193 research outputs found
Neutrino Oscillations for Dummies
The reality of neutrino oscillations has not really sunk in yet. The
phenomenon presents us with purely quantum mechanical effects over macroscopic
time and distance scales (milliseconds and 1000s of km). In order to help with
the pedagogical difficulties this poses, I attempt here to present the physics
in words and pictures rather than math. No disrespect is implied by the title;
I am merely borrowing a term used by a popular series of self-help books
Measuring the Cosmic Ray Muon-Induced Fast Neutron Spectrum by (n,p) Isotope Production Reactions in Underground Detectors
While cosmic ray muons themselves are relatively easy to veto in underground
detectors, their interactions with nuclei create more insidious backgrounds
via: (i) the decays of long-lived isotopes produced by muon-induced spallation
reactions inside the detector, (ii) spallation reactions initiated by fast
muon-induced neutrons entering from outside the detector, and (iii) nuclear
recoils initiated by fast muon-induced neutrons entering from outside the
detector. These backgrounds, which are difficult to veto or shield against, are
very important for solar, reactor, dark matter, and other underground
experiments, especially as increased sensitivity is pursued. We used fluka to
calculate the production rates and spectra of all prominent secondaries
produced by cosmic ray muons, in particular focusing on secondary neutrons, due
to their importance. Since the neutron spectrum is steeply falling, the total
neutron production rate is sensitive just to the relatively soft neutrons, and
not to the fast-neutron component. We show that the neutron spectrum in the
range between 10 and 100 MeV can instead be probed by the (n, p)-induced
isotope production rates 12C(n, p)12B and 16O(n, p)16N in oil- and water-based
detectors. The result for 12B is in good agreement with the recent KamLAND
measurement. Besides testing the calculation of muon secondaries, these results
are also of practical importance, since 12B (T1/2 = 20.2 ms, Q = 13.4 MeV) and
16N (T1/2 = 7.13 s, Q = 10.4 MeV) are among the dominant spallation backgrounds
in these detectors
Muon-Induced Background Study for Underground Laboratories
We provide a comprehensive study of the cosmic-ray muon flux and induced
activity as a function of overburden along with a convenient parameterization
of the salient fluxes and differential distributions for a suite of underground
laboratories ranging in depth from 1 to 8 km.w.e.. Particular attention
is given to the muon-induced fast neutron activity for the underground sites
and we develop a Depth-Sensitivity-Relation to characterize the effect of such
background in experiments searching for WIMP dark matter and neutrinoless
double beta decay.Comment: 18 pages, 28 figure
Recommended from our members
Development of a Compact 20 MeV Gamma-Ray Source for Energy Calibration at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory
The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) is a real-time neutrino detector under construction near Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. SNO collaboration is developing various calibration sources in order to determine the detector response completely. This paper describes briefly the calibration sources being developed by the collaboration. One of these, a compact {sup 3}H(p,{gamma}){sup 4}He source, which produces 20-MeV {gamma}-rays, is described
Cosmogenic 11C production and sensitivity of organic scintillator detectors to pep and CNO neutrinos
Several possible background sources determine the detectability of pep and
CNO solar neutrinos in organic liquid scintillator detectors. Among such
sources, the cosmogenic 11C nuclide plays a central role. 11C is produced
underground in reactions induced by the residual cosmic muon flux. Experimental
data available for the effective cross section for 11C by muons indicate that
11C will be the dominant source of background for the observation of pep and
CNO neutrinos. 11C decays are expected to total a rate 2.5 (20) times higher
than the combined rate of pep and CNO neutrinos in Borexino (KamLAND) in the
energy window preferred for the pep measurement, between 0.8 and 1.3 MeV.
This study examines the production mechanism of 11C by muon-induced showers
in organic liquid scintillators with a novel approach: for the first time, we
perform a detailed ab initio calculation of the production of a cosmogenic
nuclide, 11C, taking into consideration all relevant production channels.
Results of the calculation are compared with the effective cross sections
measured by target experiments in muon beams.
This paper also discusses a technique for reduction of background from 11C in
organic liquid scintillator detectors, which allows to identify on a one-by-one
basis and remove from the data set a large fraction of 11C decays. The
background reduction technique hinges on an idea proposed by Martin Deutsch,
who suggested that a neutron must be ejected in every interaction producing a
11C nuclide from 12C. 11C events are tagged by a three-fold coincidence with
the parent muon track and the subsequent neutron capture on protons.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures; added one section detailing comparison with
previous estimates; added reference
Tritium Beta Decay, Neutrino Mass Matrices and Interactions Beyond the Standard Model
The interference of charge-changing interactions, weaker than the V-A
Standard Model (SM) interaction and having a different Lorentz structure, with
that SM interaction, can, in principle, produce effects near the end point of
the Tritium beta decay spectrum which are of a different character from those
produced by the purely kinematic effect of neutrino mass expected in the
simplest extension of the SM. We show that the existence of more than one mass
eigenstate can lead to interference effects at the end point that are stronger
than those occurring over the entire spectrum. We discuss these effects both
for the special case of Dirac neutrinos and the more general case of Majorana
neutrinos and show that, for the present precision of the experiments, one
formula should suffice to express the interference effects in all cases.
Implications for "sterile" neutrinos are noted.Comment: 32 pages, LaTeX, 6 figures, PostScript; full discussion and changes
in notation from Phys. Lett. B440 (1998) 89, nucl-th/9807057; submitted to
Phys. Rev.
Probing the neutrino mass hierarchy and the 13-mixing with supernovae
We consider in details the effects of the 13-mixing (sin^2 theta_{13}) and of
the type of mass hierarchy/ordering (sign[ Delta m^2_{13}]) on neutrino signals
from the gravitational collapses of stars. The observables (characteristics of
the energy spectra of nu_e and antinu_e events) sensitive to sin^2 theta_{13}
and sign[Delta m^2_{13}] have been calculated. They include the ratio of
average energies of the spectra, r_E = /, the ratio of widths of
the energy distributions, r_Gamma, the ratios of total numbers of nu_e and
antinu_e events at low energies, S, and in the high energy tails, R_{tail}. We
construct and analyze scatter plots which show the predictions for the
observables for different intervals of sin^2 theta_{13} and signs of Delta
m^2_{13}, taking into account uncertainties in the original neutrino spectra,
the star density profile, etc.. Regions in the space of observables r_E,
r_Gamma, S, R_{tail} exist in which certain mass hierarchy and intervals of
sin^2 theta_{13} can be identified or discriminated. We elaborate on the method
of the high energy tails in the spectra of events. The conditions are
formulated for which sin^2 theta_{13} can be (i) measured, (ii) restricted from
below, (iii) restricted from above. We comment on the possibility to determine
sin^2 theta_{13} using the time dependence of the signals due to the
propagation of the shock wave through the resonance layers of the star. We show
that the appearance of the delayed Earth matter effect in one of the channels
(nu_e or antinu_e) in combination with the undelayed effect in the other
channel will allow to identify the shock wave appeareance and determine the
mass hierarchy.Comment: LaTeX, 56 pages, 12 figures; a few clarifications added; typos
corrected. Version to appear in JCA
The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS)
The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) small explorer spacecraft
provides simultaneous spectra and images of the photosphere, chromosphere,
transition region, and corona with 0.33-0.4 arcsec spatial resolution, 2 s
temporal resolution and 1 km/s velocity resolution over a field-of-view of up
to 175 arcsec x 175 arcsec. IRIS was launched into a Sun-synchronous orbit on
27 June 2013 using a Pegasus-XL rocket and consists of a 19-cm UV telescope
that feeds a slit-based dual-bandpass imaging spectrograph. IRIS obtains
spectra in passbands from 1332-1358, 1389-1407 and 2783-2834 Angstrom including
bright spectral lines formed in the chromosphere (Mg II h 2803 Angstrom and Mg
II k 2796 Angstrom) and transition region (C II 1334/1335 Angstrom and Si IV
1394/1403 Angstrom). Slit-jaw images in four different passbands (C II 1330, Si
IV 1400, Mg II k 2796 and Mg II wing 2830 Angstrom) can be taken simultaneously
with spectral rasters that sample regions up to 130 arcsec x 175 arcsec at a
variety of spatial samplings (from 0.33 arcsec and up). IRIS is sensitive to
emission from plasma at temperatures between 5000 K and 10 MK and will advance
our understanding of the flow of mass and energy through an interface region,
formed by the chromosphere and transition region, between the photosphere and
corona. This highly structured and dynamic region not only acts as the conduit
of all mass and energy feeding into the corona and solar wind, it also requires
an order of magnitude more energy to heat than the corona and solar wind
combined. The IRIS investigation includes a strong numerical modeling component
based on advanced radiative-MHD codes to facilitate interpretation of
observations of this complex region. Approximately eight Gbytes of data (after
compression) are acquired by IRIS each day and made available for unrestricted
use within a few days of the observation.Comment: 53 pages, 15 figure
Measurement of the Total Active 8B Solar Neutrino Flux at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory with Enhanced Neutral Current Sensitivity
The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) has precisely determined the total
active (nu_x) 8B solar neutrino flux without assumptions about the energy
dependence of the nu_e survival probability. The measurements were made with
dissolved NaCl in the heavy water to enhance the sensitivity and signature for
neutral-current interactions. The flux is found to be 5.21 +/- 0.27 (stat) +/-
0.38 (syst) x10^6 cm^{-2}s^{-1}, in agreement with previous measurements and
standard solar models. A global analysis of these and other solar and reactor
neutrino results yields Delta m^{2} = 7.1^{+1.2}_{-0.6}x10^{-5} ev^2 and theta
= 32.5^{+2.4}_{-2.3} degrees. Maximal mixing is rejected at the equivalent of
5.4 standard deviations.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Electron Antineutrino Search at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory
Upper limits on the \nuebar flux at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory have
been set based on the \nuebar charged-current reaction on deuterium. The
reaction produces a positron and two neutrons in coincidence. This distinctive
signature allows a search with very low background for \nuebar's from the Sun
and other potential sources. Both differential and integral limits on the
\nuebar flux have been placed in the energy range from 4 -- 14.8 MeV. For an
energy-independent \nu_e --> \nuebar conversion mechanism, the integral limit
on the flux of solar \nuebar's in the energy range from 4 -- 14.8 MeV is found
to be \Phi_\nuebar <= 3.4 x 10^4 cm^{-2} s^{-1} (90% C.L.), which corresponds
to 0.81% of the standard solar model 8B \nu_e flux of 5.05 x 10^6 cm^{-2}
s^{-1}, and is consistent with the more sensitive limit from KamLAND in the 8.3
-- 14.8 MeV range of 3.7 x 10^2 cm^{-2} s^{-1} (90% C.L.). In the energy range
from 4 -- 8 MeV, a search for \nuebar's is conducted using coincidences in
which only the two neutrons are detected. Assuming a \nuebar spectrum for the
neutron induced fission of naturally occurring elements, a flux limit of
Phi_\nuebar <= 2.0 x 10^6 cm^{-2} s^{-1}(90% C.L.) is obtained.Comment: submitted to Phys. Rev.
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