Light sterile neutrino effects at θ13-driven reactor neutrino experiments

We study the impact of very light sterile neutrinos (Delta m(new)(2)is an element of[1,10]x10(-2) eV(2), sin(2)2 theta(new)< 10(-1)) on analyses of upcoming theta(13)-driven reactor antineutrino experiments like Double CHOOZ and Daya Bay. Oscillations driven by these values of Delta m(new)(2) affect data in the near and far detectors differently and hence potentially modify the capability of these experimental setups to constrain and measure sin(2)2 theta(13). We find that the hypothesis theta(new)not equal 0 negatively impacts one's ability to place an upper bound on sin(2)2 theta(13) in the advent of a no-oscillation signal or to measure sin(2)2 theta(13) if a theta(13)-driven signal is observed. The impact of sterile neutrino effects, however, depends dramatically on one's ability to measure the recoil positron energy spectrum. If sin(2)2 theta(new)greater than or similar to 10(-2), upcoming theta(13)-driven reactor antineutrino experiments should be able to measure sin(2)2 theta(new) and Delta m(new)(2), along with sin(2)2 theta(13), as long as one is sensitive to distortions in the recoil positron energy spectrum in the near (and far) detectors.