Atmospheric neutrino flux measurement using upgoing muons

“…An alternate analysis [55] of the Super-Kamiokande data bins the observed The rate of atmospheric neutrinos as a function of zenith angle has also been analyzed by Soudan 2 [56], MACRO [57], and MINOS [58,59]. All favour ν µ ↔ ν τ oscillations with parameters consistent with those found by Super-Kamiokande, though with significantly less sensitivity.…”

Section: Atmospheric Neutrino Oscillations 251 Super-kamiokandementioning

confidence: 67%

Measuring neutrino oscillation parameters using $\nu_\mu$ disappearance in MINOS

Backhouse¹

2011

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MINOS is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. It consists of two large steel-scintillator tracking calorimeters. The near detector is situated at Fermilab, close to the production point of the NuMI muon-neutrino beam. The far detector is 735 km away, 716 m underground in the Soudan mine, Northern Minnesota.The primary purpose of the MINOS experiment is to make precise measurements of the "atmospheric" neutrino oscillation parameters (∆m 2 atm and sin 2 2θ atm ). The oscillation signal consists of an energy-dependent deficit of ν µ interactions in the far detector. The near detector is used to characterize the properties of the beam before oscillations develop. The two-detector design allows many potential sources of systematic error in the far detector to be mitigated by the near detector observations. This thesis describes the details of the ν µ -disappearance analysis, and presents a new technique to estimate the hadronic energy of neutrino interactions. This estimator achieves a significant improvement in the energy resolution of the neutrino spectrum, and in the sensitivity of the neutrino oscillation fit. The systematic uncertainty on the hadronic energy scale was re-evaluated and found to be comparable to that of the energy estimator previously in use.The best-fit oscillation parameters of the ν µ -disappearance analysis, incorporating this new estimator were: ∆m 2 = 2.32. A similar analysis, using data from a period of running where the NuMI beam was operated in a configuration producing a predominantlyν µ beam, yielded somewhat different best-fit parameters ∆m 2 = 3.36−0.12 (stat.) ± 0.01(syst.). The tension between these results is intriguing, and additional antineutrino data is currently being taken in order to further investigate this apparent discrepancy. DeclarationI declare that this thesis and the work presented in it are my own and were produced by me as the result of my own original research. The work was done while a candidate for a degree at the University of Oxford, and has not been submitted for any other qualification. Results and figures from published works have been clearly attributed.The energy estimation technique presented in Chapter 5 of this thesis was my primary original contribution to the MINOS charged-current analysis. The analysis as a whole was performed by a group within the collaboration, and while I made significant contributions, the innovations described in Chapter 4 are the work of others (in many cases the subject of a thesis in their own right).ii AcknowledgmentsOver the course of 3 1 /2 years I've collected quite a number of people without whom this thesis wouldn't have been possible (or at least severely delayed). So here goes, in roughly chronological order:Thanks to my supervisor, Giles Barr, who never ceases to be optimistic, no matter how broken the analysis, or close the deadline. I also appreciated his offers (which I never had to take up) to throw his weight around and leave me to get on with writing, and his prompt proofreading (by usual a...

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“…The details of the upward-going muon analysis for the 1 st supermodule and the lower detector can be found in Ref. [22], for the full apparatus in Ref. [23].…”

Section: Wimp Search In Macro From the Earth And The Sunmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[22,23]). This calculation uses the Bartol flux [25], the Morfin and Tung parton set S 1 [26] for the deep inelastic νN cross-section and the muon energy loss in the rock from Ref.…”

Section: Wimp Search In Macro From the Earth And The Sunmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Limits on dark matter WIMPs using upward-going muons in the MACRO detector

Ambrosio¹,

Antolini²,

Aramo³

et al. 1999

Phys. Rev. D

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We perform an indirect search for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) using the MACRO detector to look for neutrino-induced upward-going muons resulting from the annihilation of WIMPs trapped in the Sun and Earth. The search is conducted in various angular cones centered on the Sun and Earth to accommodate a range of WIMP masses. No significant excess over the background from atmospheric neutrinos is seen and limits are placed on the upward-going muon fluxes from Sun and Earth. These limits are used to constrain neutralino particle parameters from supersymmetric theory, including those suggested by recent results from DAMA/NaI. 95.35, 14.80.-j

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Atmospheric neutrino flux measurement using upgoing muons

Cited by 88 publications

References 12 publications

Atmospheric Neutrinos and the Oscillations Bonanza

Atmospheric Neutrinos and the Oscillations Bonanza

Measuring neutrino oscillation parameters using $\nu_\mu$ disappearance in MINOS

Limits on dark matter WIMPs using upward-going muons in the MACRO detector

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