45 research outputs found
Direct Measurement of Nuclear Dependence of Charged Current Quasielastic-like Neutrino Interactions using MINERvA
Charged-current interactions on carbon, iron, and lead with a
final state hadronic system of one or more protons with zero mesons are used to
investigate the influence of the nuclear environment on quasielastic-like
interactions. The transfered four-momentum squared to the target nucleus,
, is reconstructed based on the kinematics of the leading proton, and
differential cross sections versus and the cross-section ratios of iron,
lead and carbon to scintillator are measured for the first time in a single
experiment. The measurements show a dependence on atomic number. While the
quasielastic-like scattering on carbon is compatible with predictions, the
trends exhibited by scattering on iron and lead favor a prediction with
intranuclear rescattering of hadrons accounted for by a conventional particle
cascade treatment. These measurements help discriminate between different
models of both initial state nucleons and final state interactions used in the
neutrino oscillation experiments
Measurement of the muon anti-neutrino double-differential cross section for quasi-elastic scattering on hydrocarbon at~ GeV
We present double-differential measurements of anti-neutrino quasi-elastic
scattering in the MINERvA detector. This study improves on a previous single
differential measurement by using updated reconstruction algorithms and
interaction models, and provides a complete description of observed muon
kinematics in the form of a double-differential cross section with respect to
muon transverse and longitudinal momentum. We include in our signal definition
zero-meson final states arising from multi-nucleon interactions and from
resonant pion production followed by pion absorption in the primary nucleus. We
find that model agreement is considerably improved by a model tuned to MINERvA
inclusive neutrino scattering data that incorporates nuclear effects such as
weak nuclear screening and two-particle, two-hole enhancements.Comment: 47 pages, 31 figure
Search for multimessenger signals in NOvA coincident with LIGO/Virgo detections
Using the NOvA neutrino detectors, a broad search has been performed for any signal coincident with 28 gravitational wave events detected by the LIGO/Virgo Collaboration between September 2015 and July 2019. For all of these events, NOvA is sensitive to possible arrival of neutrinos and cosmic rays of GeV and higher energies. For five (seven) events in the NOvA Far (Near) Detector, timely public alerts from the LIGO/Virgo Collaboration allowed recording of MeV-scale events. No signal candidates were found
Supernova neutrino detection in NOvA
The NOvA long-baseline neutrino experiment uses a pair of large, segmented, liquid-scintillator calorimeters to study neutrino oscillations, using GeV-scale neutrinos from the Fermilab NuMI beam. These detectors are also sensitive to the flux of neutrinos which are emitted during a core-collapse supernova through inverse beta decay interactions on carbon at energies of O(10 MeV). This signature provides a means to study the dominant mode of energy release for a core-collapse supernova occurring in our galaxy. We describe the data-driven software trigger system developed and employed by the NOvA experiment to identify and record neutrino data from nearby galactic supernovae. This technique has been used by NOvA to self-trigger on potential core-collapse supernovae in our galaxy, with an estimated sensitivity reaching out to 10 kpc distance while achieving a detection efficiency of 23% to 49% for supernovae from progenitor stars with masses of 9.6 M_⊙ to 27 M_⊙, respectively
Seasonal Variation of Multiple-Muon Cosmic Ray Air Showers Observed in the NOvA Detector on the Surface
We report the rate of cosmic ray air showers with multiplicities exceeding 15
muon tracks recorded in the NOvA Far Detector between May 2016 and May 2018.
The detector is located on the surface under an overburden of 3.6 meters water
equivalent. We observe a seasonal dependence in the rate of multiple-muon
showers, which varies in magnitude with multiplicity and zenith angle. During
this period, the effective atmospheric temperature and surface pressure ranged
between 210 K to 230 K and 940mbar to 990mbar, respectively; the shower rates
are anti-correlated with the variation in the effective temperature. The
variations are about 30% larger for the highest multiplicities than the lowest
multiplicities and 20% larger for showers near the horizon than vertical
showers
Extended search for supernova-like neutrinos in NOvA coincident with LIGO/Virgo detections
A search is performed for supernova-like neutrino interactions coincident
with 76 gravitational wave events detected by the LIGO/Virgo Collaboration. For
40 of these events, full readout of the time around the gravitational wave is
available from the NOvA Far Detector. For these events, we set limits on the
fluence of the sum of all neutrino flavors of at 90% C.L. assuming energy and time distributions
corresponding to the Garching supernova models with masses
9.6(27). Under the hypothesis that any given gravitational
wave event was caused by a supernova, this corresponds to a distance of kpc at 90% C.L. Weaker limits are set for other gravitational wave
events with partial Far Detector data and/or Near Detector data.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure
An Improved Measurement of Neutrino Oscillation Parameters by the NOvA Experiment
We present new , ,
, and
oscillation measurements by
the NOvA experiment, with a 50% increase in neutrino-mode beam exposure over
the previously reported results. The additional data, combined with previously
published neutrino and antineutrino data, are all analyzed using improved
techniques and simulations. A joint fit to the , ,
, and candidate samples within the
3-flavor neutrino oscillation framework continues to yield a best-fit point in
the normal mass ordering and the upper octant of the mixing
angle, with eV and
. The data disfavor combinations of
oscillation parameters that give rise to a large asymmetry in the rates of
and appearance. This includes values of the
CP-violating phase in the vicinity of which are
excluded by for the inverted mass ordering, and values around
in the normal ordering which are disfavored at
2 confidence.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures. Supplementary material attached (7 figures