Preview of the Lab’s seminar by Yuriy Shitov 18.09.2019 “Search for light sterile neutrino in reactor experiments”.

Most results of neutrino oscillation experiments can be successfully described by the three-component neutrino theory (PMNS matrix). However, observed anomalies (reactor and Gallium neutrino anomaly, inconsistent results at the LSND and MiniBooNE experiments) can be also explained by the existence of a sterile neutrino. This fourth type of neutrino does not interact in a standard way (hence the use of the term “sterile”), but mixes (oscillates) with the others. Expected range of the mixing phase space Dm²  ~ 2 eV², sin²(2q) ~ 0.1 was determined by global analysis of available experimental data with the best value in the region Dm² ~ 2 eV², sin²(2q) ~ 0.1. The possible existence of a new fundamental physics triggered experimental tests in different research directions to check the hypothesis.