Abstract
We propose to study the leptonic decays W± → e±e±μ ∓ ν and W± → μ±μ±e ∓ ν at the LHC to discover sterile neutrinos with masses below MW , and discriminate their Majorana or Dirac character. These decays are induced by a sterile neutrino N that goes on mass shell in the intermediate state. We find that, even though the final (anti-)neutrino goes undetected and thus lepton number is unchecked, one can distinguish between the Majorana vs. Dirac character of the intermediate sterile neutrino by comparing the production of e±e±μ ∓ vs. μ±μ±e ∓, provided the N-e and N-μ mixings are different enough. Alternatively, one can also distinguish the Majorana vs. Dirac character by studying the energy spectra of the opposite charge lepton, a method that works even if the N-e and N-μ mixings are equal.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 012157 |
Journal | Journal of Physics: Conference Series |
Volume | 888 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2017 Sep 20 |
Event | 27th International Conference on Neutrino Physics and Astrophysics, Neutrino 2016 - South Kensington, United Kingdom Duration: 2016 Jul 4 → 2016 Jul 9 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Work supported in part by: Chile grants Fondecyt 1130617, Conicyt ACT 1406 and FB0821; the Korean gov. NRF grant of the MEST 2011-0017430 and 2011-0020333; the Innovation Program of the IHEP grant Y4515570U1, and the International Postdoctoral Exchange Fellowship Program 90, OCPC, 205, China.
Publisher Copyright:
© Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd.
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Physics and Astronomy(all)