradigm, and if any of these should be confirmed, it would constitute a major breakthrough. Even in the absence of such a discovery, the results from this project will significantly improve our understanding of neutrino physics. This will be crucial in the context of the future experimental program in particle physics, especially in view of multi-billion euro investment in facilities in the US and in Japan.

Arbeit, die ab Beginn des Projekts bis zum Ende des durch den Bericht erfassten Berichtszeitraums geleistet wurde, und die wichtigsten bis dahin erzielten Ergebnisse

As major milestones, we have carried out a comprehensive analysis of neutrino oscillation data from dozens of experiments, with the goal of assessing the global status of sterile neutrino models. We have moreover pushed forward the exploration of possible connections between neutrinos and the dark matter in the Universe: we have studied several ways in which neutrinos can tell us about the properties of dark matter, and we have explored a new scenario in which (sterile) neutrinos *are* the dark matter.

Fortschritte, die über den aktuellen Stand der Technik hinausgehen und voraussichtliche potenzielle Auswirkungen (einschließlich der bis dato erzielten sozioökonomischen Auswirkungen und weiter gefassten gesellschaftlichen Auswirkungen des Projekts)

The analysis codes developed in the context of these project continue to be at the forefront of the field. In the coming years, we plan to further explore the implications of neutrinos physics for the field of dark matter, focusing not only on particle physics aspects of this problem, but also on astrophysical questions.

The IceCube detector whose data was central to nuDirections. Credit: Martin Wolf, IceCube/NSF