Search for the Proton Decay Mode proton to neutrino K+ in Soudan 2

We have searched for the proton decay mode proton to neutrino K+ using the one-kiloton Soudan 2 high resolution calorimeter. Contained events obtained from a 3.56 kiloton-year fiducial exposure through June 1997 are examined for occurrence of a visible K+ track which decays at rest into mu+ nu or pi+ pi0. We found one candidate event consistent with background, yielding a limit, tau/B > 4.3 10^{31} years at 90% CL with no background subtraction.Comment: 13 pages, Latex, 3 tables and 3 figures, Accepted by Physics Letters

The Atmospheric neutrino flavor ratio from a 3.9 fiducial kiloton year exposure of Soudan-2

We report a measurement of the atmospheric neutrino flavor ratio, R, using a sample of quasi-elastic neutrino interactions occurring in an iron medium. The flavor ratio (tracks/showers) of atmospheric neutrinos in a 3.9 fiducial kiloton-year exposure of Soudan 2 is 0.64 +- 0.11 (stat.) +- 0.06 (syst.) of that expected. Important aspects of our main analysis have been checked by carrying out two independent, alternative analyses; one is based upon automated scanning, the other uses a multivariate approach for background subtraction. Similar results are found by all three approaches.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures. To be published in Physics Letters

Measurement of the atmospheric neutrino flavor composition in Soudan-2

The atmospheric neutrino flavour ratio measured using a 1.52 kton-year exposure of Soudan 2 is found to be 0.72 +- 0.19 +0.05 -0.07 relative to the expected value from a Monte Carlo calculation. The possible background of interactions of neutrons and photons produced in muon interactions in the rock surrounding the detector has been investigated and is shown not to produce low values of the ratio.Comment: 18 pages, LaTeX, 3 ps files, and 2 style files. Submitted to Physics Letter

Combined analysis of νμ disappearance and νμ →νe 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 νμ disappearance and νe appearance data using the three-flavor formalism. We measure |Δm322|=[2.28-2.46]×10-3eV2 (68% C.L.) and sin2θ23=0.35-0.65 (90% C.L.) in the normal hierarchy, and |Δm322|=[2.32-2.53]×10-3eV2 (68% C.L.) and sin2θ23=0.34-0.67 (90% C.L.) in the inverted hierarchy. The data also constrain δCP, the θ23 octant degeneracy and the mass hierarchy; we disfavor 36% (11%) of this three-parameter space at 68% (90%) C.L. © 2014 American Physical Society

Search for Sterile Neutrinos in MINOS and MINOS+ Using a Two-Detector Fit

A search for mixing between active neutrinos and light sterile neutrinos has been performed by looking for muon neutrino disappearance in two detectors at baselines of 1.04 and 735 km, using a combined MINOS and MINOS+ exposure of 16.36×1020 protons on target. A simultaneous fit to the charged-current muon neutrino and neutral-current neutrino energy spectra in the two detectors yields no evidence for sterile neutrino mixing using a 3+1 model. The most stringent limit to date is set on the mixing parameter sin2θ24 for most values of the sterile neutrino mass splitting Δm412>10-4 eV2. © 2019 authors. Published by the American Physical Society. Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI. Funded by SCOAP 3

Constraints on large extra dimensions from the MINOS experiment

We report new constraints on the size of large extra dimensions from data collected by the MINOS experiment between 2005 and 2012. Our analysis employs a model in which sterile neutrinos arise as Kaluza-Klein states in large extra dimensions and thus modify the neutrino oscillation probabilities due to mixing between active and sterile neutrino states. Using Fermilab's Neutrinos at the Main Injector beam exposure of 10.56×1020 protons on target, we combine muon neutrino charged current and neutral current data sets from the Near and Far Detectors and observe no evidence for deviations from standard three-flavor neutrino oscillations. The ratios of reconstructed energy spectra in the two detectors constrain the size of large extra dimensions to be smaller than 0.45 μm at 90% C.L. in the limit of a vanishing lightest active neutrino mass. Stronger limits are obtained for nonvanishing masses. © 2016 American Physical Society

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

We report new constraints on flavor-changing nonstandard neutrino interactions from the MINOS long-baseline experiment using νe and νe appearance candidate events from predominantly νμ and νμ beams. We used a statistical selection algorithm to separate νe 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, | μeτ|, and phase, (δCP+δeτ), using a 30-bin likelihood fit. © 2017 American Physical Society

Search for flavor-changing non-standard neutrino interactions by MINOS

We report new constraints on flavor-changing non-standard neutrino interactions from the MINOS experiment, in which neutrino versus antineutrino interactions can be distinguished on an event-by-event basis. We analyzed a combined set of beam neutrino and antineutrino data from the well-understood NuMI beam, and found no evidence for deviations from standard neutrino mixing. The observed energy spectra constrain the non-standard neutrino interactions parameter to the range -0.20<εμτ<0.07(90%C.L.). © 2013 American Physical Society

Measurements of atmospheric neutrinos and antineutrinos in the MINOS far detector

This paper reports measurements of atmospheric neutrino and antineutrino interactions in the MINOS Far Detector, based on 2553 live-days (37.9kton-years) of data. A total of 2072 candidate events are observed. These are separated into 905 contained-vertex muons and 466 neutrino-induced rock-muons, both produced by charged-current ν μ and ν ̄μ interactions, and 701 contained-vertex showers, composed mainly of charged-current ν e and ν ̄e interactions and neutral-current interactions. The curvature of muon tracks in the magnetic field of the MINOS Far Detector is used to select separate samples of ν μ and ν ̄μ events. The observed ratio of ν ̄μ to ν μ events is compared with the MonteCarlo (MC) simulation, giving a double ratio of Rν̄/νdata/ Rν̄/νMC=1.03±0.08(stat)±0.08(syst). The ν μ and ν ̄μ data are separated into bins of L/E resolution, based on the reconstructed energy and direction of each event, and a maximum likelihood fit to the observed L/E distributions is used to determine the atmospheric neutrino oscillation parameters. This fit returns 90% confidence limits of |Δm2|=(1.9±0.4)×10 -3eV2 and sin22θ>0.86. The fit is extended to incorporate separate ν μ and ν ̄μ oscillation parameters, returning 90% confidence limits of |Δm2|-|Δm ̄2|=0.6- 0.8+2.4×10 -3eV2 on the difference between the squared-mass splittings for neutrinos and antineutrinos. © 2012 American Physical Society

Improved search for muon-neutrino to electron-neutrino oscillations in MINOS

We report the results of a search for νe appearance in a νμ beam in the MINOS long-baseline neutrino experiment. With an improved analysis and an increased exposure of 8.2×1020 protons on the NuMI target at Fermilab, we find that 2sin2(θ23) sin2(2θ13)<0.12(0.20) at 90% confidence level for δ=0 and the normal (inverted) neutrino mass hierarchy, with a best-fit of 2sin2(θ23)sin2(2θ13)=0. 041-0.031+0.047(0.079-0.053+0.071). The θ13=0 hypothesis is disfavored by the MINOS data at the 89% confidence level. © 2011 American Physical Society