A Compact 3H(p,gamma)4He 19.8-MeV Gamma-Ray Source for Energy Calibration at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) is a new 1000-tonne D2O Cerenkov solar neutrino detector. A high energy gamma-ray source is needed to calibrate SNO beyond the 8B solar neutrino endpoint of 15 MeV. This paper describes the design and construction of a source that generates 19.8-MeV gamma rays using the 3H(p,gamma)4He reaction (``pt''), and demonstrates that the source meets all the physical, operational and lifetime requirements for calibrating SNO. An ion source was built into this unit to generate and to accelerate protons up to 30 keV, and a high purity scandium tritide target with a scandium-tritium atomic ratio of 1:2.0+/-0.2 was included. This pt source is the first self-contained, compact, and portable high energy gamma-ray source (E>10 MeV).Comment: 33 pages (including 2 table, 12 figures) This is the revised manuscript, accepted for publication in NIM A. This revision relfects minor editorial changes from the previous versio

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.

The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory is a second generation water Cherenkov detector designed to determine whether the currently observed solar neutrino deficit is a result of neutrino oscillations. The detector is unique in its use of D2O as a detection medium, permitting it to make a solar model-independent test of the neutrino oscillation hypothesis by comparison of the charged- and neutral-current interaction rates. In this paper the physical properties, construction, and preliminary operation of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory are described. Data and predicted operating parameters are provided whenever possible.Comment: 58 pages, 12 figures, submitted to Nucl. Inst. Meth. Uses elsart and epsf style files. For additional information about SNO see http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca . This version has some new reference

Recent results from SNO

The SNO project has now completed two of its three major phases of operation. The no-oscillation hypothesis has been ruled out at 5σ in the pure heavy water phase and 8σ in the salt phase. Discussion in terms of the SeeSaw model is presented

Neutral current and day night measurements from the pure D2O phase of SNO

The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory is a 1000 T D2O Cerenkov detector that is sensitive to 8B solar neutrinos. The energy, radius, and direction with respect to the sun is measured for each neutrino event; these distributions are used to separately determine the rates of the charged current, neutral current and electron scattering reactions of neutrinos on deuterium. Assuming an undistorted 8B spectrum, the νe component of the 8B solar flux is φe = 1.76-0.05 +0.05 (stat. -0.09 +0.09 (syst.) × 106 cm-2s-1 based on events with a measured kinetic energy above 5 MeV. The non-νe component is φμτ = 3.41-0.45 +0.45 (stat. -0.45 +0.48 (syst.) × 106 cm-2s-1, 5.3σ greater than zero, providing strong evidence for solar νe flavor transformation. The total flux measured with the NC reaction is φNC = 5.09-0.43 +0.44(stat. -0.43 +0.46 (syst.) × 106 cm-2s-1, consistent with solar models. The night minus day rate is 14.0% ± 6.3%-1.4 +1.5% of the average rate. If the total flux of active neutrinos is additionally constrained to have no asymmetry, the νe asymmetry is found to be 7.0% ± 4.9%-1.2 +1.3%. A global solar neutrino analysis in terms of matter-enhanced oscillations of two active flavors strongly favors the Large Mixing Angle (LMA) solution

Measurement of the Cosmic Ray and Neutrino-Induced Muon Flux at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

Results are reported on the measurement of the atmospheric neutrino-induced muon flux at a depth of 2 kilometers below the Earth's surface from 1229 days of operation of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO). By measuring the flux of through-going muons as a function of zenith angle, the SNO experiment can distinguish between the oscillated and un-oscillated portion of the neutrino flux. A total of 514 muon-like events are measured between -1 {le} cos {theta}{sub zenith} 0.4 in a total exposure of 2.30 x 10{sup 14} cm{sup 2} s. The measured flux normalization is 1.22 {+-} 0.09 times the Bartol three-dimensional flux prediction. This is the first measurement of the neutrino-induced flux where neutrino oscillations are minimized. The zenith distribution is consistent with previously measured atmospheric neutrino oscillation parameters. The cosmic ray muon flux at SNO with zenith angle cos {theta}{sub zenith} > 0.4 is measured to be (3.31 {+-} 0.01 (stat.) {+-} 0.09 (sys.)) x 10{sup -10} {micro}/s/cm{sup 2}

First neutrino observations from the sudbury neutrino observatory

The first neutrino observations from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory are presented from preliminary analyses. Based on energy, direction and location, the data in the region of interest appear to be dominated by 8B solar neutrinos, detected by the charged current reaction on deuterium and elastic scattering from electrons, with very little background. Measurements of radioactive backgrounds indicate that the measurement of all active neutrino types via the neutral current reaction on deuterium will be possible with small systematic uncertainties. Quantitative results for the fluxes observed with these reactions will be provided when further calibrations have been completed

Measurement of CC interactions produced by8B solar neutrinos at SNO

The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) is a 1000 tonne heavy water Cherenkov detector placed 2 km underground in Ontario, Canada. Its main purpose is the detection of solar neutrinos, but it is also sensitive to atmospheric and supernova neutrinos. In this paper we report our first measurement of the solar electron-type neutrino flux using the charged current interaction on deuterium, above an electron kinetic energy threshold of 6.75 MeV. This measurement, when compared with an electron scattering measurement from Super Kamiokande, provides the first evidence for non-electron neutrino types from the Sun implying flavor change of solar electron neutrinos. We also present an initial angular distribution of through-going muons, which shows that we can detect neutrino-induced muons from well above the horizontal. This will give us good sensitivity to neutrino oscillations in the atmospheric sector