Detecting the (Quasi-)Two-Body Decays of τ\tau Leptons in Short-Baseline Neutrino Oscillation Experiments

Novel detector schemes are proposed for the short-baseline neutrino experiments of next generation, aimed at exploring the large-$\Delta m^2$ domain of \omutau oscillations in the appearance mode. These schemes emphasize good spectrometry for charged particles and for electromagnetic showers and efficient reconstruction of \ypi_gg decays. The basic elements are a sequence of relatively thin emulsion targets, immersed in magnetic field and interspersed with electronic trackers, and a fine-grained electromagnetic calorimeter built of lead glass. These elements act as an integral whole in reconstructing the electromagnetic showers. This conceptual scheme shows good performance in identifying the $\tau$ (quasi-)two-body decays by their characteristic kinematics and in selecting the electronic decays of the $\tau$.Comment: 34 pages, 8 figure

Search for the disappearance of muon antineutrinos in the NuMI neutrino beam

We report constraints on antineutrino oscillation parameters that were obtained by using the two MINOS detectors to measure the 7% muon antineutrino component of the NuMI neutrino beam. In the Far Detector, we select 130 events in the charged-current muon antineutrino sample, compared to a prediction of 136.4 ± 11.7(stat)^(+10.2)_(-8.9)(syst) events under the assumption │Δm^2│ = 2.32 X 10^(-3) eV^2, sin^2(2θ) = 1.0

An improved measurement of muon antineutrino disappearance in MINOS

We report an improved measurement of muon anti-neutrino disappearance over a distance of 735km using the MINOS detectors and the Fermilab Main Injector neutrino beam in a muon anti-neutrino enhanced configuration. From a total exposure of 2.95e20 protons on target, of which 42% have not been previously analyzed, we make the most precise measurement of the anti-neutrino "atmospheric" delta-m squared = 2.62 +0.31/-0.28 (stat.) +/- 0.09 (syst.) and constrain the anti-neutrino atmospheric mixing angle >0.75 (90%CL). These values are in agreement with those measured for muon neutrinos, removing the tension reported previously.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures. In submission to Phys.Rev.Let

A first measurement of the interaction cross section of the tau neutrino

The DONuT experiment collected data in 1997 and published first results in 2000 based on four observed $\nu_\tau$ charged-current (CC) interactions. The final analysis of the data collected in the experiment is presented in this paper, based on $3.6 \times 10^{17}$ protons on target using the 800 GeV Tevatron beam at Fermilab. The number of observed $\nu_\tau$ CC interactions is 9, from a total of 578 observed neutrino interactions. We calculated the energy-independent part of the tau-neutrino CC cross section ($\nu + \bar \nu$), relative to the well-known $\nu_e$ and $\nu_\mu$ cross sections. The ratio $\sigma(\nu_\tau)$/$\sigma(\nu_{e,\mu})$ was found to be $1.37\pm0.35\pm0.77$. The $\nu_\tau$ CC cross section was found to be $0.72 \pm 0.24\pm0.36 \times 10^{-38}$ cm$^{2}\rm{GeV}^{-1}$. Both results are in agreement the Standard Model.Comment: 37 pages, 15 figure