Combined analysis of ?µ disappearance and ?µ ? ?e appearance in MINOS using accelerator and atmospheric neutrinos

We report on a new analysis of neutrino oscillations in MINOS using the complete set of accelerator and atmospheric data. The analysis combines the ?µ disappearance and ?e appearance data using the three-flavor formalism. We measure |?m^2 32| = [2.28–2.46] × 10-3 eV^2 (68% C.L.) and sin^2 ?23 = 0.35–0.65 (90% C.L.) in the normal hierarchy, and |?m^2 32| = [2.32–2.53] × 10-3 eV^2 (68% C.L.) and sin^2 ?23 = 0.34–0.67 (90% C.L.) in the inverted hierarchy. The data also constrain dCP, the ?23 octant degeneracy and the mass hierarchy; we disfavor 36% (11%) of this three-parameter space at 68% (90%) C.L

Study of quasielastic scattering using charged-current ?µ-iron interactions in the MINOS near detector

Kinematic distributions from an inclusive sample of 1.41 × 10^6 charged-current ?µ interactions on iron, obtained using the MINOS near detector exposed to a wide-band beam with peak flux at 3 GeV, are compared to a conventional treatment of neutrino scattering within a Fermi gas nucleus. Results are used to guide the selection of a subsample enriched in quasielastic ?µFe interactions, containing an estimated 123,000 quasielastic events of incident energies 1 < E? < 8 GeV, with hE?i ¼ 2.79 GeV. Four additional subsamples representing topological and kinematic sideband regions to quasielastic scattering are also selected for the purpose of evaluating backgrounds. Comparisons using subsample distributions in fourmomentum transfer Q^2 show the Monte Carlo model to be inadequate at low Q^2. Its shortcomings are remedied via inclusion of a Q^2-dependent suppression function for baryon resonance production, developed from the data. A chi-square fit of the resulting Monte Carlo simulation to the shape of the Q2 distribution for the quasielastic-enriched sample is carried out with the axial-vector mass MA of the dipole axial-vector form factor of the neutron as a free parameter. The effective MA which best describes the data is 1.23+0.13-0.09 (fit)+0.12-0.15 (syst) GeV

Search for flavor-changing nonstandard neutrino interactions using ?e appearance in MINOS

We report new constraints on flavor-changing nonstandard neutrino interactions from the MINOS longbaseline experiment using ?e and ¯?e appearance candidate events from predominantly ?µ and ¯?µ beams. We used a statistical selection algorithm to separate ?e candidates from background events, enabling an analysis of the combined MINOS neutrino and antineutrino data. We observe no deviations from standard neutrino mixing, and thus place constraints on the nonstandard interaction matter effect, |eet|, and phase, (dCP + det), using a 30-bin likelihood fit

Measurement of single p0 production by coherent neutral-current ? Fe interactions in the MINOS Near Detector

Forward single p0 production by coherent neutral-current interactions, ?A ? ?Ap0, is investigated using a 2.8 × 10^20 protons-on-target exposure of the MINOS Near Detector. For single-shower topologies, the event distribution in production angle exhibits a clear excess above the estimated background at very forward angles for visible energy in the range 1–8 GeV. Cross sections are obtained for the detector medium comprised of 80% iron and 20% carbon nuclei with = 48, the highest- target used to date in the study of this coherent reaction. The total cross section for coherent neutral-current single p0 production initiated by the ?µ flux of the NuMI low-energy beam with mean (mode) E? of 4.9 GeV (3.0 GeV), is 77.6±5.0(stat)+15.0-16.8 (syst) × 10-40 cm2 pernucleus. The results are in good agreement with predictions of the Berger-Sehgal model.</a

The NuMI neutrino beam

This paper describes the hardware and operations of the Neutrinos at the Main Injector (NuMI) beam at Fermilab. It elaborates on the design considerations for the beam as a whole and for individual elements. The most important design details of individual components are described. Beam monitoring systems and procedures, including the tuning and alignment of the beam and NuMI long-term performance, are also discussed

Search for muon-neutrino to electron-neutrino transitions in MINOS

This Letter reports on a search for e transitions by the MINOS experiment based on a 3.141020 protons-on-target exposure in the Fermilab NuMI beam. We observe 35 events in the Far Detector with a background of 275(stat)2(syst) events predicted by the measurements in the Near Detector. If interpreted in terms of e oscillations, this 1.5s excess of events is consistent with sin2(213) comparable to the CHOOZ limit when |m2|=2.4310-3eV2 and sin2(223)=1.0 are assume