Light Sterile Neutrino Effects at theta₁3-Sensitive Reactor Neutrino Experiments

الأصل · EN

We study the impact of very light sterile neutrinos (Delta m²ₙew around 1 to 10 times 10(-2) eV², sin² 2thetaₙew<10(-1)) on upcoming theta₁3-driven reactor antineutrino experiments like Double-CHOOZ and Daya Bay. Oscillations driven by these vales of Delta m²ₙew affect data in the near and far detectors differently and hence potentially modify the capability of these experimental setups to constrain and measure sin² 2theta₁3. We find that the hypothesis thetaₙew different from zero negatively impacts one's ability to either place an upper bound on sin² 2theta₁3 in the advent of no oscillation signal or measure sin² 2theta₁3 if a theta₁3-driven signal is observed. The impact of sterile neutrino effects, however, depends significantly on one's ability to measure the recoil positron energy spectrum. If sin² 2thetaₙew is larger than 10(-2), upcoming theta₁3-driven reactor antineutrino experiments should be able to measure sin² 2thetaₙew and Delta m²ₙew, along with sin² 2theta₁3, as long as one is sensitive to distortions in the recoil positron energy spectrum in the near (and far) detectors.