632 research outputs found
The OscSNS White Paper
There exists a need to address and resolve the growing evidence for
short-baseline neutrino oscillations and the possible existence of sterile
neutrinos. Such non-standard particles require a mass of eV/c, far
above the mass scale associated with active neutrinos, and were first invoked
to explain the LSND appearance signal.
More recently, the MiniBooNE experiment has reported a excess of
events in antineutrino mode consistent with neutrino oscillations and with the
LSND antineutrino appearance signal. MiniBooNE also observed a
excess of events in their neutrino mode data. Lower than expected
neutrino-induced event rates using calibrated radioactive sources and nuclear
reactors can also be explained by the existence of sterile neutrinos. Fits to
the world's neutrino and antineutrino data are consistent with sterile
neutrinos at this eV/c mass scale, although there is some tension
between measurements from disappearance and appearance experiments. In addition
to resolving this potential major extension of the Standard Model, the
existence of sterile neutrinos will impact design and planning for all future
neutrino experiments. It should be an extremely high priority to conclusively
establish if such unexpected light sterile neutrinos exist. The Spallation
Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, built to usher in a new
era in neutron research, provides a unique opportunity for US science to
perform a definitive world-class search for sterile neutrinos.Comment: This white paper is submitted as part of the SNOWMASS planning
proces
Search for Decay in LSND
We observe a net beam-excess of (stat) (syst) events,
above 160 MeV, resulting from the charged-current reaction of
and/or on C and H in the LSND detector. No beam related muon
background is expected in this energy regime. Within an analysis framework of
, we set a direct upper limit for this
branching ratio of at 90% confidence level.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Measurement of Muon Neutrino Quasi-Elastic Scattering on Carbon
The observation of neutrino oscillations is clear evidence for physics beyond
the standard model. To make precise measurements of this phenomenon, neutrino
oscillation experiments, including MiniBooNE, require an accurate description
of neutrino charged current quasi-elastic (CCQE) cross sections to predict
signal samples. Using a high-statistics sample of muon neutrino CCQE events,
MiniBooNE finds that a simple Fermi gas model, with appropriate adjustments,
accurately characterizes the CCQE events observed in a carbon-based detector.
The extracted parameters include an effective axial mass, M_A^eff = 1.23+/-0.20
GeV, that describes the four-momentum dependence of the axial-vector form
factor of the nucleon; and a Pauli-suppression parameter, kappa =
1.019+/-0.011. Such a modified Fermi gas model may also be used by future
accelerator-based experiments measuring neutrino oscillations on nuclear
targets.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
First Measurement of Monoenergetic Muon Neutrino Charged Current Interactions
We report the first measurement of monoenergetic muon neutrino charged
current interactions. MiniBooNE has isolated 236 MeV muon neutrino events
originating from charged kaon decay at rest ()
at the NuMI beamline absorber. These signal -carbon events are
distinguished from primarily pion decay in flight and
backgrounds produced at the target station and decay pipe
using their arrival time and reconstructed muon energy. The significance of the
signal observation is at the 3.9 level. The muon kinetic energy,
neutrino-nucleus energy transfer (), and total cross
section for these events is extracted. This result is the first known-energy,
weak-interaction-only probe of the nucleus to yield a measurement of
using neutrinos, a quantity thus far only accessible through electron
scattering.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
Measurement of the \nu_\mu charged current \pi^+ to quasi-elastic cross section ratio on mineral oil in a 0.8 GeV neutrino beam
Using high statistics samples of charged current interactions,
MiniBooNE reports a measurement of the single charged pion production to
quasi-elastic cross section ratio on mineral oil (CH), both with and
without corrections for hadron re-interactions in the target nucleus. The
result is provided as a function of neutrino energy in the range 0.4 GeV 2.4 GeV with 11% precision in the region of highest statistics. The
results are consistent with previous measurements and the prediction from
historical neutrino calculations.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
A Search for Electron Antineutrino Appearance at the 1 Scale
The MiniBooNE Collaboration reports initial results from a search for
oscillations. A signal-blind analysis was
performed using a data sample corresponding to protons on
target. The data are consistent with background prediction across the full
range of neutrino energy reconstructed assuming quasielastic scattering, MeV: 144 electron-like events have been observed in this
energy range, compared to an expectation of events. No
significant excess of events has been observed, both at low energy, 200-475
MeV, and at high energy, 475-1250 MeV. The data are inconclusive with respect
to antineutrino oscillations suggested by data from the Liquid Scintillator
Neutrino Detector at Los Alamos National Laboratory.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, 2 table
Measurement of the neutrino component of an anti-neutrino beam observed by a non-magnetized detector
Two independent methods are employed to measure the neutrino flux of the
anti-neutrino-mode beam observed by the MiniBooNE detector. The first method
compares data to simulated event rates in a high purity \numu induced
charged-current single \pip (CC1\pip) sample while the second exploits the
difference between the angular distributions of muons created in \numu and
\numub charged-current quasi-elastic (CCQE) interactions. The results from
both analyses indicate the prediction of the neutrino flux component of the
pre-dominately anti-neutrino beam is over-estimated - the CC1\pip analysis
indicates the predicted \numu flux should be scaled by , while
the CCQE angular fit yields . The energy spectrum of the flux
prediction is checked by repeating the analyses in bins of reconstructed
neutrino energy, and the results show that the spectral shape is well modeled.
These analyses are a demonstration of techniques for measuring the neutrino
contamination of anti-neutrino beams observed by future non-magnetized
detectors.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, published in Physical Review D, latest version
reflects changes from referee comment
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