Effects for atmospheric neutrino experiments from electron neutrino oscillations

The minimal interpretation of the atmospheric neutrino data suggests that the muon neutrino oscillates into another species with a mixing angle close to the maximal π4. In the Exact Parity Symmetric Model, both the muon and electron neutrinos are expected to be maximally mixed with essentially sterile partners (ν′μ and ν′e respectively). We examine the impact of maximal νe - ν′e oscillations on the atmospheric neutrino experiments. We estimate that maximal νe - ν′e oscillations will have effects on atmospheric neutrino data for |δm2(νe - ν′e)| > 7 × 10−5eV2. F δm2 in this range, a slight but distinctive rise in the ratio of muon-like to electron-like events is predicted for the low-energy sample. Furthermore, the ratio of low-energy electron-like events with zenith angles less than 90° to those with zenith angles greater than 90° should be greater than 1.