New Physics with MeV Neutrino Sources Brighter than a Thousand Suns

Abstract

Short baseline oscillations of neutrinos (nue and nuebar) due to active-sterile (a-s) mixing can be observed explicitly using MeV neutrino beams and existing/planned neutrino detectors. The typical baseline/energy (L/E) of this approach allows flavor survival waves to be observed in the spatial distribution of events inside the detector itself. Single/multiple oscillations can be tested using a variety of sources of nue and nuebar matched to Cerenkov (C), liquid scintillator (LS) and LENS (In-LS) detectors. Distinct tags for nue (from In) and nuebar (from p in the LS) in LENS allow access to nue and nuebar for probing (a-s) mixing, CPT symmetry and in a new way, limits on lepton number violation (LNV) via wrong helicity neutrino reactions comparable to limits for neutrinoless double beta decay via right handed currents.