New physics at neutrino detectors
- Autores: Salvador Urrea Gonzalez
- Directores de la Tesis: Pilar Coloma Escribano (dir. tes.), Jacobo Lopez Pavon (codir. tes.)
- Lectura: En la Universitat de València ( España ) en 2024
- Idioma: español
- Número de páginas: 303
- Tribunal Calificador de la Tesis: Silvia Pascoli (presid.), Mariam Tortola (secret.), L. Enrique Fernandez Martinez (voc.)
- Programa de doctorado: Programa de Doctorado en Física por la Universitat de València (Estudi General)
- Materias:
- Enlaces
- Tesis en acceso abierto en: TESEO
- Resumen
The Standard Model (SM) of particle physics, while robust and predictive, leaves us with questions that hint at a broader, underlying theory. Notably, the SM does not account for a dark matter candidate, nor does it provide an explanation for the observed asymmetry between matter and antimatter in our Universe. Further, despite the SM prediction of massless neutrinos, observations of neutrino oscillations contradict this, suggesting neutrinos may indeed be a gateway to new physics. As the world gears up with an ambitious experimental program to probe neutrino properties with future experiments such as DUNE and T2HK, it becomes paramount to understand their potential revelations.
Experiments searching for new physics often diverge in their methodologies. Some, operating at the energy frontier like the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, probe the SM at high energies in hope of discovering massive, non-SM particles. Conversely, intensity frontier experiments aim to uncover signals from new, lower-mass particles that may have eluded us due to their weak coupling with the SM. This is the realm where neutrino experiments shine, boasting massive underground detectors and powerful proton beams, potentially unveiling a hidden sector of weakly-interacting particles. The usage of neutrino detectors to search and potentially discover signals from new physics is the main focus of this thesis.
This thesis is organized as follows: the first three chapters will serve as motivation and background for the search for new physics. The remaining chapters, 4 and 5, are dedicated to the search for new physics at neutrino detectors that have been conducted in the different articles of the compendium. We separate these searches into new physics that impact neutrino oscillations, which we outline in Chapter 4, and new physics that does not affect neutrino oscillations and which might or might not be related to neutrinos, which we will tackle in Chapter 5. Chapter 6 provides a summary and conclusion of the main scientific results and contributions of this research. We review the key findings and discuss their implications for the field of neutrino physics and the search for new physics.
Finally, Part II presents copies of the research articles published in different journals during the development of this thesis. Part III consists of a detailed summary in Spanish, covering the objectives, motivation, methodology, results, and conclusions of this thesis.
