# References

Four-neutrino mixing   
C. Giunti   
INFN, Sezione di Torino, and Dipartimento di Fisica Teorica,   
Università di Torino, Via P. Giuria 1, I–10125 Torino, Italy, and   
School of Physics, Korea Institute for Advanced Study, Seoul 130-012, Korea

## Abstract

It is shown that only two four-neutrino schemes are compatible with the results of all neutrino oscillation experiments. These two schemes have a mass spectrum composed of two pairs of neutrinos with close masses separated by the “LSND gap” of the order of 1 eV. Talk presented at the X<sup>th</sup> International School “PARTICLES and COSMOLOGY”, 19–25 April 1999, Baksan Valley, Kabardino-Balkaria, Russia, KIAS-P99067, hep-ph/9907485.

The investigation of neutrino properties is considered today as one of the most exciting fields of research in high-energy physics. It has received a stupendous boost from the evidence in favor of neutrino oscillations discovered recently in the Super-Kamiokande experiment .

The main Super-Kamiokande evidence in favor of neutrino oscillations consists in the observation of an up–down asymmetry of high-energy $`\mu `$-like events generated by atmospheric neutrinos:

$$𝒜_\mu (D_\mu U_\mu )/(D_\mu +U_\mu )=0.311\pm 0.043\pm 0.01\text{[2]}.$$
(1)   
Here $`D_\mu `$ and $`U_\mu `$ are, respectively, the number of downward-going and upward-going events, corresponding to the zenith angle intervals $`0.2<\mathrm{cos}\theta <1`$ and $`1<\mathrm{cos}\theta <0.2`$. Since the fluxes of high-energy downward-going and upward-going atmospheric neutrinos are predicted to be equal with high accuracy on the basis of geometrical arguments (see ), the Super-Kamiokande evidence in favor of neutrino oscillations is model-independent and provides a definite confirmation of the indications in favor of oscillations of atmospheric neutrinos found in the Super-Kamiokande experiment itself  and in other experiments through the measurement of the ratio of $`\mu `$-like and $`e`$-like events (Kamiokande, IMB, Soudan 2 ) and through the measurement of upward-going muons produced by neutrino interactions in the rock below the detector (MACRO ). Large $`\nu _\mu \nu _e`$ oscillations of atmospheric neutrinos are excluded by the absence of a up–down asymmetry of high-energy $`e`$-like events generated by atmospheric neutrinos and detected in the Super-Kamiokande experiment ($`𝒜_e=0.036\pm 0.067\pm 0.02`$ ) and by the negative result of the CHOOZ long-baseline $`\overline{\nu }_e`$ disappearance experiment . Therefore, the atmospheric neutrino anomaly consists in the disappearance of muon neutrinos and can be explained by $`\nu _\mu \nu _\tau `$ and/or $`\nu _\mu \nu _s`$ oscillations (here $`\nu _s`$ is a sterile neutrino that does not take part in weak interactions).

Other indications in favor of neutrino oscillations have been obtained in solar neutrino experiments (Homestake, Kamiokande, GALLEX, SAGE, Super-Kamiokande ) and in the LSND experiment .

The flux of electron neutrinos measured in all five solar neutrino experiments is substantially smaller than the one predicted by the Standard Solar Model  and a comparison of the data of different experiments indicate an energy dependence of the solar $`\nu _e`$ suppression, which represents a rather convincing evidence in favor of neutrino oscillations (see  and references therein). The disappearance of solar electron neutrinos can be explained by $`\nu _e\nu _\mu `$ and/or $`\nu _e\nu _\tau `$ and/or $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ oscillations (see the recent analyses in ).

The accelerator LSND experiment is the only one that claims the observation of neutrino oscillations in specific appearance channels: $`\overline{\nu }_\mu \overline{\nu }_e`$ and $`\nu _\mu \nu _e`$. Since the appearance of neutrinos with a different flavor represents the true essence of neutrino oscillations, the LSND evidence is extremely interesting and its confirmation (or disproof) by other experiments should receive high priority in future research. Four such experiments have been proposed and are under study: BooNE at Fermilab, I-216 at CERN, ORLaND at Oak Ridge and NESS at the European Spallation Source . Among these proposals only BooNE is approved and will start in 2001.

Neutrino oscillations occur if neutrinos are massive and mixed particles (see ), i.e. if the left-handed components $`\nu _{\alpha L}`$ of the flavor neutrino fields are superpositions of the left-handed components $`\nu _{kL}`$ ($`k=1,\mathrm{},N`$) of neutrino fields with definite mass $`m_k`$:

$$\nu _{\alpha L}=\underset{k=1}{\overset{N}{}}U_{\alpha k}\nu _{kL},$$
(2)   
where $`U`$ is a $`N\times N`$ unitary mixing matrix. From the measurement of the invisible decay width of the $`Z`$-boson (see ) it is known hat the number of light active neutrino flavors is three, corresponding to $`\nu _e`$, $`\nu _\mu `$ and $`\nu _\tau `$ (active neutrinos are those taking part to standard weak interactions). This implies that the number $`N`$ of massive neutrinos is bigger or equal to three. If $`N>3`$, in the flavor basis there are $`N_s=N3`$ sterile neutrinos, $`\nu _{s_1}`$, …, $`\nu _{s_{N_s}}`$, that do not take part to standard weak interactions. In this case the index $`\alpha `$ in Eq. (2) takes the values $`e,\mu ,\tau ,s_1,\mathrm{},s_{N_s}`$.

The three evidences in favor of neutrino oscillations found in solar and atmospheric neutrino experiments and in the accelerator LSND experiment imply the existence of at least three independent neutrino mass-squared differences. This can be seen by considering the general expression for the probability of $`\nu _\alpha \nu _\beta `$ transitions in vacuum, that can be written as (see )

$$P_{\nu _\alpha \nu _\beta }=\left|\underset{k=1}{\overset{N}{}}U_{\alpha k}^{}U_{\beta k}\mathrm{exp}\left(i\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }m_{kj}^2L}{2E}\right)\right|^2,$$
(3)   
where $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{kj}^2m_k^2m_j^2`$, $`j`$ is any of the mass-eigenstate indices, $`L`$ is the distance between the neutrino source and detector and $`E`$ is the neutrino energy. The range of $`L/E`$ characteristic of each type of experiment is different: $`L/E10^{10}\mathrm{eV}^2`$ for solar neutrino experiments, $`L/E10^210^3\mathrm{eV}^2`$ for atmospheric neutrino experiments and $`L/E1\mathrm{eV}^2`$ for the LSND experiment. From Eq. (3) it is clear that neutrino oscillations are observable in an experiment only if there is at least one mass-squared difference $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{kj}^2`$ such that

$$\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }m_{kj}^2L}{2E}0.1$$
(4)   
(the precise lower bound depends on the sensitivity of the experiment) in a significant part of the energy and source-detector distance intervals of the experiment (if the condition (4) is not satisfied, $`P_{\nu _\alpha \nu _\beta }\left|_kU_{\alpha k}^{}U_{\beta k}\right|^2=\delta _{\alpha \beta }`$). Since the range of $`L/E`$ probed by the LSND experiment is the smaller one, a large mass-squared difference is needed for LSND oscillations:

$$\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{LSND}}^210^1\mathrm{eV}^2.$$
(5)   
Furthermore, from Eq. (3) it is clear that a dependence of the oscillation probability from the neutrino energy $`E`$ and the source-detector distance $`L`$ is observable only if there is at least one mass-squared difference $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{kj}^2`$ such that

$$\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }m_{kj}^2L}{2E}1.$$
(6)   
Indeed, all the phases $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{kj}^2L/2E1`$ are washed out by the average over the energy and source-detector ranges characteristic of the experiment. Since a variation of the oscillation probability as a function of neutrino energy has been observed both in solar and atmospheric neutrino experiments and the ranges of $`L/E`$ characteristic of these two types of experiments are different from each other and different from the LSND range, two more mass-squared differences with different scales are needed:

$`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{sun}}^210^{10}\mathrm{eV}^2\text{(VO)},`$ (7)   
$`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{atm}}^210^310^2\mathrm{eV}^2.`$ (8)   
The condition (7) for the solar mass-squared difference $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{sun}}^2`$ has been obtained under the assumption of vacuum oscillations (VO). If the disappearance of solar $`\nu _e`$’s is due to the MSW effect , the condition

$$\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{sun}}^210^4\mathrm{eV}^2\text{(MSW)}$$
(9)   
must be fulfilled in order to have a resonance in the interior of the sun. Hence, in the MSW case $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{sun}}^2`$ must be at least one order of magnitude smaller than $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{atm}}^2`$.

It is possible to ask if three different scales of neutrino mass-squared differences are needed even if the results of the Homestake solar neutrino experiment is neglected, allowing an energy-independent suppression of the solar $`\nu _e`$ flux. The answer is that still the data cannot be fitted with only two neutrino mass-squared differences because an energy-independent suppression of the solar $`\nu _e`$ flux requires large $`\nu _e\nu _\mu `$ or $`\nu _e\nu _\tau `$ transitions generated by $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{atm}}^2`$ or $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{LSND}}^2`$. These transitions are forbidden by the results of the Bugey  and CHOOZ  reactor $`\overline{\nu }_e`$ disappearance experiments and by the non-observation of an up-down asymmetry of $`e`$-like events in the Super-Kamiokande atmospheric neutrino experiment .

The existence of three different scales of $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ imply that at least four light massive neutrinos must exist in nature. Here we consider the schemes with four light and mixed neutrinos , which constitute the minimal possibility that allows to explain all the existing data with neutrino oscillations. In this case, in the flavor basis the three active neutrinos $`\nu _e`$, $`\nu _\mu `$, $`\nu _\tau `$ are accompanied by a sterile neutrino $`\nu _s`$ that does not take part in standard weak interactions.

The six types of four-neutrino mass spectra with three different scales of $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ that can accommodate the hierarchy $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{sun}}^2\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{atm}}^2\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{LSND}}^2`$ are shown in Fig. 1. In all these mass spectra there are two groups of close masses separated by the “LSND gap” of the order of 1 eV. In each scheme the smallest mass-squared difference corresponds to $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{sun}}^2`$ ($`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{21}^2`$ in schemes I and B, $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{32}^2`$ in schemes II and IV, $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{43}^2`$ in schemes III and A), the intermediate one to $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{atm}}^2`$ ($`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{31}^2`$ in schemes I and II, $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{42}^2`$ in schemes III and IV, $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{21}^2`$ in scheme A, $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{43}^2`$ in scheme B) and the largest mass squared difference $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{41}^2=\mathrm{\Delta }m_{\mathrm{LSND}}^2`$ is relevant for the oscillations observed in the LSND experiment. The six schemes are divided into four schemes of class 1 (I–IV) in which there is a group of three masses separated from an isolated mass by the LSND gap, and two schemes of class 2 (A, B) in which there are two couples of close masses separated by the LSND gap.

In the following we will show that the schemes of class 1 (I–IV) are disfavored by the data if also the negative results of short-baseline accelerator and reactor disappearance neutrino oscillation experiments are taken into account . Let us remark that in principle one could check which schemes are allowed by doing a combined fit of all data in the framework of the most general four-neutrino mixing scheme, with three mass-squared differences, six mixing angles and three CP-violating phases as free parameters. However, at the moment it is not possible to perform such a fit because of the enormous complications due to the presence of too many parameters and to the difficulties involved in a combined fit of the data of different experiments, which are usually analyzed by the experimental collaborations using different methods. Hence, we think that it is quite remarkable that one can exclude the schemes of class 1 with the following relatively simple procedure.

Let us define the quantities $`d_\alpha `$, with $`\alpha =e,\mu ,\tau ,s`$, in the schemes of class 1 as

$$d_\alpha ^{(\mathrm{I})}|U_{\alpha 4}|^2,d_\alpha ^{(\mathrm{II})}|U_{\alpha 4}|^2,d_\alpha ^{(\mathrm{III})}|U_{\alpha 1}|^2,d_\alpha ^{(\mathrm{IV})}|U_{\alpha 1}|^2.$$
(10)   
Physically $`d_\alpha `$ quantifies the mixing of the flavor neutrino $`\nu _\alpha `$ with the isolated neutrino, whose mass is separated from the other three by the LSND gap.

The probability of $`\nu _\alpha \nu _\beta `$ ($`\beta \alpha `$) and $`\nu _\alpha \nu _\alpha `$ transitions (and the corresponding probabilities for antineutrinos) in short-baseline experiments are given by 

$$P_{\nu _\alpha \nu _\beta }=A_{\alpha ;\beta }\mathrm{sin}^2\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }m_{41}^2L}{4E},P_{\nu _\alpha \nu _\alpha }=1B_{\alpha ;\alpha }\mathrm{sin}^2\frac{\mathrm{\Delta }m_{41}^2L}{4E},$$
(11)   
with the oscillation amplitudes

$$A_{\alpha ;\beta }=4d_\alpha d_\beta ,B_{\alpha ;\alpha }=4d_\alpha (1d_\alpha ).$$
(12)   
The probabilities (11) have the same form as the corresponding probabilities in the case of two-neutrino mixing, $`P_{\nu _\alpha \nu _\beta }=\mathrm{sin}^2(2\vartheta )\mathrm{sin}^2(\mathrm{\Delta }m^2L/4E)`$ and $`P_{\nu _\alpha \nu _\alpha }=1\mathrm{sin}^2(2\vartheta )\mathrm{sin}^2(\mathrm{\Delta }m^2L/4E)`$, which have been used by all experimental collaborations for the analysis of the data in order to get information on the parameters $`\mathrm{sin}^2(2\vartheta )`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ ($`\vartheta `$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }m^2`$ are, respectively, the mixing angle and the mass-squared difference in the case of two-neutrino mixing). Therefore, we can use the results of their analyses in order to get information on the corresponding parameters $`A_{\alpha ;\beta }`$, $`B_{\alpha ;\alpha }`$ and $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{41}^2`$.

The exclusion plots obtained in short-baseline $`\overline{\nu }_e`$ and $`\nu _\mu `$ disappearance experiments imply that 

$$d_\alpha a_\alpha ^0\text{or}d_\alpha 1a_\alpha ^0(\alpha =e,\mu ),$$
(13)   
with

$$a_\alpha ^0=\frac{1}{2}\left(1\sqrt{1B_{\alpha ;\alpha }^0}\right)(\alpha =e,\mu ),$$
(14)   
where $`B_{e;e}^0`$ and $`B_{\mu ;\mu }^0`$ are the upper bounds, that depend on $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{41}^2`$, of the oscillation amplitudes $`B_{e;e}`$ and $`B_{\mu ;\mu }`$ given by the exclusion plots of $`\overline{\nu }_e`$ and $`\nu _\mu `$ disappearance experiments. From the exclusion curves of the Bugey reactor $`\overline{\nu }_e`$ disappearance experiment  and of the CDHS and CCFR accelerator $`\nu _\mu `$ disappearance experiments  it follows that $`a_e^04\times 10^2`$ for $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{41}^20.1\mathrm{eV}^2`$ and $`a_\mu ^00.2`$ for $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{41}^20.4\mathrm{eV}^2`$ (see ).

Therefore, the negative results of short-baseline $`\overline{\nu }_e`$ and $`\nu _\mu `$ disappearance experiments imply that $`d_e`$ and $`d_\mu `$ are either small or large (close to one). However, since the survival probability of solar $`\nu _e`$’s is bounded by 

$$P_{\nu _e\nu _e}^{\mathrm{sun}}d_e^2,$$
(15)   
only the possibility

$$d_ea_e^0$$
(16)   
is acceptable in order to explain the observed deficit of solar $`\nu _e`$’s with neutrino oscillations. In a similar way, since the survival probability of atmospheric $`\nu _\mu `$’s and $`\overline{\nu }_\mu `$’s is bounded by 

$$P_{\nu _\mu \nu _\mu }^{\mathrm{atm}}d_\mu ^2,$$
(17)   
it is clear that large values of $`d_\mu `$ are incompatible with the asymmetry (1) observed in the Super-Kamiokande experiment. Indeed, it has been shown in  that the Super-Kamiokande asymmetry (1) and the exclusion curve of the Bugey $`\overline{\nu }_e`$ disappearance experiment imply the upper bound

$$d_\mu 0.55a_\mu ^{\mathrm{SK}}.$$
(18)   
This upper bound is depicted by the horizontal line in Fig. 1 (the vertically hatched area above the line is excluded).

In Fig. 1 we have also shown the bound $`d_\mu a_\mu ^0`$ or $`d_\mu 1a_\mu ^0`$ obtained from the exclusion plot of the short-baseline CDHS $`\nu _\mu `$ disappearance experiment, which exclude the shadowed region. It is clear that the results of short-baseline disappearance experiments and the Super-Kamiokande asymmetry (1) imply that $`d_\mu 0.55`$ for $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{41}^20.3\mathrm{eV}^2`$ and that $`d_\mu `$ is very small for $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{41}^20.3\mathrm{eV}^2`$. However, this range of $`d_\mu `$ is disfavored by the results of the LSND experiment, that imply a lower bound $`A_{\mu ;e}^{\mathrm{min}}`$ for the amplitude $`A_{\mu ;e}=4d_ed_\mu `$ of $`\nu _\mu \nu _e`$ oscillations. Using also the bound (16), we obtain the constraint

$$d_\mu A_{\mu ;e}^{\mathrm{min}}/4a_e^0.$$
(19)   
This bound is represented by the curve in Fig. 1 labelled LSND + Bugey (the diagonally hatched area is excluded) and one can see that it excludes the range of $`d_\mu `$ allowed by the results of short-baseline disappearance experiments and by the Super-Kamiokande asymmetry (1).

From Fig. 1 one can see that in the framework of the schemes of class 1 there is no range of $`d_\mu `$ that is compatible with all the experimental data. Hence, the four-neutrino schemes of class 1 are disfavored by the data.

The incompatibility of the experimental results with the schemes of class 1 is shown also in Fig. 1, where we have plotted in the $`A_{\mu ;e}`$$`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{41}^2`$ plane the upper bound $`A_{\mu ;e}4a_e^0a_\mu ^0`$ for $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{41}^2>0.26\mathrm{eV}^2`$ and $`A_{\mu ;e}4a_e^0a_\mu ^{\mathrm{SK}}`$ for $`\mathrm{\Delta }m_{41}^2<0.26\mathrm{eV}^2`$ (solid line, the region on the right is excluded). One can see that this constraint is incompatible with the LSND-allowed region (shadowed area).

On the other hand, the four-neutrino schemes of class 2 (A, B) are compatible with the results of all neutrino oscillation experiments if the mixing of $`\nu _e`$ with the two mass eigenstates responsible for the oscillations of solar neutrinos ($`\nu _3`$ and $`\nu _4`$ in scheme A and $`\nu _1`$ and $`\nu _2`$ in scheme B) is large and the mixing of $`\nu _\mu `$ with the two mass eigenstates responsible for the oscillations of atmospheric neutrinos ($`\nu _1`$ and $`\nu _2`$ in scheme A and $`\nu _3`$ and $`\nu _4`$ in scheme B) is large . This fact implies that $`\nu _e`$’s do not oscillate in atmospheric and long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments and one can obtain rather stringent upper bounds for the probability of $`\nu _e`$ transitions into any other state  and for the size of CP or T violation that could be measured in long-baseline experiments in the $`\nu _\mu \nu _e`$ and $`\overline{\nu }_\mu \overline{\nu }_e`$ channels . Furthermore, it has been shown in  that the upper bound $`N_\nu ^{\mathrm{BBN}}<4`$ for the effective number of neutrinos in Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis implies that the mixing of $`\nu _s`$ with the two mass eigenstates responsible for the oscillations of atmospheric neutrinos is very small. In this case atmospheric neutrinos oscillate only in the $`\nu _\mu \nu _\tau `$ channel and solar neutrino oscillate only in the $`\nu _e\nu _s`$ channel. This is very important because it implies that the two-generation analyses of solar and atmospheric neutrino data give correct information on neutrino mixing in the two four-neutrino schemes A and B.

I would like to thank S.M. Bilenky, W. Grimus and C.W. Kim for friendship and stimulating collaboration. I would also like to express my gratitude to the Korea Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS) for kind hospitality during the writing of this report.