In the present thesis we study the potential of the DUNE Near Detector (DUNEND) for establishing bounds for heavy neutral leptons (HNL). This is achieved by studying how the presence of HNLs affects the production rates and angular distributions of active neutrinos. We show that HNL production at DUNE creates a deficit in the neutrino charged current (CC) events at the Liquid Argon Time Proyection Chamer (LArTPC) of the DUNEND and use this to estimate the sensitivity of DUNE to HNLs. Our analysis reveals that the sensitivity is heavily dependent on the systematic uncertainties in the DUNE neutrino flux predictions. For 10 years of operation (5 in neutrino and antineutrino mode) we obtain limits of |Uμ4|2 < 9×10−3(4×10−2) and |Ue4|2 < 7×10−3(3×10−2) for masses below 10 MeV and a 5%(20%) overall normalization uncertainty in the neutrino charged current event rates prediction. These limits are better than those that can be achieved by DUNE direct searches for the case of a 5%(20%) uncertainty within the region of masses below 2(10) MeV. When a conservative 20% uncertainty is present, the limits obtained can only improve current experimental constraints on |Ue4|2 by up to a factor of 3 in a small region around 5 eV and set limits on |Uμ4|2 in a mass region free of constraints (40 eV – 1 MeV).

Autor(es):
CARBAJAL VIGO, Saneli Alcides
Institución:
PUCP
Año: 2024
Ciudad: Lima
Url: https://tesis.pucp.edu.pe/repositorio/handle/20.500.12404/28663