Profile Monitor SEM's for the NuMI Beam at FNAL

The Neutrinos at the Main Injector (NuMI) project will extract 120 GeV protons from the FNAL Main Injector in 8.56usec spills of 4E13 protons every 1.9 sec. We have designed secondary emission monitor (SEM) detectors to measure beam profile and halo along the proton beam transport line. The SEM?s are Ti foils 5um in thickness segmented in either 1?mm or 0.5?mm pitch strips, resulting in beam loss ~5E-6. We discuss aspects of the mechanical design, calculations of expected beam heating, and results of a beam test at the 8 GeV transport line to MiniBoone at FNAL.Comment: to appear in proceedings of 11th Beam Instrumentation Workshop, Oak Ridge, T

Beam-Based Alignment of the NuMI Target Station Components at FNAL

The Neutrinos at the Main Injector (NuMI) facility is a conventional horn-focused neutrino beam which produces muon neutrinos from a beam of mesons directed into a long evacuated decay volume. The relative alignment of the primary proton beam, target, and focusing horns affects the neutrino energy spectrum delivered to experiments. This paper describes a check of the alignment of these components using the proton beam.Comment: higher resolution figures available on Fermilab Preprint Server (see SPIRES entry), accepted for publication in Nucl. Instr. and Meth.

Study of Neutron-Induced Ionization in Helium and Argon Chamber Gases

Ion chambers used to monitor the secondary hadron and tertiary muon beam in the NuMI neutrino beamline will be exposed to background particles, including low energy neutrons produced in the beam dump. To understand these backgrounds, we have studied Helium- and Argon-filled ionization chambers exposed to intense neutron fluxes from PuBe neutron sources ($E_n=1-10$ MeV). The sources emit about 10$^8$ neutrons per second. The number of ion pairs in the chamber gas volume per incident neutron is derived. While limited in precision because of a large gamma ray background from the PuBe sources, our results are consistent with the expectation that the neutrons interact purely elastically in the chamber gas.Comment: accepted for publication in NIM

Beam Test of a Segmented Foil SEM Grid

A prototype Secondary-electron Emission Monitor (SEM) was installed in the 8 GeV proton transport line for the MiniBooNE experiment at Fermilab. The SEM is a segmented grid made with 5 um Ti foils, intended for use in the 120 GeV NuMI beam at Fermilab. Similar to previous workers, we found that the full collection of the secondary electron signal requires a bias voltage to draw the ejected electrons cleanly off the foils, and this effect is more pronounced at larger beam intensity. The beam centroid and width resolutions of the SEM were measured at beam widths of 3, 7, and 8 mm, and compared to calculations. Extrapolating the data from this beam test, we expect a centroid and width resolutions of 20um and 25 um, respectively, in the NuMI beam which has 1 mm spot size.Comment: submitted to Nucl. Instr. Meth.

Secondary Beam Monitors for the NuMI Facility at FNAL

The Neutrinos at the Main Injector (NuMI) facility is a conventional neutrino beam which produces muon neutrinos by focusing a beam of mesons into a long evacuated decay volume. We have built four arrays of ionization chambers to monitor the position and intensity of the hadron and muon beams associated with neutrino production at locations downstream of the decay volume. This article describes the chambers' construction, calibration, and commissioning in the beam.Comment: Accepted for publication in Nucl. Instr. Meth.

Ion Chambers for Monitoring the NuMI Neutrino Beam at FNAL

The Neutrinos at the Main Injector (NuMI) beamline will deliver an intense muon neutrino beam by focusing a beam of mesons into a long evacuated decay volume. The beam must be steered with 1 mRad angular accuracy toward the Soudan Underground Laboratory in northern Minnesota. We have built 4 arrays of ionization chambers to monitor the neutrino beam direction and quality. The arrays are located at 4 stations downstream of the decay volume, and measure the remnant hadron beam and tertiary muons produced along with neutrinos in meson decays. We review how the monitors will be used to make beam quality measurements, and as well we review chamber construction details, radiation damage testing, calibration, and test beam results.Comment: paper to appear in the proceedings of the 11th Beam Instrumentation Workshop, Oak Ridge, T

A Study of Muon Neutrino Disappearance Using the Fermilab Main Injector Neutrino Beam

We report the results of a search for muon-neutrino disappearance by the Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search. The experiment uses two detectors separated by 734 km to observe a beam of neutrinos created by the Neutrinos at the Main Injector facility at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. The data were collected in the first 282 days of beam operations and correspond to an exposure of 1.27e20 protons on target. Based on measurements in the Near Detector, in the absence of neutrino oscillations we expected 336 +/- 14 muon-neutrino charged-current interactions at the Far Detector but observed 215. This deficit of events corresponds to a significance of 5.2 standard deviations. The deficit is energy dependent and is consistent with two-flavor neutrino oscillations according to delta m-squared = 2.74e-3 +0.44/-0.26e-3 eV^2 and sin^2(2 theta) > 0.87 at 68% confidence level.Comment: In submission to Phys. Rev.

Measurement of neutrino velocity with the MINOS detectors and NuMI neutrino beam

The velocity of a ~3 GeV neutrino beam is measured by comparing detection times at the near and far detectors of the MINOS experiment, separated by 734 km. A total of 473 far detector neutrino events was used to measure (v-c)/c=5.12.910-5 (at 68% C.L.). By correlating the measured energies of 258 charged-current neutrino events to their arrival times at the far detector, a limit is imposed on the neutrino mass of mnu<50 MeV/c2 (99% C.L.)

Measurement of the Atmospheric Muon Charge Ratio at TeV Energies with MINOS

The 5.4 kton MINOS far detector has been taking charge-separated cosmic ray muon data since the beginning of August, 2003 at a depth of 2070 meters-water-equivalent in the Soudan Underground Laboratory, Minnesota, USA. The data with both forward and reversed magnetic field running configurations were combined to minimize systematic errors in the determination of the underground muon charge ratio. When averaged, two independent analyses find the charge ratio underground to be 1.374 +/- 0.004 (stat.) +0.012 -0.010(sys.). Using the map of the Soudan rock overburden, the muon momenta as measured underground were projected to the corresponding values at the surface in the energy range 1-7 TeV. Within this range of energies at the surface, the MINOS data are consistent with the charge ratio being energy independent at the two standard deviation level. When the MINOS results are compared with measurements at lower energies, a clear rise in the charge ratio in the energy range 0.3 -- 1.0 TeV is apparent. A qualitative model shows that the rise is consistent with an increasing contribution of kaon decays to the muon charge ratio.Comment: 16 pages, 17 figure