1,720,977 research outputs found
Sterile neutrino search with kaon decay at rest
No full textMonoenergetic muon neutrinos (235.5 MeV) from positive kaon decay at rest are considered as a source for an electron neutrino appearance search. In combination with a liquid argon time projection chamber based detector, such a source could provide discovery-level sensitivity to the neutrino oscillation parameter space (Δm[superscript 2]∼1 eV[superscript 2]) indicative of a sterile neutrino. Current and future intense ≳3 GeV kinetic energy proton facilities around the world can be employed for this experimental concept
Cross section measurements with monoenergetic muon neutrinos
No full textThe monoenergetic 236 MeV muon neutrino from charged kaon decay at rest (K[superscript +] → μ[superscript +]ν[subscript μ]) can be used to produce a novel set of cross section measurements. Applicable for short- and long-baseline accelerator-based neutrino oscillation experiments, among others, such measurements would provide a “standard candle” for the energy reconstruction and interaction kinematics relevant for charged current neutrino events near this energy. This neutrino can also be exercised as a unique known-energy, purely weak interacting probe of the nucleus. A number of experiments are set to come online in the next few years that will be able to collect and characterize thousands of these events.MIT Department of Physics Pappalardo ProgramNational Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant PHY-1205175
Background-independent measurement of θ[subscript 13] in Double Chooz
No full textThe oscillation results published by the Double Chooz Collaboration in 2011 and 2012 rely on background models substantiated by reactor-on data. In this analysis, we present a background-model-independent measurement of the mixing angle θ[subscript 13] by including 7.53 days of reactor-off data. A global fit of the observed antineutrino rates for different reactor power conditions is performed, yielding a measurement of bothθ[subscript 13] and the total background rate. The results on the mixing angle are improved significantly by including the reactor-off data in the fit, as it provides a direct measurement of the total background rate. This reactor rate modulation analysis considers antineutrino candidates with neutron captures on both Gd and H, whose combination yields sin[superscript 2](2θ[subscript 13]) = 0.102 ± 0.028(stat.) ± 0.033(syst.). The results presented in this study are fully consistent with the ones already published by Double Chooz, achieving a competitive precision. They provide, for the first time, a determination of θ[subscript 13] that does not depend on a background model.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.
Search for neutrino–antineutrino oscillations with a reactor experiment
No full textThe disappearance of reactor antineutrinos in the Double Chooz experiment is used to investigate the possibility of neutrino–antineutrino oscillations arising due to the breakdown of Lorentz invariance. We find no evidence for this phenomenon and set the first limits on 15 coefficients describing neutrino–antineutrino mixing within the framework of the Standard-Model Extension.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (PHY-1205175)MIT Department of Physics Pappalardo Program (Fellowship
Simulations of pion production in the Daedalus targets
Full text linkDAEDALUS, the Decay At-rest Experiment for DCP at a
Laboratory for Underground Science will look for evidence
of CP-violation in the neutrino sector, an ingredient in theories
that seek to explain the matter/antimatter asymmetry
in our universe. It will make a precision measurement of
the oscillations of muon antineutrinos to electron antineutrinos
using multiple neutrino sources created by low-cost
compact cyclotrons. The experiment utilizes decay-at-rest
neutrino beams produced by 800 MeV protons impinging
a beam target of graphite and copper. Two well established
Monte Carlo codes, MARS and GEANT4, have been used
to optimise the design and the performance of the target. A
study of the results obtained with these two codes is presented
in this paper
Target studies for the production of lithium8 for neutrino physics using a low energy cyclotron
Full text linkLithium 8 is a short lived beta emitter producing a high
energy anti-neutrino,which is very suitable formaking several
measurements of fundamental quantities. It is proposed
to produce Lithium 8 with a commercially available
60 MeV cyclotron using protons or alpha particles on a
Beryllium 9 target. We have used the GEANT4 program
to model these processes, and calculate the anti-neutrino
fluxes that could be obtained in a practical system. We also
calculate the production of undesirable contaminants such
as Boron 8, and show that these can be reduced to a very
low level
Precision muon reconstruction in Double Chooz
No full textWe describe a muon track reconstruction algorithm for the reactor anti-neutrino experiment Double Chooz. The Double Chooz detector consists of two optically isolated volumes of liquid scintillator viewed by PMTs, and an Outer Veto above these made of crossed scintillator strips. Muons are reconstructed by their Outer Veto hit positions along with timing
information from the other two detector volumes. All muons are fit under the hypothesis that they are through-going and ultrarelativistic. If the energy depositions suggest that the muon may have stopped, the reconstruction fits also for this hypothesis and chooses between the two via the relative goodness-of-fit. In the ideal case of a through-going
muon intersecting the center of the detector, the resolution is ∼40 mm in each transverse dimension. High quality muon reconstruction is an important tool for reducing the impact of the cosmogenic isotope background in Double Chooz.National Science Foundation (U.S.)United States. Department of Energ
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Annual modulation of cosmic relic neutrinos
Full text linkThe cosmic neutrino background (CνB), produced about one second after the big bang, permeates the Universe today. New technological advancements make neutrino capture on beta-decaying nuclei (NCB) a clear path forward towards the detection of the CνB. We show that gravitational focusing by the Sun causes the expected neutrino capture rate to modulate annually. The amplitude and phase of the modulation depend on the phase-space distribution of the local neutrino background, which is perturbed by structure formation. These results also apply to searches for sterile neutrinos at NCB experiments. Gravitational focusing is the only source of modulation for neutrino capture experiments, in contrast to dark-matter direct-detection searches where the Earth’s time-dependent velocity relative to the Sun also plays a role.MIT Department of Physics Pappalardo ProgramNational Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant PHY-1205175)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant PHY-1205100
Decisive disappearance search at high Δm[superscript 2] with monoenergetic muon neutrinos
No full text“KPipe” is a proposed experiment which will study muon neutrino disappearance for a sensitive test of the Δm[superscript 2] ~ 1 eV[superscript 2] anomalies, possibly indicative of one or more sterile neutrinos. The experiment is to be located at the J-PARC Materials and Life Science Experimental Facility’s spallation neutron source, which represents the world’s most intense source of charged kaon decay-at-rest monoenergetic (236 MeV) muon neutrinos. The detector vessel, designed to measure the charged-current interactions of these neutrinos, will be 3 m in diameter and 120 m long, extending radially at a distance of 32 to 152 m from the source. This design allows a sensitive search for ν[subscript μ] disappearance associated with currently favored light sterile neutrino models and features the ability to reconstruct the neutrino oscillation wave within a single, extended detector. The required detector design, technology, and costs are modest. The KPipe measurements will be robust since they depend on a known energy neutrino source with low expected backgrounds. Further, since the measurements rely only on the measured rate of detected events as a function of distance, with no required knowledge of the initial flux and neutrino interaction cross section, the results will be largely free of systematic errors. The experimental sensitivity to oscillations, based on a shape-only analysis of the L/E distribution, will extend an order of magnitude beyond present experimental limits in the relevant high-Δm[superscript 2] parameter space.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (Grant NSF-PHY-1205175)MIT Department of Physics Pappalardo Program (Fellowship
Precision [bar over v][subscript e]-electron scattering measurements with IsoDAR to search for new physics
No full textIsoDAR provides a pure and intense [bar over v][subscript e] source with an average energy of 6.5 MeV produced through [superscript 8]Li β decay. This source can be paired with a large scintillator detector, such as KamLAND, to produce a sample of [bar over v][subscript e]-electron scatters that is more than 5 times larger than what has been collected before. Such a sample would allow for a 3.2% measurement of sin[superscript 2]θ[subscript W] and a sensitive search for nonstandard interactions.National Science Foundation (U.S.
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