Abstract
Distinguishing the Dirac and Majorana nature of neutrinos remains one of the most important tasks in neutrino physics. By assuming that the τ-→π-μ-e+ν(or ν) decay is resonantly enhanced by the exchange of an intermediate mass sterile neutrino N, we show that the energy spectrum of emitted pions and muons can be used to easily distinguish between the Dirac and Majorana nature of N. This method takes advantage of the fact that the flavor of light neutrinos is not identified in the tau decay under consideration. We find that it is particularly advantageous, because of no competing background events, to search for N in the mass range me+mμ≤mN≤mμ+mπ, where mX denotes the mass of particle X{e,μ,π,N}.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 075016 |
| Journal | Physical Review D |
| Volume | 96 |
| Issue number | 7 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2017 Oct 13 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The work of C. S. K. was supported by the NRF grant funded by the Korean government of the MEST (No. 2016R1D1A1A02936965). G. L. C. is grateful to Conacyt for financial support under Projects No. 236394, No. 250628 (Ciencia Básica), and No. 296 (Fronteras de la Ciencia). C. S. K and D. S. would like to thank CINVESTAV, Mexico, where some initial part of this work was done, for hospitality.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 American Physical Society.
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)