Testing the heavy decaying sterile neutrino hypothesis at the DUNE near detector

TL;DR

This paper explores how the DUNE near detector can test the heavy sterile neutrino hypothesis proposed to explain LSND and MiniBooNE anomalies, potentially surpassing other experiments in sensitivity.

Contribution

It demonstrates that the DUNE ND-LAr can probe larger parameter space regions and distinguish between Dirac and Majorana neutrinos in this scenario.

Findings

DUNE ND-LAr can outperform Fermilab SBN in testing sterile neutrino hypotheses.

Potential to confirm or refute hints of electron neutrino appearance in MicroBooNE, SBND, or ICARUS.

Possibility to differentiate between Dirac and Majorana neutrinos if the scenario is realized.

Abstract

One of the most convincing explanations of the LSND and MiniBooNE anomalies relies on a heavy, mostly sterile neutrino with a small muon neutrino component, which decays to an electron neutrino and an invisible light scalar field. We investigate the possibility to test this hypothesis at the near detector complex of the upcoming DUNE experiment. We find that the DUNE liquid argon near detector (ND-LAr) can probe a larger region of the parameter space than the Fermilab SBN program, and may help to confirm or reject a possible hint of $\nu_e$ appearance in future MicroBooNE, SBND or ICARUS data. We also argue that it may be possible to distinguish between Dirac and Majorana neutrinos if this scenario is realized in Nature.