Le travail présenté dans cette thèse porte sur la recherche de neutrino stérile à l'aide de désintégrations β dans les expériences SOX et TRISTAN. Le neutrino stérile est une particule hypothétique, solidement établi théoriquement, qui ne prendrait part à aucune interaction fondamentale, gravité mise à part. Étant entendu que le neutrino stérile se mélange avec les neutrinos actifs connus, l'existence de ces premiers peut être étudiée directement en laboratoire. L'expérience SOX a été conçue pour explorer l'existence d'un neutrino stérile d'une masse autour de l'électronvolt (eV). Un neutrino stérile avec une telle masse permettrait d'expliquer plusieurs anomalies observées à courte distance de sources (quelques mètres) lors de mesures d'oscillations de neutrinos de basses énergies (quelques MeV). SOX avait pour projet d'utiliser le détecteur de neutrinos solaire déjà existant Borexino, et d'observer un signal d'oscillation vers le stérile à l'intérieur même du volume actif du détecteur. La source radioactive de 5.5 PBq et positionnée à 8.5 m du centre du détecteur, émettrait des antineutrinos électroniques via la désintégration β du ¹⁴⁴Ce et du ¹⁴⁴Pr. Une des clés de l'observation de cette oscillation, est la connaissance précise de l'activité de la source. Une telle activité peut être déterminée en mesurant la chaleur dégagée par la source. C'est la raison pour laquelle l'INFN Genova et la TUM ont développé conjointement un calorimètre dédié. La chaleur dégagée par la radioactivité est alors captée par un échangeur puis transmise à un circuit d'eau étroitement contrôlé. Le calorimètre a été assemblé, optimisé puis étalonné avec succès. La perte de chaleur du circuit fut déterminée lors des mesures d'étalonnage grâce à un chauffage électrique. Des variations des conditions expérimentales et une isolation thermique sophistiquée ont permis d'opérer avec des pertes de chaleur négligeables. Il a ainsi été démontré que la puissance thermique de la source pouvait être estimée, en 5 jours seulement, avec une précision supérieure à 0,2%. Malheureusement, le programme SOX a dû être annulé. Le projet TRISTAN, quant à lui, tend à démontrer l'existence d'un neutrino stérile avec une masse de l'ordre du kilo-électronvolt (keV). Si le neutrino stérile à l'eV tente d'apporter une réponse aux différentes anomalies observées lors de mesures d'oscillation, le neutrino stérile au keV, en tant que potentiel candidat matière noire. Le projet TRISTAN cherche à mesurer l'empreinte de ce nouvel état de masse sur le spectre du tritium dans le cadre de l'expérience KATRIN. Cette dernière vise à déterminer la masse effective du neutrino (actif) en mesurant l'extrémité du spectre de tritium avec une excellente résolution et un faible taux de comptage. Une fois la mesure achevée, le détecteur de KATRIN sera modifié afin d'effectuer une mesure différentielle et intégrale de l'ensemble du spectre en tritium: c'est le projet TRISTAN. Le détecteur actuel sera remplacé par un nouveau détecteur de silicium à dérive (SDD) de 3500 pixels permettant une résolution de 3% à 6 keV et pouvant supporter un taux de comptage montant jusqu'à 10⁸ coups par seconde, activité maximum attendue. Un prototype a été testé avec succès et une première mesure de tritium a été réalisé au spectromètre de masse neutrino Troitsk afin d'étudier les erreurs systématiques et de développer des méthodes d'analyses pertinentes. Un premier ajustement cohérent du spectre tritium différentiel acquis lors de cette installation, a démontré la faisabilité du projet. TRISTAN lui-même est toujours en cours de développement mais les caractérisations du détecteur et les études de systématiques sont plus qu'encourageantes pour la poursuite du projet. La première investigation de neutrino stérile avec le détecteur de TRISTAN sur le site de KATRIN est prévue après la mesure de masse, en cours à Karlsruhe, aux alentours de 2024. / The work presented in this thesis is about the sterile neutrino search with the two experiments SOX and TRISTAN based on the β-decay. Sterile neutrinos are theoretically well motivated particles that do not participate in any fundamental interaction except for the gravitation. With the help of these particles one could elegantly explain the origin of the neutrino mass, dark matter and the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe. As sterile neutrinos can mix with the known active neutrinos, they could be discovered in laboratory searches. The SOX experiment was designed to search for a sterile neutrino with a mass in the eV-range. This particular mass range is motivated by several anomalous observations at short-baseline neutrino experiments that could be explained by an additional oscillation with a length in the order of meters that arises from an eV-scale sterile neutrino. For SOX it was planned to use the existing Borexino solar neutrino detector to search for an oscillation signal within the detector volume. The neutrinos are emitted from a 5.5 PBq electron-antineutrino source made of the β-decaying isotopes ¹⁴⁴Ce and ¹⁴⁴Pr, located at 8.5 m distance from the detector center. For the analysis of the signal it is crucial to know the source activity. This parameter is determined by measuring the decay heat of the source with a thermal calorimeter that was developed by TUM and INFN Genova. The decay heat is measured through the temperature increase of a well-defined water flow in a heat exchanger that surrounds the source. The calorimeter was assembled, optimized and characterized. Heat losses were determined through calibration measurements with an electrical heat source. Adjustable measurement conditions and an elaborate thermal insulation allowed an operation with negligible heat losses. It was proven that the power of a decaying source can be measured with <0.2% uncertainty in a single measurement that lasts ~5 days. Unfortunately the SOX experiment was canceled after a technological problem rendered the source production with the required activity and purity impossible. The TRISTAN project is an attempt to discover sterile neutrinos with masses in the order of keV. In contrast to eV-scale sterile neutrinos that are motivated by several anomalies observed in terrestrial experiments, the existence of sterile neutrinos with masses in the keV range could resolve cosmological and astrophysical issues, as they are dark matter candidates. The TRISTAN project is an extension of the KATRIN experiment to search for the signature of keV-scale sterile neutrinos in the tritium β-spectrum. KATRIN itself is attempting to determine the effective neutrino mass by measuring the end point of the tritium spectrum at low counting rates. The KATRIN setup will be modified after the neutrino mass measurements are finished to conduct a differential and integral measurement of the entire tritium spectrum. This project is called TRISTAN. The current detector will be replaced by a novel 3500-pixel silicon drift detector system that has an outstanding energy resolution of a few hundred eV and can handle rates up to 10⁸ counts per second as they occur when the entire spectrum is scanned. Prototype detectors were successfully tested and first tritium data was taken at the Troitsk ν-mass spectrometer to study systematic effects and develop analysis methods. A successful fit of the differential tritium spectrum proved the feasibility of this approach. TRISTAN itself is still at an early stage, but the detector development and systematic studies are well on track and delivered so far encouraging results. The sterile neutrino search is scheduled after the KATRIN neutrino mass program is finished in ~2024.

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Neutrino oscillations in matter can be studied in different regimes, depending on the energy of the incoming neutrinos and the matter density of the medium. In this thesis we investigate neutrino oscillations in dense matter at very high energy (TeV-PeV range), taking into account the absorption that the neutrinos may undergo in such dense media. This absorption phenomenon is relevant for neutrino telescope measurements of astrophysical neutrinos. We begin with a brief reminder on neutrino oscillations in vacuum and the construction of the PMNS matrix. Then, we proceed with calculations for dense matter. We then explore the accuracy of the resulting effective 2-neutrino mixing formulas. They present a good accuracy for Earth-like densities in our range of energies. We develop the calculations for oscillation probabilities in dense matter with absorption through charged-current inelastic scattering for both the two-neutrino and three-neutrino case. We find that in dense media, astrophysical neutrinos indeed undergoabsorption, which reduces signicantly the fluxes for each flavor, with a resonant absorption of electron-anti-neutrinos around E_{res}\simeq 6.3PeV. We discuss the impact of neutrino absorption in the Earth for neutrino telescopes measurements. We find that solar and lunar shadowing is not problematic for current telescopes but could be a good angular resolution indicator for new telescopes to come. / Neutrinooscillationer i materia kan studeras i olika regimer beroende på inkommande neutrinernas energi och densiteten hos det bakomliggande mediet. I detta examensarbete undersöker vi neutrinooscillationer i gränsen av tät materia och mycket hög energi (TeV-PeV-intervall), och tar hänsyn till den absorption av neutriner som då kan inträffa i sådant materia. Detta absorptionsfenomen är relevant för neutrino-teleskopmätningar av astrofysiska neutriner. Vi börjar med att kort påminna oss om neutrinooscillationer i vakuum och konstruktionen av PMNS-matrisen. Vi försätter sedan med beräkningar av neutrinooscillationer i tät materia. Vi undersöker noggrannheten i resulterande effektiva 2-neutrino-blandningsformlerna. De uppvisar en god noggrannhet i jordlika materieprofiler i vårt intervall av energier. Vi utvecklar beräkningarna av oscillationssannolikheterna i tät materia inklusive absorption genom laddad ström oelastisk spridning i båda två- och tresmaksfallen. Vi finner att astrofysiska neutriner i tät materia absorberas, vilket minskar betydligt flödena för varje smak, med en resonansabsorption av elektron-antineutrino omkring E_res\simeq 6.3PeV. Vi diskuterar sedan effekterna av neutrinoabsorption på jorden för neutrino-teleskopmätningar. Vi finner att sol- och månskuggning är inte problematisk för nuvarande teleskop och kunde vara en bra vinkelupplösningsindikator för kommande teeskop.

[pt] Nesta tese estudamos o potencial que terão a próxima geração de detectores de neutrinos (JUNO, Hyper-Kamiokande e DUNE) para a detecção dos efeitos da matéria da Terra através da identificação das modulações no espectro de energia dos neutrinos de supernovas de colapso de núcleo em nossa galáxia, assumindo a possibilidade do decaimiento invisível de v2 após os neutrinos terem deixado a estrela, caminho da Terra. Simulações recentes do colapso gravitacional (e subsequente explosão) de estrelas com massa maior do que ~ 8Mo mostram que durante a fase de esfriamento as energias médias (Eve) e (Evx) tornam-se muito semelhantes e os fluxos tendem a se igualar, tornando difícil observar os efeitos da matéria da Terra usando um único detector. Neste trabalho mostramos que a inclusão do decaimiento dos neutrinos também cria a possibilidade de observar os efeitos em consideração no canal de detecção de neutrinos se o ordenamento de massa for normal e no canal anti-neutrino se o ordenamento for invertido, o que não é esperado na ausência de decaimento. Em particular, se a taxa de decaimento for maior do que ~ 70%, descobrimos que o decaimento invisível de v2 pode aumentar as possibilidades de observação dos efeitos da matéria da Terra, mesmo para supernovas a uma distância de 10 kpc de nós. / [en] In this thesis we studied the potential that the next-generation neutrino detectors (JUNO, Hyper-Kamiokande and DUNE) will have to the detection of the Earth matter effects through the identification of the modulations in the energy spectrum of neutrinos from core-collapse supernovae in our galaxy, assuming the possibility of the invisible decay of v2 after the neutrinos have left the star, on their way to Earth. Recent simulations of gravitational collapse (and subsequent explosion) of stars more massive than ~ 8Mo show that during the cooling phase the average energies (EVe) and (Evx) become very similar and the fluxes tend to equalize, making it difficult to observe the Earth matter effects using a single detector. In this work we show that the inclusion of neutrino decay creates also the possibility of observing the effects under consideration in the neutrino detection channel if the mass ordering is normal and in the anti-neutrino channel if the ordering is inverted, which is not expected in the absence of neutrino decay. In particular, if the decay rate is more than ~ 70%, we find that the invisible neutrino decay of v2 can enhance the observation possibilities of Earth matter effects even for supernovae at a distance of 10 kpc from us.

This thesis is concerned with effects of spin polarization in neutron stars. In particular, we focus on static and dynamic properties of dense neutron matter. We use two different kind of potential to perform our studies: the phenomenological two-body Argonne V$8$' potential plus the three-body Urbana IX force and a modern local version of chiral effective potential up to next-to-next-to-leading order (N$2$LO). Estimates are calculated for the neutrino mean free path in partially spin-polarized neutron matter starting from Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) simulations and using mean-field approaches to compute the response function in the longitudinal and transverse channel. We also compute magnetic susceptibility of dense neutron matter from accurate QMC calculations of partially spin-polarized systems. Twist-averaged boundary conditions (TABC) have been implemented to reduce finite-size effects. In the results, we also account for the theoretical uncertainty coming from the chiral expansion scheme. These results may play a role in studying high-energy phenomena such as neutron star mergers and supernova explosions, although they have been computed only at T$=0$ K.

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Although the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics describes observations well, there are several shortcomings of it. The most crucial of these are that the SM cannot explain the origin of neutrino masses and the existence of dark matter. Furthermore, there are several aspects of it that are seemingly ad hoc, such as the choice of gauge group and the cancellation of gauge anomalies. These shortcomings point to a theory beyond the SM. Although there are many proposed models for physics beyond the SM, in this thesis, we focus on grand unified theories based on the SO(10) gauge group. It predicts that the three gauge groups in the SM unify at a higher energy into one, which contains the SM as a subgroup. We focus on the Yukawa sector of these models and investigate the extent to which the observables such as fermion masses and mixing parameters can be accommodated into different models based on the SO(10) gauge group. Neutrino masses and leptonic mixing parameters are particularly interesting, since SO(10) models naturally embed the seesaw mechanism. The difference in energy scale between the electroweak scale and the scale of unification spans around 14 orders of magnitude. Therefore, one must relate the parameters of the SO(10) model to those of the SM through renormalization group equations. We investigate this for several different models by performing fits of SO(10) models to fermion masses and mixing parameters, taking into account thresholds at which heavy right-handed neutrinos are integrated out of the theory. Although the results are in general dependent on the particular model under consideration, there are some general results that appear to hold true. The observ- ables of the Yukawa sector can in general be accommodated into SO(10) models only if the neutrino masses are normally ordered and that inverted ordering is strongly disfavored. We find that the observable that provides the most tension in the fits is the leptonic mixing angle θ2l3, whose value is consistently favored to be lower in the fits than the actual value. Furthermore, we find that numerical fits to the data favor type-I seesaw over type-II seesaw for the generation of neutrino masses. / <p>Examinator: Professor Mark Pearce, Fysik, KTH</p>

A real time low energy spectral measurement of the neutrinos coming from the Sun will give us a greater understanding of energy production in the Sun, and the mechanisms of neutrino mixing. We will, for the first time, measure the solar neutrino spectrum for all solar neutrinos <2MeV in particular pp, Be and CNO neutrinos, be able to compare the solar photon derived energy luminosity (Lï §) to the solar neutrino derived energy luminosity (Lï ®) independent of any solar model, explore dark energy with respect to mass varying neutrinos, and explore CNO abundances in the Sun. These measurements require new technology in Indium loaded scintillators and large scale detector designs, namely increased spatial resolution through a novel scintillation lattice. I will present the advances we are making to these fields at Virginia Tech as well as neutrino science and the physics of the LENS detector. / Ph. D.