Interpretation of MINOS data in terms of non-standard neutrino interactions

TL;DR

This paper explores how non-standard neutrino interactions could explain the MINOS experiment's neutrino-antineutrino oscillation tension, proposing specific new interactions and predicting future experimental tests.

Contribution

It introduces a charged current NSI involving tau neutrinos that can reconcile MINOS data with existing constraints, and forecasts how upcoming experiments can test this hypothesis.

Findings

Charged current NSI can fit MINOS data without conflicting with other bounds.

Atmospheric neutrino data disfavors neutral current NSI as explanation.

Future T2K and NOvA experiments can effectively test the NSI hypothesis.

Abstract

The MINOS experiment at Fermilab has recently reported a tension between the oscillation results for neutrinos and anti-neutrinos. We show that this tension, if it persists, can be understood in the framework of non-standard neutrino interactions (NSI). While neutral current NSI (non-standard matter effects) are disfavored by atmospheric neutrinos, a new charged current coupling between tau neutrinos and nucleons can fit the MINOS data without violating other constraints. In particular, we show that loop-level contributions to flavor-violating tau decays are sufficiently suppressed. However, conflicts with existing bounds could arise once the effective theory considered here is embedded into a complete renormalizable model. We predict the future sensitivity of the T2K and NOvA experiments to the NSI parameter region favored by the MINOS fit, and show that both experiments are excellent tools to test the NSI interpretation of the MINOS data.