The ENUBET ERC project, also included in the CERN Neutrino Platform as NP06/ENUBET, is developing a new neutrino beam based on conventional techniques in which the flux and the flavor composition are known with unprecedented precision (O (1%)). Such a goal is accomplished monitoring the associated charged leptons produced in the decay region of the ENUBET facility. Positrons and muons from kaon decays are measured by a segmented calorimeter instrumenting the walls of the decay tunnel, while muon stations after the hadron dump can be used to monitor the neutrino component from pion decays. Furthermore, the narrow momentum width (<10%) of the beam provides a precise measurement (O (10%)) of the neutrino energy on an event by event basis, thanks to its correlation with the radial position of the interaction at the neutrino detector. ENUBET is therefore an ideal facility for a high precision neutrino cross-section measurement at the GeV scale, that could enhance the discovery potential of the next-generation of long baseline experiments. It is also a powerful tool for testing the sterile neutrino hypothesis and to investigate possible non-standard interactions.
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The main source of systematic uncertainty on neutrino cross section measurements at the GeV scale is represented by the poor knowledge of the initial flux. The goal of cutting down this uncertainty to 1% can be achieved through the monitoring of charged leptons produced in association with neutrinos, by properly instrumenting the decay region of a conventional narrow-band neutrino beam. Large angle muons and positrons from kaons are measured by a sampling calorimeter on the decay tunnel walls (tagger), while muon stations after the hadron dump can be used to monitor the neutrino component from pion decays. This instrumentation can provide a full control on both the muon and electron neutrino fluxes at all energies. Furthermore, the narrow momentum width (<10%) of the beam provides a O(10%) measurement of the neutrino energy on an event by event basis, thanks to its correlation with the radial position of the interaction at the neutrino detector. The ENUBET project has been funded by the ERC in 2016 to prove the feasibility of such a monitored neutrino beam and is cast in the framework of the CERN neutrino platform (NP06) and the Physics Beyond Colliders initiative. In our contribution, we summarize the ENUBET design, physics performance and opportunities for its implementation in a timescale comparable with next long baseline neutrino experiments.
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