Work

Probing unitarity violation of lepton flavor mixing matrix with reactor antineutrinos at JUNO and TAO

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Motivated by the precise measurements of neutrino oscillation parameters at Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO), we investigate the possibility of probing the unitarity violation of lepton flavor mixing matrix solely with reactor antineutrinos. First, we stress that it is necessary to reconsider the production and detection of neutrinos in a self-consistent way, apart from neutrino propagation, when analyzing experimental sensitivities to unitarity violation. Then, concentrating on JUNO and its satellite experiment Taishan Antineutrino Observatory (TAO), we demonstrate how the event rates of inverse beta decays (i.e., ν ‾ e + p → e + + n ) for observing ν ‾ e → ν ‾ e oscillations, and those of elastic antineutrino-electron scattering (i.e., ν ‾ α + e − → ν ‾ α + e − with α = e , μ , τ ) for ν ‾ e → ν ‾ μ and ν ‾ e → ν ‾ τ oscillations, depend on the parameters characterizing unitarity violation. Our investigation will be useful for JUNO and TAO to place independent constraints with more data in the near future.

Source: Physics Letters B

DOI: 10.1016/j.physletb.2026.140160

Authors: Jihong Huang, Shun Zhou

Institutions: Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of High Energy Physics, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences

Language: English

Topic: Neutrino Physics Research

Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics

Field: Physics and Astronomy

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: diamond

Funders: Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society, National Natural Science Foundation of China

Awards: G7656516505, G894152365