Oscillation of Dirac and Majorana neutrinos from muon decay in the case of a general interaction

TL;DR

This paper investigates how future neutrino factory experiments could distinguish between Dirac and Majorana neutrinos by analyzing oscillation patterns influenced by scalar interactions during muon decay.

Contribution

It demonstrates that neutrino oscillations in a far detector can reveal the neutrino nature, especially considering scalar interactions beyond the Standard Model.

Findings

Near detector observations cannot differentiate neutrino types without oscillations.

Oscillation effects in a far detector can distinguish Dirac from Majorana neutrinos.

Scalar interactions influence the oscillation patterns relevant for identification.

Abstract

We analyse the possibility of distinguishing Dirac and Majorana neutrinos in future neutrino factory experiments in which neutrinos are produced in muon decay when, in addition to a vector type as in the SM, there are also scalar interactions. We check this possibility in an experiment with a near detector, where the observed neutrinos do not oscillate, and in a far detector, after the neutrino oscillations. Neglecting higher-order corrections, even neutrino observation in the near detector does not give a chance to differentiate their character. However, this possibility appears in the leading-order after the neutrino oscillations observed in far detector.