145 research outputs found

    The ENUBET Beamline

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    The ENUBET ERC project (2016-2021) is studying a narrow band neutrino beam where lepton production can be monitored at single particle level in an instrumented decay tunnel. This would allow to measure νμ\nu_{\mu} and νe\nu_{e} cross sections with a precision improved by about one order of magnitude compared to present results. In this proceeding we describe a first realistic design of the hadron beamline based on a dipole coupled to a pair of quadrupole triplets along with the optimisation guidelines and the results of a simulation based on G4beamline. A static focusing design, though less efficient than a horn-based solution, results several times more efficient than originally expected. It works with slow proton extractions reducing drastically pile-up effects in the decay tunnel and it paves the way towards a time-tagged neutrino beam. On the other hand a horn-based transferline would ensure higher yields at the tunnel entrance. The first studies conducted at CERN to implement the synchronization between a few ms proton extraction and a horn pulse of 2-10 ms are also described.Comment: Poster presented at NuPhys2018 (London 19-21 December 2018). 4 pages, 3 figure

    Prospects for the measurement of muon-neutrino disappearance at the FNAL-Booster

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    Neutrino physics is nowadays receiving more and more attention as a possible source of information for the long-standing problem of new physics beyond the Standard Model. The recent measurement of the mixing angle θ13\theta_{13} in the standard mixing oscillation scenario encourages us to pursue the still missing results on leptonic CP violation and absolute neutrino masses. However, puzzling measurements exist that deserve an exhaustive evaluation. The NESSiE Collaboration has been setup to undertake conclusive experiments to clarify the muon-neutrino disappearance measurements at small L/EL/E, which will be able to put severe constraints to models with more than the three-standard neutrinos, or even to robustly measure the presence of a new kind of neutrino oscillation for the first time. To this aim the use of the current FNAL-Booster neutrino beam for a Short-Baseline experiment has been carefully evaluated. This proposal refers to the use of magnetic spectrometers at two different sites, Near and Far. Their positions have been extensively studied, together with the possible performances of two OPERA-like spectrometers. The proposal is constrained by availability of existing hardware and a time-schedule compatible with the CERN project for a new more performant neutrino beam, which will nicely extend the physics results achievable at the Booster. The possible FNAL experiment will allow to clarify the current νμ\nu_{\mu} disappearance tension with νe\nu_e appearance and disappearance at the eV mass scale. Instead, a new CERN neutrino beam would allow a further span in the parameter space together with a refined control of systematics and, more relevant, the measurement of the antineutrino sector, by upgrading the spectrometer with detectors currently under R&D study.Comment: 76 pages, 52 figure

    Limits on muon-neutrino to tau-neutrino oscillations induced by a sterile neutrino state obtained by OPERA at the CNGS beam

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    The OPERA experiment, exposed to the CERN to Gran Sasso νμ\nu_\mu beam, collected data from 2008 to 2012. Four oscillated ντ\nu_\tau Charged Current interaction candidates have been detected in appearance mode, which are consistent with νμντ\nu_\mu \to \nu_\tau oscillations at the atmospheric Δm2\Delta m^2 within the "standard" three-neutrino framework. In this paper, the OPERA ντ\nu_\tau appearance results are used to derive limits on the mixing parameters of a massive sterile neutrino.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figures; reference to Planck result updated in the Introduction. Submitted to JHE

    Determination of the muon charge sign with the dipolar spectrometers of the OPERA experiment

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    The OPERA long-baseline neutrino-oscillation experiment has observed the direct appearance of ντ\nu_\tau in the CNGS νμ\nu_\mu beam. Two large muon magnetic spectrometers are used to identify muons produced in the τ\tau leptonic decay and in νμCC\nu_\mu^{CC} interactions by measuring their charge and momentum. Besides the kinematic analysis of the τ\tau decays, background resulting from the decay of charmed particles produced in νμCC\nu_\mu^{CC} interactions is reduced by efficiently identifying the muon track. A new method for the charge sign determination has been applied, via a weighted angular matching of the straight track-segments reconstructed in the different parts of the dipole magnets. Results obtained for Monte Carlo and real data are presented. Comparison with a method where no matching is used shows a significant reduction of up to 40\% of the fraction of wrongly determined charges.Comment: 10 pages. Improvements in the tex

    Procedure for short-lived particle detection in the OPERA experiment and its application to charm decays

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    The OPERA experiment, designed to perform the first observation of νμντ\nu_\mu \rightarrow \nu_\tau oscillations in appearance mode through the detection of the τ\tau leptons produced in ντ\nu_\tau charged current interactions, has collected data from 2008 to 2012. In the present paper, the procedure developed to detect τ\tau particle decays, occurring over distances of the order of 1 mm from the neutrino interaction point, is described in detail. The results of its application to the search for charmed hadrons are then presented as a validation of the methods for ντ\nu_\tau appearance detection

    Observation of nu_tau appearance in the CNGS beam with the OPERA experiment

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    The OPERA experiment is searching for nu_mu -> nu_tau oscillations in appearance mode i.e. via the direct detection of tau leptons in nu_tau charged current interactions. The evidence of nu_mu -> nu_tau appearance has been previously reported with three nu_tau candidate events using a sub-sample of data from the 2008-2012 runs. We report here a fourth nu_tau candidate event, with the tau decaying into a hadron, found after adding the 2012 run events without any muon in the final state to the data sample. Given the number of analysed events and the low background, nu_mu -> nu_tau oscillations are established with a significance of 4.2sigma.Comment: Submitted to Progress of Theoretical and Experimental Physics (PTEP

    Evidence for νμντ\nu_\mu \to \nu_\tau appearance in the CNGS neutrino beam with the OPERA experiment

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    The OPERA experiment is designed to search for νμντ\nu_{\mu} \rightarrow \nu_{\tau} oscillations in appearance mode i.e. through the direct observation of the τ\tau lepton in ντ\nu_{\tau} charged current interactions. The experiment has taken data for five years, since 2008, with the CERN Neutrino to Gran Sasso beam. Previously, two ντ\nu_{\tau} candidates with a τ\tau decaying into hadrons were observed in a sub-sample of data of the 2008-2011 runs. Here we report the observation of a third ντ\nu_\tau candidate in the τμ\tau^-\to\mu^- decay channel coming from the analysis of a sub-sample of the 2012 run. Taking into account the estimated background, the absence of νμντ\nu_{\mu} \rightarrow \nu_{\tau} oscillations is excluded at the 3.4 σ\sigma level.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, 1 table

    The detection of neutrino interactions in the emulsion/lead target of the OPERA experiment

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    The OPERA neutrino detector in the underground Gran Sasso Laboratory (LNGS) was designed to perform the first detection of neutrino oscillations in appearance mode through the study of νμντ\nu_\mu\to\nu_\tau oscillations. The apparatus consists of an emulsion/lead target complemented by electronic detectors and it is placed in the high energy long-baseline CERN to LNGS beam (CNGS) 730 km away from the neutrino source. Runs with CNGS neutrinos were successfully carried out in 2007 and 2008 with the detector fully operational with its related facilities for the emulsion handling and analysis. After a brief description of the beam and of the experimental setup we report on the collection, reconstruction and analysis procedures of first samples of neutrino interaction events

    Measurement of the atmospheric muon charge ratio with the OPERA detector

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    The OPERA detector at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory (LNGS) was used to measure the atmospheric muon charge ratio in the TeV energy region. We analyzed 403069 atmospheric muons corresponding to 113.4 days of livetime during the 2008 CNGS run. We computed separately the muon charge ratio for single and for multiple muon events in order to select different energy regions of the primary cosmic ray spectrum and to test the charge ratio dependence on the primary composition. The measured charge ratio values were corrected taking into account the charge-misidentification errors. Data have also been grouped in five bins of the "vertical surface energy". A fit to a simplified model of muon production in the atmosphere allowed the determination of the pion and kaon charge ratios weighted by the cosmic ray energy spectrum.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figure
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