Measurement of Neutrino Oscillation Parameters Using Anti-fiducial Charged Current Events in MINOS

Strait, M.

doi:10.2172/1249477

Cited by 8 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…The RAF events were also checked against a previous result, which had measured the oscillation parameters using only the data from Run I [113]. Fitting Run I with the modern version of the RAF analysis yielded a best-fit result that was only 0.49 units of χ 2 away from the previous measurement [99].…”

Section: Checks Against Previous Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These Rock and Anti-Fiducial (RAF) events are included as a separate sample. For a complete discussion of the RAF analysis, see Reference [99].…”

Section: Rock and Anti-fiducial Eventsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The systematic uncertainties described above apply to the RAF samples. There are three additional systematic uncertainties that apply to the RAF sample only [99].…”

Section: Res Amentioning

confidence: 99%

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A measurement of neutrino oscillations with muon neutrinos in the MINOS experiment

Coleman

2011

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PAGEExperimental evidence has established that neutrino flavor states evolve over time. A neutrino of a particular flavor that travels some distance can be detected in a different neutrino flavor state. The Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search (MINOS) is a long-baseline experiment that is designed to study this phenomenon, called neutrino oscillations. MI-NOS is based at Fermilab near Chicago, IL, and consists of two detectors: the Near Detector located at Fermilab, and the Far Detector, which is located in an old iron mine in Soudan, MN. Both detectors are exposed to a beam of muon neutrinos from the NuMI beamline, and MINOS measures the fraction of muon neutrinos that disappear after traveling the 734 km between the two detectors. One can measure the atmospheric neutrino mass splitting and mixing angle by observing the energy-dependence of this muon neutrino disappearance. MINOS has made several prior measurements of these parameters.Here I describe recently-developed techniques used to enhance our sensitivity to the oscillation parameters, and I present the results obtained when they are applied to a dataset that is twice as large as has been previously analyzed. We measure the mass splitting ∆m These results comprise the world's best measurement of the atmospheric neutrino mass splitting. Alternative disappearance models are also tested. The neutrino decay hypothesis is disfavored at 7.2σ and the neutrino quantum decoherence hypothesis is disfavored at 9.0σ.

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Section: Checks Against Previous Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These Rock and Anti-Fiducial (RAF) events are included as a separate sample. For a complete discussion of the RAF analysis, see Reference [99].…”

Section: Rock and Anti-fiducial Eventsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A measurement of neutrino oscillations with muon neutrinos in the MINOS experiment

Coleman

2011

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“…In the neutrino-dominated beam, an additional sample is used, consisting of neutrinos interacting outside the fiducial volume of the detector and in the rock surrounding the detector [59,60]. This nonfiducial sample consists mainly of high energy neutrinos and has significantly lower resolution as not all the energy is contained in the detector; however, it does contain some oscillation information.…”

Section: Muon Neutrino and Antineutrino Disappearancementioning

confidence: 99%

The MINOS Experiment: Results and Prospects

Evans

2013

Advances in High Energy Physics

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The MINOS experiment has used the world's most powerful neutrino beam to make precision neutrino oscillation measurements. By observing the disappearance of muon neutrinos, MINOS has made the world's most precise measurement of the larger neutrino mass splitting and has measured the neutrino mixing angle 23 . Using a dedicated antineutrino beam, MINOS has made the first direct precision measurements of the corresponding antineutrino parameters. A search for ] and ] appearance has enabled a measurement of the mixing angle 13 . A measurement of the neutral-current interaction rate has confirmed oscillation between three active neutrino flavours. MINOS will continue as MINOS+ in an upgraded beam with higher energy and intensity, allowing precision tests of the three-flavour neutrino oscillation picture, in particular a very sensitive search for the existence of sterile neutrinos.

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“…Whilst the energy resolution of these events is poor, they comprise a sample with comparable statistics to the fiducial sample, and provide a valuable additional contribution to the oscillation measurement. Full details of the treatment of these events are given in [132] and summarized below.…”

Section: Rock and Antifiducial Eventsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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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Measurement of Neutrino Oscillation Parameters Using Anti-fiducial Charged Current Events in MINOS

Cited by 8 publications

References 22 publications

A measurement of neutrino oscillations with muon neutrinos in the MINOS experiment

A measurement of neutrino oscillations with muon neutrinos in the MINOS experiment

The MINOS Experiment: Results and Prospects

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

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