24 research outputs found
Search for astronomical neutrinos from blazar TXS 0506+056 in super-kamiokande
We report a search for astronomical neutrinos in the energy region from several GeV to TeV in the direction of the blazar TXS 0506+056 using the Super-Kamiokande detector following the detection of a 100 TeV neutrinos from the same location by the IceCube collaboration. Using Super-Kamiokande neutrino data across several data samples observed from 1996 April to 2018 February we have searched for both a total excess above known backgrounds across the entire period as well as localized excesses on smaller timescales in that interval. No significant excess nor significant variation in the observed event rate are found in the blazar direction. Upper limits are placed on the electron- and muon-neutrino fluxes at the 90% confidence level as 6.0 Ă 10â7 and 4.5 Ă 10â7â9.3 Ă 10â10 [erg cmâ2 sâ1], respectively
Evaluation of gadolinium's action on water Cherenkov detector systems with EGADS
Used for both proton decay searches and neutrino physics, large water Cherenkov (WC) detectors have been very successful tools in particle physics. They are notable for their large masses and charged particle detection capabilities. While current WC detectors reconstruct charged particle tracks over a wide energy range, they cannot efficiently detect neutrons. Gadolinium (Gd) has the largest thermal neutron capture cross section of all stable nuclei and produces an 8 MeV gamma cascade that can be detected with high efficiency. Because of the many new physics opportunities that neutron tagging with a Gd salt dissolved in water would open up, a large-scale R&D program called EGADS was established to demonstrate this technique's feasibility. EGADS features all the components of a WC detector, chiefly a 200-ton stainless steel water tank furnished with 240 photo-detectors, DAQ, and a water system that removes all impurities in water while keeping Gd in solution. In this paper we discuss the milestones towards demonstrating the feasibility of this novel technique, and the features of EGADS in detail
Sensitivity of super-kamiokande with gadolinium to low energy antineutrinos from pre-supernova emission
Supernova detection is a major objective of the Super-Kamiokande (SK) experiment. In the next stage of SK (SK-Gd), gadolinium (Gd) sulfate will be added to the detector, which will improve the ability of the detector to identify neutrons. A core-collapse supernova (CCSN) will be preceded by an increasing flux of neutrinos and antineutrinos, from thermal and weak nuclear processes in the star, over a timescale of hours; some of which may be detected at SK-Gd. This could provide an early warning of an imminent CCSN, hours earlier than the detection of the neutrinos from core collapse. Electron antineutrino detection will rely on inverse beta decay events below the usual analysis energy threshold of SK, so Gd loading is vital to reduce backgrounds while maximizing detection efficiency. Assuming normal neutrino mass ordering, more than 200 events could be detected in the final 12 hr before core collapse for a 15â25 solar mass star at around 200 pc, which is representative of the nearest red supergiant to Earth, α-Ori (Betelgeuse). At a statistical false alarm rate of 1 per century, detection could be up to 10 hr before core collapse, and a pre-supernova star could be detected by SK-Gd up to 600 pc away. A pre-supernova alert could be provided to the astrophysics community following gadolinium loading
Search for neutrinos in coincidence with gravitational wave events from the LIGOâVirgo O3a observing run with the Super-Kamiokande detector
The Super-Kamiokande detector can be used to search for neutrinos in time coincidence with gravitational waves detected by the LIGOâVirgo Collaboration (LVC). Both low-energy (7â100 MeV) and high-energy (0.1â105 GeV) samples were analyzed in order to cover a very wide neutrino spectrum. Follow-ups of 36 (out of 39) gravitational waves reported in the GWTC-2 catalog were examined; no significant excess above the background was observed, with 10 (24) observed neutrinos compared with 4.8 (25.0) expected events in the high-energy (low-energy) samples. A statistical approach was used to compute the significance of potential coincidences. For each observation, p-values were estimated using neutrino direction and LVC sky map; the most significant event (GW190602_175927) is associated with a post-trial p-value of 7.8% (1.4Ï). Additionally, flux limits were computed independently for each sample and by combining the samples. The energy emitted as neutrinos by the identified gravitational wave sources was constrained, both for given flavors and for all flavors assuming equipartition between the different flavors, independently for each trigger and by combining sources of the same nature
Sensitivity of Super-Kamiokande with gadolinium to low energy antineutrinos from pre-supernova emission
Supernova detection is a major objective of the Super-Kamiokande (SK) experiment. In the next stage of SK (SK-Gd), gadolinium (Gd) sulfate will be added to the detector, which will improve the ability of the detector to identify neutrons. A core-collapse supernova (CCSN) will be preceded by an increasing flux of neutrinos and antineutrinos, from thermal and weak nuclear processes in the star, over a timescale of hours; some of which may be detected at SK-Gd. This could provide an early warning of an imminent CCSN, hours earlier than the detection of the neutrinos from core collapse. Electron antineutrino detection will rely on inverse beta decay events below the usual analysis energy threshold of SK, so Gd loading is vital to reduce backgrounds while maximizing detection efficiency. Assuming normal neutrino mass ordering, more than 200 events could be detected in the final 12 hr before core collapse for a 15â25 solar mass star at around 200 pc, which is representative of the nearest red supergiant to Earth, α-Ori (Betelgeuse). At a statistical false alarm rate of 1 per century, detection could be up to 10 hr before core collapse, and a pre-supernova star could be detected by SK-Gd up to 600 pc away. A pre-supernova alert could be provided to the astrophysics community following gadolinium loading
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Indirect search for dark matter from the Galactic Center and halo with the Super-Kamiokande detector
We present a search for an excess of neutrino interactions due to dark matter in the form of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) annihilating in the Galactic center or halo based on the data set of Super-Kamiokande-I, -II, -III and -IV taken from 1996 to 2016. We model the neutrino flux, energy, and flavor distributions assuming WIMP self-annihilation is dominant to ÎœÎœÂŻ, ÎŒ+ÎŒ-, bbÂŻ, or W+W-. The excess is in comparison to atmospheric neutrino interactions which are modeled in detail and fit to data. Limits on the self-annihilation cross section Ï are derived for WIMP masses in the range 1 GeV to 10 TeV, reaching as low as 9.6Ă10-23 cm3 s-1 for 5 GeV WIMPs in bbÂŻ mode and 1.2Ă10-24 cm3 s-1 for 1 GeV WIMPs in ÎœÎœÂŻ mode. The obtained sensitivity of the Super-Kamiokande detector to WIMP masses below several tens of GeV is the best among similar indirect searches to date
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Search for proton decay via pâe+Ï0 and pâÎŒ+Ï0 with an enlarged fiducial volume in Super-Kamiokande I-IV
We have searched for proton decay via pâe+Ï0 and pâÎŒ+Ï0 modes with the enlarged fiducial volume data of Super-Kamiokande from April 1996 to May 2018, which corresponds to 450 kton·years exposure. We have accumulated about 25% more livetime and enlarged the fiducial volume of the Super-Kamiokande detector from 22.5 kton to 27.2 kton for this analysis, so that 144 kton·years of data, including 78 kton·years of additional fiducial volume data, has been newly analyzed. No candidates have been found for pâe+Ï0 and one candidate remains for pâÎŒ+Ï0 in the conventional 22.5 kton fiducial volume and it is consistent with the atmospheric neutrino background prediction. We set lower limits on the partial lifetime for each of these modes: Ï/B(pâe+Ï0)>2.4Ă1034 years and Ï/B(pâÎŒ+Ï0)>1.6Ă1034 years at 90% confidence level
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Search for proton decay into three charged leptons in 0.37 megaton-years exposure of the Super-Kamiokande
A search for proton decay into three charged leptons has been performed by using 0.37 Mton·years of data collected in Super-Kamiokande. All possible combinations of electrons, muons, and their antiparticles consistent with charge conservation were considered as decay modes. No significant excess of events has been found over the background, and lower limits on the proton lifetime divided by the branching ratio have been obtained. The limits range between 9.2Ă1033 and 3.4Ă1034 years at 90% confidence level, improving by more than an order of magnitude upon limits from previous experiments. A first limit has been set for the pâÎŒ-e+e+ mode
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Neutron-antineutron oscillation search using a 0.37 megaton-years exposure of Super-Kamiokande
As a baryon number violating process with ÎB=2, neutron-antineutron oscillation (nânÂŻ) provides a unique test of baryon number conservation. We have performed a search for nânÂŻ oscillation with bound neutrons in Super-Kamiokande, with the full dataset from its first four run periods, representing an exposure of 0.37 Mton-years. The search used a multivariate analysis trained on simulated nânÂŻ events and atmospheric neutrino backgrounds and resulted in 11 candidate events with an expected background of 9.3 events. In the absence of statistically significant excess, we derived a lower limit on nÂŻ appearance lifetime in O16 nuclei of 3.6Ă1032 years and on the neutron-antineutron oscillation time of ÏnânÂŻ>4.7Ă108 s at 90% C.L
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Atmospheric neutrino oscillation analysis with improved event reconstruction in Super-Kamiokande IV
A new event reconstruction algorithm based on a maximum likelihood method has been developed for Super-Kamiokande. Its improved kinematic and particle identification capabilities enable the analysis of atmospheric neutrino data in a detector volume 32% larger than previous analyses and increase the sensitivity to the neutrino mass hierarchy.Analysis of a 253.9 ktonâąyear exposure of the Super-Kamiokande IV atmospheric neutrino data has yielded a weak preference for the normal hierarchy, disfavoring the inverted hierarchy at 74% assuming oscillations at the best fit of the analysis