Possible, alternative explanations of the T2K observation of the nu_e appearance from an initial nu_mu

TL;DR

This paper proposes that the T2K observation of nu_e appearance might be explained by new physics related to sterile neutrinos, rather than standard oscillation parameters, and discusses how upcoming experiments can test this hypothesis.

Contribution

It introduces an alternative explanation involving sterile neutrinos for the T2K results and suggests experimental strategies to distinguish between competing theories.

Findings

T2K events could be due to sterile neutrino-related new physics.

ICARUS detector can differentiate between standard oscillations and sterile neutrino effects.

Abstract

An alternative explanation to the emergence of sin^2(2 theta_13) > 0 is discussed. It is pointed out that the recorded T2K events might have been due to some other new physics in the neutrino sector, related to the LSND/MiniBooNE sterile neutrino anomalies, for which there is nowadays a growing evidence. The presently running ICARUS detector with the CNGS beam will be able to distinguish between these two possible sources of the effect