96 research outputs found
The Angular Correlations in the Decay of Excited States in 8Be
Motivated by the recent observation of anomalous electron-positron angular
correlations in the decay of the 18.15 MeV 1+ excited states in 8Be, we
reexamine in detail the Standard Model expectations for these angular
correlations. The 18.15 MeV state is above particle threshold, and several
multipoles can contribute to its decay. We present the general
theoretical expressions for angular distributions for nuclear decay by
C0, C1, C2 M1, E1, and E2 multipoles, and we examine their relative
contribution to the decay of 8Be at 18.15 MeV. We find that this
resonance is dominated by M1 and E1 decay, and that the ratio of M1 to E1
strength is a strong function of energy. This is in contract to the original
analysis of the angular distributions, where the M1/E1 ratio was
assumed to be a constant over the energy region Ep = 0:8-1:2 MeV. We find that
the existence of a `bump' in the measured angular distribution is strongly
dependent on the assumed M1/E1 ratio, with the present analysis finding the
measured large-angle contributions to the angular distribution to be
lower than expectation. Thus, in the current analysis we find no evidence for
axion decay in the 18.15 MeV resonance region of 8Be
Parity-Violating Electron Scattering and Neucleon Structure
The measurement of parity violation in the helicity dependence of
electron-nucleon scattering provides unique information about the basic quark
structure of the nucleons. In this review, the general formalism of
parity-violating electron scattering is presented, with emphasis on elastic
electron-nucleon scattering. The physics issues addressed by such experiments
is discussed, and the major goals of the presently envisioned experimental
program are identified. %General aspects of the experimental technique are
reviewed and A summary of results from a recent series of experiments is
presented and the future prospects of this program are also discussed.Comment: 45 pages, 9 figure
Strangeness in the nucleon and the ratio of proton-to-neutron neutrino-induced quasi-elastic yield
The electroweak form factors of the nucleon as obtained within a three flavor
pseudoscalar vector meson soliton model are employed to predict the ratio of
the proton and neutron yields from , which are induced by quasi-elastic
neutrino reactions. These predictions are found to vary only moderately in the
parameter space allowed by the model. The antineutrino flux of the up-coming
experiment determining this ratio was previously overestimated. The
corresponding correction is shown to have only a small effect on the predicted
ratio. However, it is found that the experimental result for the ratio
crucially depends on an accurate measurement of the energy of the knocked out
nucleon.Comment: 17 pages, LaTeX, 2 tables, 4 figures, Discussion on shape of strange
form factors added, Z. Phys. A, to be publishe
Measurement of the antineutrino neutral-current elastic differential cross section
arXiv:1309.7257v1 [hep-ex
A Proposal for a Near Detector Experiment on the Booster Neutrino Beamline: FINeSSE: Fermilab Intense Neutrino Scattering Scintillator Experiment
219 pages219 pagesUnderstanding the quark and gluon substructure of the nucleon has been a prime goal of both nuclear and particle physics for more than thirty years and has led to much of the progress in strong interaction physics. Still the flavor dependence of the nucleon's spin is a significant fundamental question that is not understood. Experiments measuring the spin content of the nucleon have reported conflicting results on the amount of nucleon spin carried by strange quarks. Quasi-elastic neutrino scattering, observed using a novel detection technique, provides a theoretically clean measure of this quantity. The optimum neutrino beam energy needed to measure the strange spin of the nucleon is 1 GeV. This is also an ideal energy to search for neutrino oscillations at high in an astrophysically interesting region. Models of the r-process in supernovae which include high-mass sterile neutrinos may explain the abundance of neutron-rich heavy metals in the universe. These high-mass sterile neutrinos are outside the sensitivity region of any previous neutrino oscillation experiments. The Booster neutrino beamline at Fermilab provides the world's highest intensity neutrino beam in the 0.5-1.0 GeV energy range, a range ideal for both of these measurements. A small detector located upstream of the MiniBooNE detector, 100 m from the recently commissioned Booster neutrino source, could definitively measure the strange quark contribution to the nucleon spin. This detector, in conjunction with the MiniBooNE detector, could also investigate disappearance in a currently unexplored, cosmologically interesting region
Recommended from our members
The Pandora multi-algorithm approach to automated pattern recognition of cosmic-ray muon and neutrino events in the MicroBooNE detector.
The development and operation of liquid-argon time-projection chambers for neutrino physics has created a need for new approaches to pattern recognition in order to fully exploit the imaging capabilities offered by this technology. Whereas the human brain can excel at identifying features in the recorded events, it is a significant challenge to develop an automated, algorithmic solution. The Pandora Software Development Kit provides functionality to aid the design and implementation of pattern-recognition algorithms. It promotes the use of a multi-algorithm approach to pattern recognition, in which individual algorithms each address a specific task in a particular topology. Many tens of algorithms then carefully build up a picture of the event and, together, provide a robust automated pattern-recognition solution. This paper describes details of the chain of over one hundred Pandora algorithms and tools used to reconstruct cosmic-ray muon and neutrino events in the MicroBooNE detector. Metrics that assess the current pattern-recognition performance are presented for simulated MicroBooNE events, using a selection of final-state event topologies
Improved Search for Oscillations in the MiniBooNE Experiment
Submitted to PRL. Further information provided in arXiv:1207.4809Submitted to PRL. Further information provided in arXiv:1207.4809The MiniBooNE experiment at Fermilab reports results from an analysis of appearance data from protons on target in antineutrino mode, an increase of approximately a factor of two over the previously reported results. An event excess of events () is observed in the energy range MeV. If interpreted in a two-neutrino oscillation model, , the best oscillation fit to the excess has a probability of 66% while the background-only fit has a -probability of 0.5% relative to the best fit. The data are consistent with antineutrino oscillations in the eV range and have some overlap with the evidence for antineutrino oscillations from the Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector (LSND). All of the major backgrounds are constrained by in-situ event measurements so non-oscillation explanations would need to invoke new anomalous background processes. The neutrino mode running also shows an excess at low energy of events () but the energy distribution of the excess is marginally compatible with a simple two neutrino oscillation formalism. Expanded models with several sterile neutrinos can reduce the incompatibility by allowing for CP violating effects between neutrino and antineutrino oscillations
A new investigation of electron neutrino appearance oscillations with improved sensitivity in the MiniBooNE+ experiment
Submitted as whitepaper for Snowmass'13 proceedings - 8 pages, 3 figures; version 2: Minor change to title and author listSubmitted as whitepaper for Snowmass'13 proceedings - 8 pages, 3 figures; version 2: Minor change to title and author listWe propose the addition of scintillator to the existing MiniBooNE detector to allow a test of the neutral-current/charged-current (NC/CC) nature of the MiniBooNE low-energy excess. Scintillator will enable the reconstruction of 2.2 MeV s from neutron-capture on protons following neutrino interactions. Low-energy CC interactions where the oscillation excess is observed should have associated neutrons with less than a 10% probability. This is in contrast to the NC backgrounds that should have associated neutrons in approximately 50% of events. We will measure these neutron fractions with CC and NC events to eliminate that systematic uncertainty. This neutron-fraction measurement requires protons on target delivered to MiniBooNE with scintillator added in order to increase the significance of an oscillation excess to over . This new phase of MiniBooNE will also enable additional important studies such as the spin structure of nucleon () via NC elastic scattering, a low-energy measurement of the neutrino flux via \numu ^{12}C \rightarrow \mu^{-} ^{12}N_\textrm{g.s.} scattering, and a test of the quasielastic assumption in neutrino energy reconstruction. These topics will yield important, highly-cited results over the next 5 years for a modest cost, and will help to train Ph.D. students and postdocs. This enterprise offers complementary information to that from the upcoming liquid Argon based MicroBooNE experiment. In addition, MicroBooNE is scheduled to receive neutrinos in early 2014, and there is minimal additional cost to also deliver beam to MiniBooNE
Using L/E Oscillation Probability Distributions
This paper explores the use of oscillation probability distributions to compare experimental measurements and to evaluate oscillation models. In this case, is the distance of neutrino travel and is a measure of the interacting neutrino's energy. While comparisons using allowed and excluded regions for oscillation model parameters are likely the only rigorous method for these comparisons, the distributions are shown to give qualitative information on the agreement of an experiment's data with a simple two-neutrino oscillation model. In more detail, this paper also outlines how the distributions can be best calculated and used for model comparisons. Specifically, the paper presents the data points for the final MiniBooNE data samples and, in the Appendix, explains and corrects the mistaken analysis published by the ICARUS collaboration
- …