Prospects for the measurement of muon-neutrino disappearance at the FNAL-Booster

Neutrino physics is nowadays receiving more and more attention as a possible source of information for the long-standing problem of new physics beyond the Standard Model. The recent measurement of the mixing angle $\theta_{13}$ in the standard mixing oscillation scenario encourages us to pursue the still missing results on leptonic CP violation and absolute neutrino masses. However, puzzling measurements exist that deserve an exhaustive evaluation. The NESSiE Collaboration has been setup to undertake conclusive experiments to clarify the muon-neutrino disappearance measurements at small $L/E$, which will be able to put severe constraints to models with more than the three-standard neutrinos, or even to robustly measure the presence of a new kind of neutrino oscillation for the first time. To this aim the use of the current FNAL-Booster neutrino beam for a Short-Baseline experiment has been carefully evaluated. This proposal refers to the use of magnetic spectrometers at two different sites, Near and Far. Their positions have been extensively studied, together with the possible performances of two OPERA-like spectrometers. The proposal is constrained by availability of existing hardware and a time-schedule compatible with the CERN project for a new more performant neutrino beam, which will nicely extend the physics results achievable at the Booster. The possible FNAL experiment will allow to clarify the current $\nu_{\mu}$ disappearance tension with $\nu_e$ appearance and disappearance at the eV mass scale. Instead, a new CERN neutrino beam would allow a further span in the parameter space together with a refined control of systematics and, more relevant, the measurement of the antineutrino sector, by upgrading the spectrometer with detectors currently under R&D study.Comment: 76 pages, 52 figure

Comparison of large-angle production of charged pions with incident protons on cylindrical long and short targets

The HARP collaboration has presented measurements of the double-differential pi+/pi- production cross-section in the range of momentum 100 MeV/c <= p 800 MeV/c and angle 0.35 rad <= theta <= 2.15 rad with proton beams hitting thin nuclear targets. In many applications the extrapolation to long targets is necessary. In this paper the analysis of data taken with long (one interaction length) solid cylindrical targets made of carbon, tantalum and lead is presented. The data were taken with the large acceptance HARP detector in the T9 beam line of the CERN PS. The secondary pions were produced by beams of protons with momenta 5 GeV/c, 8 GeV/c and 12 GeV/c. The tracking and identification of the produced particles were performed using a small-radius cylindrical time projection chamber (TPC) placed inside a solenoidal magnet. Incident protons were identified by an elaborate system of beam detectors. Results are obtained for the double-differential yields per target nucleon d2 sigma / dp dtheta. The measurements are compared with predictions of the MARS and GEANT4 Monte Carlo simulations.Comment: 43 pages, 20 figure

Forward production of charged pions with incident π±\pi^{\pm} on nuclear targets measured at the CERN PS

Measurements of the double-differential $\pi^{\pm}$ production cross-section in the range of momentum 0.5 \GeVc \leq p \le 8.0 \GeVc and angle 0.025 \rad \leq \theta \le 0.25 \rad in interactions of charged pions on beryllium, carbon, aluminium, copper, tin, tantalum and lead are presented. These data represent the first experimental campaign to systematically measure forward pion hadroproduction. The data were taken with the large acceptance HARP detector in the T9 beam line of the CERN PS. Incident particles, impinging on a 5% nuclear interaction length target, were identified by an elaborate system of beam detectors. The tracking and identification of the produced particles was performed using the forward spectrometer of the HARP detector. Results are obtained for the double-differential cross-sections ${{\mathrm{d}^2 \sigma}}/{{\mathrm{d}p\mathrm{d}\Omega}}$ mainly at four incident pion beam momenta (3 \GeVc, 5 \GeVc, 8 \GeVc and 12 \GeVc). The measurements are compared with the GEANT4 and MARS Monte Carlo simulationComment: to be published on Nuclear Physics

Large-angle production of charged pions by 3 GeV/c - 12 GeV/c protons on carbon, copper and tin targets

A measurement of the double-differential $\pi^{\pm}$ production cross-section in proton--carbon, proton--copper and proton--tin collisions in the range of pion momentum 100 \MeVc \leq p < 800 \MeVc and angle 0.35 \rad \le \theta <2.15 \rad is presented. The data were taken with the HARP detector in the T9 beam line of the CERN PS. The pions were produced by proton beams in a momentum range from 3 \GeVc to 12 \GeVc hitting a target with a thickness of 5% of a nuclear interaction length. The tracking and identification of the produced particles was done using a small-radius cylindrical time projection chamber (TPC) placed in a solenoidal magnet. An elaborate system of detectors in the beam line ensured the identification of the incident particles. Results are shown for the double-differential cross-sections at four incident proton beam momenta (3 \GeVc, 5 \GeVc, 8 \GeVc and 12 \GeVc)

Absolute Momentum Calibration of the HARP TPC

In the HARP experiment the large-angle spectrometer is using a cylindrical TPC as main tracking and particle identification detector. The momentum scale of reconstructed tracks in the TPC is the most important systematic error for the majority of kinematic bins used for the HARP measurements of the double-differential production cross-section of charged pions in proton interactions on nuclear targets at large angle. The HARP TPC operated with a number of hardware shortfalls and operational mistakes. Thus it was important to control and characterize its momentum calibration. While it was not possible to enter a direct particle beam into the sensitive volume of the TPC to calibrate the detector, a set of physical processes and detector properties were exploited to achieve a precise calibration of the apparatus. In the following we recall the main issues concerning the momentum measurement in the HARP TPC, and describe the cross-checks made to validate the momentum scale. As a conclusion, this analysis demonstrates that the measurement of momentum is correct within the published precision of 3%.Comment: To be published by JINS

Measurement of the production cross-section of positive pions in the collision of 8.9 GeV/c protons on beryllium

The double-differential production cross-section of positive pions, $d^2\sigma^{\pi^{+}}/dpd\Omega$, measured in the HARP experiment is presented. The incident particles are 8.9 GeV/c protons directed onto a beryllium target with a nominal thickness of 5% of a nuclear interaction length. The measured cross-section has a direct impact on the prediction of neutrino fluxes for the MiniBooNE and SciBooNE experiments at Fermilab. After cuts, 13 million protons on target produced about 96,000 reconstructed secondary tracks which were used in this analysis. Cross-section results are presented in the kinematic range 0.75 GeV/c < $p_{\pi}$ < 6.5 GeV/c and 30 mrad < $\theta_{\pi}$ < 210 mrad in the laboratory frame.Comment: 39 pages, 21 figures. Version accepted for publication by Eur. Phys. J.