Global analysis of neutrino masses, mixings and phases: entering the era of leptonic CP violation searches

We perform a global analysis of neutrino oscillation data, including high-precision measurements of the neutrino mixing angle theta_13 at reactor experiments, which have confirmed previous indications in favor of theta_13>0. Recent data presented at the Neutrino 2012 Conference are also included. We focus on the correlations between theta_13 and the mixing angle theta_23, as well as between theta_13 and the neutrino CP-violation phase delta. We find interesting indications for theta_23< pi/4 and possible hints for delta ~ pi, with no significant difference between normal and inverted mass hierarchy.Comment: Updated version, including recent data released at the Neutrino 2012 Conference. Some references adde

The Waveform Digitiser of the Double Chooz Experiment: Performance and Quantisation Effects on PhotoMultiplier Tube Signals

We present the waveform digitiser used in the Double Chooz experiment. We describe the hardware and the custom-built firmware specifically developed for the experiment. The performance of the device is tested with regards to digitising low light level signals from photomultiplier tubes and measuring pulse charge. This highlights the role of quantisation effects and leads to some general recommendations on the design and use of waveform digitisers.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in JINS

Current status of the CLIO project

CLIO (Cryogenic Laser Interferometer Observatory) is a Japanese gravitational wave detector project. One of the main purposes of CLIO is to demonstrate thermal-noise suppression by cooling mirrors for a future Japanese project, LCGT (Large-scale Cryogenic Gravitational Telescope). The CLIO site is in Kamioka mine, as is LCGT. The progress of CLIO between 2005 and 2007 (room- and cryogenic-temperature experiments) is introduced in this article. In a room-temperature experiment, we made efforts to improve the sensitivity. The current best sensitivity at 300 K is about $6 \times 10^{-21} /\sqrt{\rm Hz}$ around 400 Hz. Below 20 Hz, the strain (not displacement) sensitivity is comparable to that of LIGO, although the baselines of CLIO are 40-times shorter (CLIO: 100m, LIGO: 4km). This is because seismic noise is extremely small in Kamioka mine. We operated the interferometer at room temperature for gravitational wave observations. We obtained 86 hours of data. In the cryogenic experiment, it was confirmed that the mirrors were sufficiently cooled (14 K). However, we found that the radiation shield ducts transferred 300K radiation into the cryostat more effectively than we had expected. We observed that noise caused by pure aluminum wires to suspend a mirror was suppressed by cooling the mirror.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures. Amaldi7 proceedings, J. Phys.: Conf. Ser. (accepted

Effect of a fluorinated pyrimidine on cachexia and tumour growth in murine cachexia models: relationship with a proteolysis inducing factor

The fluorinated pyrimidine nucleoside, 5′-deoxy-5-fluorouridine (5′-dFUrd) has been shown to effectively attenuate the progress of cachexia in the murine adenocarcinomas MAC16 and colon 26 as well as in the human uterine cervical carcinoma xenograft, Yumoto. Although concomitant inhibition of tumour growth was observed in all three models this was not sufficient to account for the preservation of body weight. An attempt has been made to correlate the anti-cachectic activity of 5′-dFUrd with the presence of a tumour produced proteolysis-inducing factor (PIF), thought to be responsible for the development of cachexia in the MAC16 model. Two variants of colon 26 adenocarcinoma were employed, clone 20 which produces profound cachexia, and clone 5 which produces no change in body weight in recipient animals. Mice bearing the colon 26, clone 20 variant showed evidence for the presence of PIF in tumour, serum and urine, while there was no evidence for the presence of PIF in tumour or body fluids of mice bearing the clone 5 tumours. Treatment of animals bearing the clone 20 variant with 5′-dF Urd led to the disappearance of PIF from the tumour, serum and urine concomitant with the attenuation of the development of cachexia. The human cervical carcinoma, Yumoto, which also induced cachexia in recipiant animals, showed expression of PIF in tumour, serum and urine in control and vehicle-treated mice, but was absent in mice treated with 5′-dFUrd. Thus in these experimental models cachexia appears to be correlated with the presence of PIF. © 2000 Cancer Research Campaig

Large-Theta(13) Perturbation Theory of Neutrino Oscillation for Long-Baseline Experiments

The Cervera et al. formula, the best known approximate formula of neutrino oscillation probability for long-baseline experiments, can be regarded as a second-order perturbative formula with small expansion parameter epsilon \equiv Delta m^2_{21} / Delta m^2_{31} \simeq 0.03 under the assumption s_{13} \simeq epsilon. If theta_{13} is large, as suggested by a candidate nu_{e} event at T2K as well as the recent global analyses, higher order corrections of s_{13} to the formula would be needed for better accuracy. We compute the corrections systematically by formulating a perturbative framework by taking theta_{13} as s_{13} \sim \sqrt{epsilon} \simeq 0.18, which guarantees its validity in a wide range of theta_{13} below the Chooz limit. We show on general ground that the correction terms must be of order epsilon^2. Yet, they nicely fill the mismatch between the approximate and the exact formulas at low energies and relatively long baselines. General theorems are derived which serve for better understanding of delta-dependence of the oscillation probability. Some interesting implications of the large theta_{13} hypothesis are discussed.Comment: Fig.2 added, 23 pages. Matches to the published versio

Experimental Status of Neutrino Physics

After a fascinating phase of discoveries, neutrino physics still has a few mysteries such as the absolute mass scale, the mass hierarchy, the existence of CP violation in the lepton sector and the existence of right-handed neutrinos. It is also entering a phase of precision measurements. This is what motivates the NUFACT 11 conference which prepares the future of long baseline neutrino experiments. In this paper, we report the status of experimental neutrino physics. We focus mainly on absolute mass measurements, oscillation parameters and future plans for oscillation experiments