Some computational explorations of matters related to neutrino oscillations : a thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Physics at Massey University, Manawatū, New Zealand

Abstract

This thesis covers computational work on matters related to neutrino oscillations, with two main areas of focus. This first was the extraction of θ₁₃, the last neutrino oscillationparameter to be measured, from published reactor anti-neutrino data. The second covered the matter effect, where the presence of matter that couples to neutrinos modifies the oscillation patterns. The work on θ₁₃ extraction sought to replicate the results of the Daya Bay and RENO collaborations from the published data; to determine the significance of pullfactors to the final result and, to address published concerns about the replicability of the Daya Bay results. The results were successfully replicated, the pullfactors were found to not be of much significance and a novel method of performing the extraction was developed. The work on the matter effect looked at the effects of varying matter distributions and the size of coherent effects from dark matter, which in turn looked at two different interaction types: weak-like interactions and scotogenic interactions. It was found that the standard formalism for treating matter effects is blind to matter inhomogeneities while the inclusion of coherence for the dark matter effect does not improve the range of detectability enough to justify efforts to resolve coherent effects. In addition to describing the work done, there is a short overview of the current state of the field of searches for neutrino-dark matter interactions.