Exploring Scalar NSI Effects in Long Baseline Neutrino Experiments

Abstract

Neutrino oscillations provide an excellent opportunity to look for new physics beyond the Standard Model or popularly known as BSM. The unknown couplings involving neutrinos, termed as Non Standard Interactions (NSIs) [1,2], may appear as a 'new physics' in different neutrino experiments. The neutrino NSIs offer significant effects in neutrino oscillations and CP sensitivity, which can be probed in various neutrino experiments. The idea of scalar coupling term has evolved recently [3,4] and looks promising. The effect of scalar NSI can appear as a perturbation that is added to the neutrino mass matrix in the neutrino Hamiltonian. As it modifies the neutrino mass matrix, it may provide a direct possibility of probing neutrino mass models. As the scalar NSI affects the neutrino mass matrix in the Hamiltonian, its effect is energy independent. Moreover, the matter effect due to scalar NSI scales linearly with matter density. In this work, we have performed a model independent study of the effects of scalar NSI at long baseline experiments (using DUNE [5]). Various neutrino parameters may get affected due to the inclusion of scalar NSI as it modifies the effective mass matrix of neutrinos. We explored the impact of scalar NSI in neutrino oscillations and its impact on measurement of various mixing parameters. We have studied different oscillation channels and explored the impact of various possible elements in the scalar NSI term.