Limits on Active to Sterile Neutrino Oscillations from Disappearance Searches in the MINOS, Daya Bay, and Bugey-3 Experiments

Searches for a light sterile neutrino have been performed independently by the MINOS and the Daya Bay experiments using the muon (anti) neutrino and electron antineutrino disappearance channels, respectively. In this Letter, results from both experiments are combined with those from the Bugey-3 reactor neutrino experiment to constrain oscillations into light sterile neutrinos. The three experiments are sensitive to complementary regions of parameter space, enabling the combined analysis to probe regions allowed by the Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector (LSND) and MiniBooNE experiments in a minimally extended four-neutrino flavor framework. Stringent limits on sin(2) 2 theta(mu e) are set over 6 orders of magnitude in the sterile mass-squared splitting Delta m(41)(2). The sterile-neutrino mixing phase space allowed by the LSND and MiniBooNE experiments is excluded for Delta m(41)(2) \u3c 0.8 eV(2) at 95% CLs

Constraints on large extra dimensions from the MINOS experiment

We report new constraints on the size of large extra dimensions from data collected by the MINOS experiment between 2005 and 2012. Our analysis employs a model in which sterile neutrinos arise as Kaluza-Klein states in large extra dimensions and thus modify the neutrino oscillation probabilities due to mixing between active and sterile neutrino states. Using Fermilab\u27s Neutrinos at the Main Injector beam exposure of 10.56 x 10(20) protons on target, we combine muon neutrino charged current and neutral current data sets from the Near and Far Detectors and observe no evidence for deviations from standard three-flavor neutrino oscillations. The ratios of reconstructed energy spectra in the two detectors constrain the size of large extra dimensions to be smaller than 0.45 mu m at 90% C.L. in the limit of a vanishing lightest active neutrino mass. Stronger limits are obtained for nonvanishing masses

Search for Sterile Neutrinos Mixing with Muon Neutrinos in MINOS

We report results of a search for oscillations involving a light sterile neutrino over distances of 1.04 and 735 km in a nu(mu)-dominated beam with a peak energy of 3 GeV. The data, from an exposure of 10.56 x 10(20) protons on target, are analyzed using a phenomenological model with one sterile neutrino. We constrain the mixing parameters theta(24) and Delta m(41)(2) and set limits on parameters of the four-dimensional Pontecorvo-Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata matrix, vertical bar U-mu 4 vertical bar(2) and vertical bar U-tau 4 vertical bar(2), under the assumption that mixing between nu(e) and nu(s) is negligible (vertical bar U-e4 vertical bar(2) = 0). No evidence for nu(mu) -\u3e nu(s) transitions is found and we set a world-leading limit on theta(24) for values of Delta m(41)(2) less than or similar to 1 eV(2)

Measurement of single pi(0) production by coherent neutral-current nu Fe interactions in the MINOS Near Detector

Forward single pi(0) production by coherent neutral-current interactions, vA - \u3e vA pi(0), is investigated using a 2.8 x 10(20) protons-on-target exposure of the MINOS Near Detector. For single-shower topologies, the event distribution in production angle exhibits a clear excess above the estimated background at very forward angles for visible energy in the range 1-8 GeV. Cross sections are obtained for the detector medium comprised of 80% iron and 20% carbon nuclei with (A) = 48, the highest- \u3c A \u3e target used to date in the study of this coherent reaction. The total cross section for coherent neutral-current single pi(0) production initiated by the v(mu) flux of the NuMI low-energy beam with mean (mode) E-v of 4.9 GeV (3.0 GeV), is 77.6 +/- 5.0 (stat)(-) (+15.0)(16.8) (syst) x 10(-40) cm(2) pernucleus. The results are in good agreement with predictions of the Berger-Sehgal model

Search for flavor-changing nonstandard neutrino interactions using nu(e) appearance in MINOS

We report new constraints on flavor-changing nonstandard neutrino interactions from the MINOS long-baseline experiment using nu(e) and (nu) over bar (e) appearance candidate events from predominantly nu(mu) and (nu) over bar (mu) beams. We used a statistical selection algorithm to separate nu(e) candidates from background events, enabling an analysis of the combined MINOS neutrino and antineutrino data. We observe no deviations from standard neutrino mixing, and thus place constraints on the nonstandard interaction matter effect, vertical bar epsilon(e tau)vertical bar, and phase, (delta(CP) + delta(e tau)), using a 30-bin likelihood fit

The Virtual Sociality of Rights: The Case of Women\u27s Rights are Human Rights

This essay traces the relationship between activists and academics involved in the campaign for women\u27s rights as human rights as a case study of the relationship between different classes of what I call knowledge professionals self-consciously acting in a transnational domain. The puzzle that animates this essay is the following: how was it that at the very moment at which a critique of rights and a reimagination of rights as rights talk proved to be such fertile ground for academic scholarship did the same rights prove to be an equally fertile ground for activist networking and lobbying activities? The paper answers this question with respect to the work of self-reflexivity in creating a virtual sociality of rights

Measurement of single π0 production by coherent neutral-current ν Fe interactions in the MINOS Near Detector

Forward single π0 production by coherent neutral-current interactions, νA→νAπ0, is investigated using a 2.8×1020 protons-on-target exposure of the MINOS Near Detector. For single-shower topologies, the event distribution in production angle exhibits a clear excess above the estimated background at very forward angles for visible energy in the range 1-8 GeV. Cross sections are obtained for the detector medium comprised of 80% iron and 20% carbon nuclei with =48, the highest- target used to date in the study of this coherent reaction. The total cross section for coherent neutral-current single π0 production initiated by the νμ flux of the NuMI low-energy beam with mean (mode) Eν of 4.9 GeV (3.0 GeV), is 77.6±5.0(stat)-16.8+15.0(syst)×10-40 cm2 pernucleus. The results are in good agreement with predictions of the Berger-Sehgal model

Search for Sterile Neutrinos Mixing with Muon Neutrinos in MINOS

We report results of a search for oscillations involving a light sterile neutrino over distances of 1.04 and 735 km in a νμ-dominated beam with a peak energy of 3 GeV. The data, from an exposure of 10.56 × 10^20 protons on target, are analyzed using a phenomenological model with one sterile neutrino. We constrain the mixing parameters θ24 and Δm41^2 and set limits on parameters of the four-dimensional Pontecorvo-Maki- Nakagawa-Sakata matrix, |Uμ4|2 and |Uτ4|2, under the assumption that mixing between νe and νs is negligible (|Ue4|^2 = 0). No evidence for νμ → νs transitions is found and we set a world-leading limit on θ24 for values of Δm41^2 ≲ 1 eV^2

Search for flavor-changing nonstandard neutrino interactions using nu(e) appearance in MINOS

We report new constraints on flavor-changing nonstandard neutrino interactions from the MINOS long-baseline experiment using νe and ¯νe appearance candidate events from predominantly νμ and ¯νμ beams. We used a statistical selection algorithm to separate νe candidates from background events, enabling an analysis of the combined MINOS neutrino and antineutrino data. We observe no deviations from standard neutrino mixing, and thus place constraints on the nonstandard interaction matter effect, |ϵeτ|, and phase, (δCP+δeτ), using a 30-bin likelihood fit

Measurement of the multiple-muon charge ratio in the MINOS Far Detector

The charge ratio, Rμ=Nμ+/Nμ−, for cosmogenic multiple-muon events observed at an underground depth of 2070 mwe has been measured using the magnetized MINOS Far Detector. The multiple-muon events, recorded nearly continuously from August 2003 until April 2012, comprise two independent data sets imaged with opposite magnetic field polarities, the comparison of which allows the systematic uncertainties of the measurement to be minimized. The multiple-muon charge ratio is determined to be Rμ=1.104±0.006(stat)+0.009−0.010(syst). This measurement complements previous determinations of single-muon and multiple-muon charge ratios at underground sites and serves to constrain models of cosmic-ray interactions at TeV energies