Low-energy physics in neutrino LArTPCs Andringa, S; Asaadi, J; Bezerra, J T C ...
Journal of physics. G, Nuclear and particle physics,
01/2023, Volume:
50, Issue:
3
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
Abstract
In this paper, we review scientific opportunities and challenges related to detection and reconstruction of low-energy (less than 100 MeV) signatures in liquid argon time-projection chamber ...(LArTPC) neutrino detectors. LArTPC neutrino detectors designed for performing precise long-baseline oscillation measurements with GeV-scale accelerator neutrino beams also have unique sensitivity to a range of physics and astrophysics signatures via detection of event features at and below the few tens of MeV range. In addition, low-energy signatures are an integral part of GeV-scale accelerator neutrino interaction final-states, and their reconstruction can enhance the oscillation physics sensitivities of LArTPC experiments. New physics signals from accelerator and natural sources also generate diverse signatures in the low-energy range, and reconstruction of these signatures can increase the breadth of Beyond the Standard Model scenarios accessible in LArTPC-based searches. A variety of experimental and theory-related challenges remain to realizing this full range of potential benefits. Neutrino interaction cross-sections and other nuclear physics processes in argon relevant to sub-hundred-MeV LArTPC signatures are poorly understood, and improved theory and experimental measurements are needed; pion decay-at-rest sources and charged particle and neutron test beams are ideal facilities for improving this understanding. There are specific calibration needs in the low-energy range, as well as specific needs for control and understanding of radiological and cosmogenic backgrounds. Low-energy signatures, whether steady-state or part of a supernova burst or larger GeV-scale event topology, have specific triggering, DAQ and reconstruction requirements that must be addressed outside the scope of conventional GeV-scale data collection and analysis pathways. Novel concepts for future LArTPC technology that enhance low-energy capabilities should also be explored to help address these challenges.
The NuTeV Collaboration has extracted the electroweak parameter sin(2)theta(W) from the measurement of the ratios of neutral current to charged current nu and (-)nu cross sections. Our value, ...sin(2)theta((on-shell))(W) = 0.2277 +/- 0.0013(stat) +/- 0.0009(syst), is 3 standard deviations above the standard model prediction. We also present a model independent analysis of the same data in terms of neutral-current quark couplings.
Full text
Available for:
CMK, CTK, FMFMET, IJS, NUK, PNG, UM
The D0 Run IIb luminosity measurement Casey, B.C.K.; Corcoran, M.; DeVaughan, K. ...
Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment,
01/2013, Volume:
698
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
An assessment of the recorded integrated luminosity is presented for data collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider from June 2006 to September 2011 (Run IIb). In addition, a ...measurement of the effective cross-section for inelastic interactions, also referred to as the luminosity constant, is reported. This measurement incorporates new features that lead to a substantial improvement in the precision of the result. A luminosity constant of σLM=48.3±1.9±0.6mb is obtained, where the first uncertainty is due to the accuracy of the inelastic cross-section used by both CDF and D0, and the second uncertainty is due to D0 sources. The recorded luminosity for the highest ET jet trigger is Lrec=9.2±0.4fb−1, with a relative uncertainty of 4.3%.
Full text
Available for:
GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
A search for neutral heavy leptons (NHLs) has been performed using an instrumented decay channel at the NuTeV (E-815) experiment at Fermilab. The data were examined for NHLs decaying into muonic ...final states ({mu}{mu}{nu} , {mu}e{nu} , {mu}{pi} , and {mu}{rho} ); no evidence has been found for NHLs in the 0.25-2.0 GeV mass range. This analysis places limits on the mixing of NHLs with standard light neutrinos at a level up to an order of magnitude more restrictive than previous search limits in this mass range. (c) 1999 The American Physical Society.
Full text
Available for:
CMK, CTK, FMFMET, IJS, NUK, PNG, UM
Knowledge of the neutrino flux produced by the Neutrinos at the Main Injector (NuMI) beamline is essential to the neutrino oscillation and neutrino interaction measurements of the MINERvA, MINOS+, ...NOvA and MicroBooNE experiments at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. We have produced a flux prediction which uses all available and relevant hadron production data, incorporating measurements of particle production off of thin targets as well as measurements of particle yields from a spare NuMI target exposed to a 120 GeV proton beam. The result is the most precise flux prediction achieved for a neutrino beam in the one to tens of GeV energy region. We have also compared the prediction to in situ measurements of the neutrino flux and find good agreement.
Full text
Available for:
CMK, CTK, FMFMET, IJS, NUK, PNG, UM
Two different nuclear-medium effects are isolated using a low three-momentum transfer subsample of neutrino-carbon scattering data from the MINERvA neutrino experiment. The observed hadronic energy ...in charged-current ν_{μ} interactions is combined with muon kinematics to permit separation of the quasielastic and Δ(1232) resonance processes. First, we observe a small cross section at very low energy transfer that matches the expected screening effect of long-range nucleon correlations. Second, additions to the event rate in the kinematic region between the quasielastic and Δ resonance processes are needed to describe the data. The data in this kinematic region also have an enhanced population of multiproton final states. Contributions predicted for scattering from a nucleon pair have both properties; the model tested in this analysis is a significant improvement but does not fully describe the data. We present the results as a double-differential cross section to enable further investigation of nuclear models. Improved description of the effects of the nuclear environment are required by current and future neutrino oscillation experiments.
Full text
Available for:
CMK, CTK, FMFMET, IJS, NUK, PNG, UM
Scattering of high energy particles from nucleons probes their structure, as was done in the experiments that established the non-zero size of the proton using electron beams
. The use of charged ...leptons as scattering probes enables measuring the distribution of electric charges, which is encoded in the vector form factors of the nucleon
. Scattering weakly interacting neutrinos gives the opportunity to measure both vector and axial vector form factors of the nucleon, providing an additional, complementary probe of their structure. The nucleon transition axial form factor, F
, can be measured from neutrino scattering from free nucleons, ν
n → μ
p and Formula: see text, as a function of the negative four-momentum transfer squared (Q
). Up to now, F
(Q
) has been extracted from the bound nucleons in neutrino-deuterium scattering
, which requires uncertain nuclear corrections
. Here we report the first high-statistics measurement, to our knowledge, of the Formula: see text cross-section from the hydrogen atom, using the plastic scintillator target of the MINERvA
experiment, extracting F
from free proton targets and measuring the nucleon axial charge radius, r
, to be 0.73 ± 0.17 fm. The antineutrino-hydrogen scattering presented here can access the axial form factor without the need for nuclear theory corrections, and enables direct comparisons with the increasingly precise lattice quantum chromodynamics computations
. Finally, the tools developed for this analysis and the result presented are substantial advancements in our capabilities to understand the nucleon structure in the weak sector, and also help the current and future neutrino oscillation experiments
to better constrain neutrino interaction models.
Full text
Available for:
GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK, ZAGLJ
We report a study of ν(μ) charged-current quasielastic events in the segmented scintillator inner tracker of the MINERvA experiment running in the NuMI neutrino beam at Fermilab. The events were ...selected by requiring a μ- and low calorimetric recoil energy separated from the interaction vertex. We measure the flux-averaged differential cross section, dσ/dQ², and study the low energy particle content of the final state. Deviations are found between the measured dσ/dQ² and the expectations of a model of independent nucleons in a relativistic Fermi gas. We also observe an excess of energy near the vertex consistent with multiple protons in the final state.
Full text
Available for:
CMK, CTK, FMFMET, IJS, NUK, PNG, UM