544 research outputs found
Estimating terrestrial uranium and thorium by antineutrino flux measurements
Uranium and thorium within the Earth produce a major portion of terrestrial
heat along with a measurable flux of electron antineutrinos. These elements are
key components in geophysical and geochemical models. Their quantity and
distribution drive the dynamics, define the thermal history, and are a
consequence of the differentiation of the Earth. Knowledge of uranium and
thorium concentrations in geological reservoirs relies largely on geochemical
model calculations. This research report describes the methods and criteria to
experimentally determine average concentrations of uranium and thorium in the
continental crust and in the mantle using site-specific measurements of the
terrestrial antineutrino flux. Optimal, model-independent determinations
involve significant exposures of antineutrino detectors remote from nuclear
reactors at both a mid-continental and a mid-oceanic site. This would require
major, new antineutrino detection projects. The results of such projects could
yield a greatly improved understanding of the deep interior of the Earth.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figure
Search for the Invisible Decay of Neutrons with KamLAND
The Kamioka Liquid scintillator Anti-Neutrino Detector (KamLAND) is used in a
search for single neutron or two neutron intra-nuclear disappearance that would
produce holes in the -shell energy level of C nuclei. Such holes
could be created as a result of nucleon decay into invisible modes (),
e.g. or . The de-excitation of the corresponding
daughter nucleus results in a sequence of space and time correlated events
observable in the liquid scintillator detector. We report on new limits for
one- and two-neutron disappearance: years
and years at 90% CL. These results
represent an improvement of factors of 3 and over previous
experiments.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
First Results from KamLAND: Evidence for Reactor Anti-Neutrino Disappearance
KamLAND has been used to measure the flux of 's from distant
nuclear reactors. In an exposure of 162 tonyr (145.1 days) the ratio of
the number of observed inverse -decay events to the expected number of
events without disappearance is for energies 3.4 MeV. The deficit of events is
inconsistent with the expected rate for standard propagation at
the 99.95% confidence level. In the context of two-flavor neutrino oscillations
with CPT invariance, these results exclude all oscillation solutions but the
`Large Mixing Angle' solution to the solar neutrino problem using reactor
sources.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure
A Search for Neutrinos from the Solar hep Reaction and the Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background with the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory
A search has been made for neutrinos from the hep reaction in the Sun and from the diffus
Solar neutrino measurements in Super-Kamiokande-I
The details of Super--Kamiokande--I's solar neutrino analysis are given.
Solar neutrino measurement in Super--Kamiokande is a high statistics collection
of B solar neutrinos via neutrino-electron scattering. The analysis method
and results of the 1496 day data sample are presented. The final oscillation
results for the data are also presented.Comment: 32pages, 57figures, submitted to Physical Review
Solar 8B and hep Neutrino Measurements from 1258 Days of Super-Kamiokande Data
Solar neutrino measurements from 1258 days of data from the Super-Kamiokande
detector are presented. The measurements are based on recoil electrons in the
energy range 5.0-20.0MeV. The measured solar neutrino flux is 2.32 +-
0.03(stat.) +0.08-0.07(sys.)*10^6cm^{-2}s^{-1}, which is
45.1+-0.5(stat.)+1.6-1.4(sys.)% of that predicted by the BP2000 SSM. The day vs
night flux asymmetry is 0.033+-0.022(stat.)+0.013-0.012(sys.). The recoil
electron energy spectrum is consistent with no spectral distortion
(\chi^2/d.o.f. = 19.0/18). The seasonal variation of the flux is consistent
with that expected from the eccentricity of the Earth's orbit (\chi^2/d.o.f. =
3.7/7). For the hep neutrino flux, we set a 90% C.L. upper limit of 40
*10^3cm^{-2}s^{-1}, which is 4.3 times the BP2000 SSM prediction.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, submitted to PRL (part of this paper
Three flavor neutrino oscillation analysis of atmospheric neutrinos in Super-Kamiokande
We report on the results of a three-flavor oscillation analysis using
Super-Kamiokande~I atmospheric neutrino data, with the assumption of one mass
scale dominance (0). No significant flux change due to
matter effect, which occurs when neutrinos propagate inside the Earth for
0, has been seen either in a multi-GeV -rich sample
or in a -rich sample. Both normal and inverted mass hierarchy
hypotheses are tested and both are consistent with observation. Using
Super-Kamiokande data only, 2-dimensional 90 % confidence allowed regions are
obtained: mixing angles are constrained to and for the normal mass hierarchy. Weaker constraints,
and , are obtained
for the inverted mass hierarchy case.Comment: 7 figures, 3 table
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Low-Multiplicity Burst Search At The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory
Results are reported from a search for low-multiplicity neutrino bursts in the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory. Such bursts could indicate the detection of a nearby core-collapse supernova explosion. The data were taken from Phase I (1999 November-2001 May), when the detector was filled with heavy water, and Phase II (2001 July-2003 August), when NaCl was added to the target. The search was a blind analysis in which the potential backgrounds were estimated and analysis cuts were developed to eliminate such backgrounds with 90% confidence before the data were examined. The search maintained a greater than 50% detection probability for standard supernovae occurring at a distance of up to 60 kpc for Phase I and up to 70 kpc for Phase II. No low-multiplicity bursts were observed during the data-taking period.Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, CanadaIndustry Canada, CanadaNational Research Council, CanadaNorthern Ontario Heritage Fund, CanadaAtomic Energy of Canada, Ltd., CanadaOntario Power Generation, CanadaHigh Performance Computing Virtual Laboratory, CanadaCanada Foundation for Innovation, CanadaCanada Research Chairs, CanadaDepartment of Energy, USNational Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, USAlfred P. Sloan Foundation, USScience and Technology Facilities Council, UKFundacao para a Ciencia e a Technologia, PortugalAstronom
Search for Matter-Dependent Atmospheric Neutrino Oscillations in Super-Kamiokande
We consider muon neutrino to tau neutrino oscillations in the context of the
Mass Varying Neutrino (MaVaN) model, where the neutrino mass can vary depending
on the electron density along the flight path of the neutrino. Our analysis
assumes a mechanism with dependence only upon the electron density, hence
ordinary matter density, of the medium through which the neutrino travels.
Fully-contained, partially-contained and upward-going muon atmospheric neutrino
data from the Super--Kamiokande detector, taken from the entire SK--I period of
1489 live days, are compared to MaVaN model predictions. We find that, for the
case of 2-flavor oscillations, and for the specific models tested, oscillation
independent of electron density is favored over density dependence. Assuming
maximal mixing, the best-fit case and the density-independent case do not
differ significantly.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figur
Measurement of Neutrino Oscillation with KamLAND: Evidence of Spectral Distortion
We present results of a study of neutrino oscillation based on a 766 ton-year
exposure of KamLAND to reactor anti-neutrinos. We observe 258 \nuebar\
candidate events with energies above 3.4 MeV compared to 365.2 events expected
in the absence of neutrino oscillation. Accounting for 17.8 expected background
events, the statistical significance for reactor \nuebar disappearance is
99.998%. The observed energy spectrum disagrees with the expected spectral
shape in the absence of neutrino oscillation at 99.6% significance and prefers
the distortion expected from \nuebar oscillation effects. A two-neutrino
oscillation analysis of the KamLAND data gives \DeltaMSq =
7.9 eV. A global analysis of data from KamLAND
and solar neutrino experiments yields \DeltaMSq =
7.9 eV and \ThetaParam =
0.40, the most precise determination to date.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures; submitted to Phys.Rev.Letter
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