Measurement of radon concentrations at Super-Kamiokande

Radioactivity from radon is a major background for observing solar neutrinos at Super-Kamiokande. In this paper, we describe the measurement of radon concentrations at Super-Kamiokande, the method of radon reduction, and the radon monitoring system. The measurement shows that the current low-energy event rate between 5.0 MeV and 6.5 MeV implies a radon concentration in the Super-Kamiokande water of less than 1.4 mBq/m$^3$.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Observation of the east-west anisotropy of the atmospheric neutrino flux

The east-west anisotropy, caused by the deflection of primary cosmic rays in the Earth's magnetic field, is observed for the first time in the flux of atmospheric neutrinos. Using a 45 kt-year exposure of the Super-Kamiokande detector, 552 e-like and 633 mu-like horizontally-going events are selected in the momentum range between 400 and 3000 MeV/c. The azimuthal distribution of e-like and mu-like events agrees with the expectation from atmospheric neutrino flux calculations that account for the geomagnetic field, verifying that the geomagnetic field effects in the production of atmospheric neutrinos in the GeV energy range are well understood.Comment: 8 pages,3 figures revtex, submitted to PR

Tau Neutrinos Favored over Sterile Neutrinos in Atmospheric Muon Neutrino Oscillations

The previously published atmospheric neutrino data did not distinguish whether muon neutrinos were oscillating into tau neutrinos or sterile neutrinos, as both hypotheses fit the data. Using data recorded in 1100 live-days of the Super-Kamiokande detector, we use three complementary data samples to study the difference in zenith angle distribution due to neutral currents and matter effects. We find no evidence favoring sterile neutrinos, and reject the hypothesis at the 99% confidence level. On the other hand, we find that oscillation between muon and tau neutrinos suffices to explain all the results in hand.Comment: 9 pages with 2 figures, submitted to PR

Search for proton decay through p->\bar{\nu} K^+ in a large water Cherenkov detector

We present results of a search for proton decays, $p \to \bar{\nu} K^+$, using data from a 33 kton$\cdot$year exposure of the Super-Kamiokande detector. Two decay modes of the kaon, $K^+ \to \mu^+ \nu_{\mu}$ and $K^+ \to \pi^+ \pi^0$, were studied. The data were consistent with the background expected from atmospheric neutrinos; therefore a lower limit on the partial lifetime of the proton $\tau / B(p \to \bar{\nu} K^+)$ was found to be $6.7 \times 10^{32}$ years at 90% confidence level.Comment: 5 pages, 5 eps figures, submitted to PR

Modular synthesis of oligoacetylacetones via site-selective silylation of acetylacetone derivatives

Oligoacetylacetones consisting of 3,3-disubstituted pentane-2,4-diones were synthesized through a terminal silylation and oxidative coupling protocol. Highly selective formation of mono-enol silyl ethers of 3,3-disubstituted acetylacetones was achieved using 1,8-diazabicyclo[5.4.0]undec-7-ene (DBU) as a base. Subsequent silver(i) oxide mediated coupling reactions provided tetraketones. Unique substituent dependence was found for the terminal-selective silylation of tetraketones. Finally, octaketones (tetramers of acetylacetone derivatives) with three types of monomer sequences were prepared in their discrete forms. Single crystal X-ray analysis revealed that the solid-state conformations of oligoketone chains were predominantly governed by the ketone sequence rather than substituents. However, differences in the packing structures induced by alkyl substituents led to significant differences in melting points for the structural isomers of octaketones