Hints for leptonic CP violation or New Physics?

One of the major open questions in the neutrino sector is the issue of leptonic CP violation. Current global oscillation data shows a mild preference for a large, potentially maximal value for the Dirac CP phase in the neutrino mixing matrix. In this letter, we point out that New Physics in the form of neutral-current like non-standard interactions with real couplings would likely yield a similar conclusion even if CP in the neutrino sector were conserved. Therefore, the claim for a discovery of leptonic CP violation will require a robust ability to test New Physics scenarios.