Beyond Standard Model Searches in the MiniBooNE Experiment

29 pages, 18 figures, preprint of an article submitted in Advances in High Energy Physics http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ahep/Janet Conrad thanks the National Science Foundation for support through NSF-PHY-1205175

Search for Lorentz Violation in km(3)-Scale Neutrino Telescopes

Presented at the Seventh Meeting on CPT and Lorentz Symmetry, Bloomington, Indiana, June 20-24, 2016Presented at the Seventh Meeting on CPT and Lorentz Symmetry, Bloomington, Indiana, June 20-24, 2016G.C., C.A., and J.C. are supported by NSF grants 1505858 and 1505855. T.K. is supported by the Science and Technology Facilities Council, UK. A.K. was supported in part by the NSF under grants 0937462 and 1306958 and by the University of Wisconsin Research Committee

Benchmarking TPB-coated Light Guides for Liquid Argon TPC Light Detection Systems

Scintillation light from liquid argon is produced at 128 nm and thus must be shifted to visible wavelengths in light detection systems used for Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers (LArTPCs). To date, designs have employed tetraphenyl butadiene (TPB) coatings on photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) or plates placed in front of the PMTs. Recently, a new approach using TPB-coated light guides was proposed. In this paper, we show that the response of lightguides coated with TPB in a UV Transmitting (UVT) acrylic matrix is very similar to that of a coating using a polystyrene (PS) matrix. We obtain a factor of three higher light yield than has been previously reported from lightguides. This paper provides information on the response of the lightguides so that these can be modeled in simulations for future LArTPCs. This paper also identifies areas of R&D for potential improvements in the lightguide respons

Compatibility of neutrino DIS data and global analyses of parton distribution functions

Neutrino\antineutrino deep inelastic scattering (DIS) data provide useful constrains for the flavor decomposition in global fits of parton distribution functions (PDF). The smallness of the cross-sections requires the use of nuclear targets in the experimental setup. Understanding the nuclear corrections is, for this reason, of utmost importance for a precise determination of the PDFs. Here, we explore the nuclear effects in the neutrino\antineutrino-nucleon DIS by comparing the NuTeV, CDHSW, and CHORUS cross-sections to the predictions derived from the latest parton distribution functions and their nuclear modifications. We obtain a good description of these data and find no apparent disagreement between the nuclear effects in neutrino DIS and those in charged lepton DIS. These results also indicate that further improvements in the knowledge of the nuclear PDFs could be obtained by a more extensive use of these sets of neutrino data.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figure

Prevalence and Predictors of Vitamin D Insufficiency in Children: A Great Britain Population Based Study

Objectives To evaluate the prevalence and predictors of vitamin D insufficiency (VDI) in children In Great Britain. Design A nationally representative cross-sectional study survey of children (1102) aged 4–18 years (999 white, 570 male) living in private households (January 1997–1998). Interventions provided information about dietary habits, physical activity, socio-demographics, and blood sample. Outcome measures were vitamin D insufficiency (<50 nmol/L). Results Vitamin D levels (mean = 62.1 nmol/L, 95%CI 60.4–63.7) were insufficient in 35%, and decreased with age in both sexes (p<0.001). Young People living between 53–59 degrees latitude had lower levels (compared with 50–53 degrees, p = 0.045). Dietary intake and gender had no effect on vitamin D status. A logistic regression model showed increased risk of VDI in the following: adolescents (14–18 years old), odds ratio (OR) = 3.6 (95%CI 1.8–7.2) compared with younger children (4–8 years); non white children (OR = 37 [95%CI 15–90]); blood levels taken December-May (OR = 6.5 [95%CI 4.3–10.1]); on income support (OR = 2.2 [95%CI 1.3–3.9]); not taking vitamin D supplementation (OR = 3.7 [95%CI 1.4–9.8]); being overweight (OR 1.6 [95%CI 1.0–2.5]); <1/2 hour outdoor exercise/day/week (OR = 1.5 [95%CI 1.0–2.3]); watched >2.5 hours of TV/day/week (OR = 1.6[95%CI 1.0–2.4]). Conclusion We confirm a previously under-recognised risk of VDI in adolescents. The marked higher risk for VDI in non-white children suggests they should be targeted in any preventative strategies. The association of higher risk of VDI among children who exercised less outdoors, watched more TV and were overweight highlights potentially modifiable risk factors. Clearer guidelines and an increased awareness especially in adolescents are needed, as there are no recommendations for vitamin D supplementation in older children

Measurement of the antineutrino neutral-current elastic differential cross section

arXiv:1309.7257v1 [hep-ex

Behavioural syndrome in a solitary predator is independent of body size and growth rate.

Models explaining behavioural syndromes often focus on state-dependency, linking behavioural variation to individual differences in other phenotypic features. Empirical studies are, however, rare. Here, we tested for a size and growth-dependent stable behavioural syndrome in the juvenile-stages of a solitary apex predator (pike, Esox lucius), shown as repeatable foraging behaviour across risk. Pike swimming activity, latency to prey attack, number of successful and unsuccessful prey attacks was measured during the presence/absence of visual contact with a competitor or predator. Foraging behaviour across risks was considered an appropriate indicator of boldness in this solitary predator where a trade-off between foraging behaviour and threat avoidance has been reported. Support was found for a behavioural syndrome, where the rank order differences in the foraging behaviour between individuals were maintained across time and risk situation. However, individual behaviour was independent of body size and growth in conditions of high food availability, showing no evidence to support the state-dependent personality hypothesis. The importance of a combination of spatial and temporal environmental variation for generating growth differences is highlighted

Garden and landscape-scale correlates of moths of differing conservation status: significant effects of urbanization and habitat diversity

Moths are abundant and ubiquitous in vegetated terrestrial environments and are pollinators, important herbivores of wild plants, and food for birds, bats and rodents. In recent years, many once abundant and widespread species have shown sharp declines that have been cited by some as indicative of a widespread insect biodiversity crisis. Likely causes of these declines include agricultural intensification, light pollution, climate change, and urbanization; however, the real underlying cause(s) is still open to conjecture. We used data collected from the citizen science Garden Moth Scheme (GMS) to explore the spatial association between the abundance of 195 widespread British species of moth, and garden habitat and landscape features, to see if spatial habitat and landscape associations varied for species of differing conservation status. We found that associations with habitat and landscape composition were species-specific, but that there were consistent trends in species richness and total moth abundance. Gardens with more diverse and extensive microhabitats were associated with higher species richness and moth abundance; gardens near to the coast were associated with higher richness and moth abundance; and gardens in more urbanized locations were associated with lower species richness and moth abundance. The same trends were also found for species classified as increasing, declining and vulnerable under IUCN (World Conservation Union) criteria

A Proposal for a Near Detector Experiment on the Booster Neutrino Beamline: FINeSSE: Fermilab Intense Neutrino Scattering Scintillator Experiment

219 pages219 pagesUnderstanding the quark and gluon substructure of the nucleon has been a prime goal of both nuclear and particle physics for more than thirty years and has led to much of the progress in strong interaction physics. Still the flavor dependence of the nucleon's spin is a significant fundamental question that is not understood. Experiments measuring the spin content of the nucleon have reported conflicting results on the amount of nucleon spin carried by strange quarks. Quasi-elastic neutrino scattering, observed using a novel detection technique, provides a theoretically clean measure of this quantity. The optimum neutrino beam energy needed to measure the strange spin of the nucleon is 1 GeV. This is also an ideal energy to search for neutrino oscillations at high $\Delta m^2$ in an astrophysically interesting region. Models of the r-process in supernovae which include high-mass sterile neutrinos may explain the abundance of neutron-rich heavy metals in the universe. These high-mass sterile neutrinos are outside the sensitivity region of any previous neutrino oscillation experiments. The Booster neutrino beamline at Fermilab provides the world's highest intensity neutrino beam in the 0.5-1.0 GeV energy range, a range ideal for both of these measurements. A small detector located upstream of the MiniBooNE detector, 100 m from the recently commissioned Booster neutrino source, could definitively measure the strange quark contribution to the nucleon spin. This detector, in conjunction with the MiniBooNE detector, could also investigate $\nu_{\mu}$ disappearance in a currently unexplored, cosmologically interesting region