DUNE Collaboration(Abud, A. A. et al), Amedo, P., Antonova, M., Barenboim, G., Benitez Montiel, C., Cervera-Villanueva, A., et al. (2023). Impact of cross-section uncertainties on supernova neutrino spectral parameter fitting in the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment. Phys. Rev. D, 107(11), 112012–25pp.
Abstract: A primary goal of the upcoming Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is to measure the Oo10 thorn MeV neutrinos produced by a Galactic core-collapse supernova if one should occur during the lifetime of the experiment. The liquid-argon-based detectors planned for DUNE are expected to be uniquely sensitive to the & nu;e component of the supernova flux, enabling a wide variety of physics and astrophysics measurements. A key requirement for a correct interpretation of these measurements is a good understanding of the energy-dependent total cross section & sigma;oE & nu; thorn for charged-current & nu;e absorption on argon. In the context of a simulated extraction of supernova & nu;e spectral parameters from a toy analysis, we investigate the impact of & sigma;oE & nu; thorn modeling uncertainties on DUNE's supernova neutrino physics sensitivity for the first time. We find that the currently large theoretical uncertainties on & sigma;oE & nu; thorn must be substantially reduced before the & nu;e flux parameters can be extracted reliably; in the absence of external constraints, a measurement of the integrated neutrino luminosity with less than 10% bias with DUNE requires & sigma;oE & nu; thorn to be known to about 5%. The neutrino spectral shape parameters can be known to better than 10% for a 20% uncertainty on the cross-section scale, although they will be sensitive to uncertainties on the shape of & sigma;oE & nu; thorn . A direct measurement of low-energy & nu;e-argon scattering would be invaluable for improving the theoretical precision to the needed level.
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T2K Collaboration(Abe, K. et al), Antonova, M., Cervera-Villanueva, A., Molina Bueno, L., & Novella, P. (2023). Updated T2K measurements of muon neutrino and antineutrino disappearance using 3.6 x 10^21 protons on target. Phys. Rev. D, 108(7), 072011–10pp.
Abstract: Muon neutrino and antineutrino disappearance probabilities are identical in the standard three-flavor neutrino oscillation framework, but CPT violation and nonstandard interactions can violate this symmetry. In this work we report the measurements of sin2 theta 23 and Delta m232 independently for neutrinos and antineutrinos. The aforementioned symmetry violation would manifest as an inconsistency in the neutrino and antineutrino oscillation parameters. The analysis discussed here uses a total of 1.97 x 1021 and 1.63 x 1021 protons on target taken with a neutrino and antineutrino beam respectively, and benefits from improved flux and cross section models, new near-detector samples and more than double the data reducing the overall uncertainty of the result. No significant deviation is observed, consistent with the standard neutrino oscillation picture.
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T2K Collaboration(Abe, K. et al), Antonova, M., Cervera-Villanueva, A., Molina Bueno, L., & Novella, P. (2023). Measurements of the νμ and bar(ν)μ-induced coherent charged pion production cross sections on 12C by the T2K experiment. Phys. Rev. D, 108(9), 092009–15pp.
Abstract: We report an updated measurement of the nu(mu)-induced, and the first measurement of the (nu) over bar (mu)- induced coherent charged pion production cross section on C-12 nuclei in the Tokai-to-Kamioka experiment. This is measured in a restricted region of the final- state phase space for which p(mu,pi) > 0.2 GeV, cos(theta(mu)) > 0.8 and cos(theta(pi)) > 0.6, and at a mean ( anti)neutrino energy of 0.85 GeVusing the T2K near detector. The measured nu(mu) charged current coherent pion production flux-averaged cross section on C-12 is (2.98 +/- 0.37(stat) +/- 0.31(syst)(-0.00)(+0.49)(Q(2) model)) x 10(-40) cm(2). The new measurement of the (nu) over bar (mu)-induced cross section on C-12 is (3.05 +/- 0.71(stat) +/- 0.39(syst)(-0.00)(+-0.74) (Q(2) model)) x 10(-40) cm(2). The results are compatible with both the NEUT 5.4.0 Berger-Sehgal (2009) and GENIE 2.8.0 Rein-Sehgal (2007) model predictions.
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T2K Collaboration(Abe, K. et al), Antonova, M., Cervera-Villanueva, A., Molina Bueno, L., & Novella, P. (2023). First measurement of muon neutrino charged-current interactions on hydrocarbon without pions in the final state using multiple detectors with correlated energy spectra at T2K. Phys. Rev. D, 108(11), 112009–32pp.
Abstract: This paper reports the first measurement of muon neutrino charged-current interactions without pions in the final state using multiple detectors with correlated energy spectra at T2K. The data was collected on hydrocarbon targets using the off-axis T2K near detector (ND280) and the on-axis T2K near detector (INGRID) with neutrino energy spectra peaked at 0.6 GeV and 1.1 GeV, respectively. The correlated neutrino flux presents an opportunity to reduce the impact of the flux uncertainty and to study the energy dependence of neutrino interactions. The extracted double-differential cross sections are compared to several Monte Carlo neutrino-nucleus interaction event generators showing the agreement between both detectors individually and with the correlated result.
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T2K Collaboration(Abe, K. et al), Cervera-Villanueva, A., Novella, P., Izmaylov, A., Sorel, M., & Stamoulis, P. (2016). Measurement of Coherent pi(+) Production in Low Energy Neutrino-Carbon Scattering. Phys. Rev. Lett., 117(9), 192501–7pp.
Abstract: We report the first measurement of the flux-averaged cross section for charged current coherent pi(+) production on carbon for neutrino energies less than 1.5 GeV, and with a restriction on the final state phase space volume in the T2K near detector, ND280. Comparisons are made with predictions from the Rein-Sehgal coherent production model and the model by Alvarez-Ruso et al., the latter representing the first implementation of an instance of the new class of microscopic coherent models in a neutrino interaction Monte Carlo event generator. We observe a clear event excess above background, disagreeing with the null results reported by K2K and SciBooNE in a similar neutrino energy region. The measured flux-averaged cross sections are below those predicted by both the Rein-Sehgal and Alvarez-Ruso et al. models.
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T2K Collaboration(Abe, K. et al), Cervera-Villanueva, A., Izmaylov, A., Novella, P., & Sorel, M. (2017). Combined Analysis of Neutrino and Antineutrino Oscillations at T2K. Phys. Rev. Lett., 118(15), 151801–9pp.
Abstract: T2K reports its first results in the search for CP violation in neutrino oscillations using appearance and disappearance channels for neutrino-and antineutrino-mode beams. The data include all runs from January 2010 to May 2016 and comprise 7.482 x 10(20) protons on target in neutrino mode, which yielded in the far detector 32 e-like and 135 mu-like events, and 7.471 x 10(20) protons on target in antineutrino mode, which yielded 4 e-like and 66 mu-like events. Reactor measurements of sin(2) 2 theta(13) have been used as an additional constraint. The one-dimensional confidence interval at 90% for the phase delta(CP) spans the range (-3.13,-0.39) for normal mass ordering. The CP conservation hypothesis (delta(CP) = 0, pi) is excluded at 90% C.L.
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NEXT Collaboration(McDonald, A. D. et al), Alvarez, V., Benlloch-Rodriguez, J. M., Botas, A., Carcel, S., Carrion, J. V., et al. (2018). Demonstration of Single-Barium-Ion Sensitivity for Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay Using Single-Molecule Fluorescence Imaging. Phys. Rev. Lett., 120(13), 132504–6pp.
Abstract: A new method to tag the barium daughter in the double-beta decay of Xe-136 is reported. Using the technique of single molecule fluorescent imaging (SMFI), individual barium dication (Ba++) resolution at a transparent scanning surface is demonstrated. A single-step photobleach confirms the single ion interpretation. Individual ions are localized with superresolution (similar to 2 nm), and detected with a statistical significance of 12.9 sigma over backgrounds. This lays the foundation for a new and potentially background-free neutrinoless double-beta decay technology, based on SMFI coupled to high pressure xenon gas time projection chambers.
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T2K Collaboration(Abe, K. et al), Antonova, M., Cervera-Villanueva, A., Fernandez, P., Izmaylov, A., & Novella, P. (2018). Search for CP Violation in Neutrino and Antineutrino Oscillations by the T2K Experiment with 2.2 x 10(21) Protons on Target. Phys. Rev. Lett., 121(17), 171802–9pp.
Abstract: The T2K experiment measures muon neutrino disappearance and electron neutrino appearance in accelerator-produced neutrino and antineutrino beams. With an exposure of 14.7(7.6) x 10(20) protons on target in the neutrino (antineutrino) mode, 89 nu(e) candidates and seven anti-nu(e) candidates are observed, while 67.5 and 9.0 are expected for delta(CP) = 0 and normal mass ordering. The obtained 2 sigma confidence interval for the CP-violating phase, delta(CP), does not include the CP-conserving cases (delta(CP) = 0, pi). The best-fit values of other parameters are sin(2) theta(23) = 0.526(-0.036)(+0.032) and Delta m(32)(2) = 2.463(-0.070)(+0.071) x 10(-3) eV(2)/c(4).
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T2K Collaboration(Abe, K. et al), Antonova, M., Cervera-Villanueva, A., Fernandez, P., Izmaylov, A., & Novella, P. (2020). Search for Electron Antineutrino Appearance in a Long-Baseline Muon Antineutrino Beam. Phys. Rev. Lett., 124(16), 161802–8pp.
Abstract: Electron antineutrino appearance is measured by the T2K experiment in an accelerator-produced antineutrino beam, using additional neutrino beam operation to constrain parameters of the Pontecorvo-Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata (PMNS) mixing matrix. T2K observes 15 candidate electron antineutrino events with a background expectation of 9.3 events. Including information from the kinematic distribution of observed events, the hypothesis of no electron antineutrino appearance is disfavored with a significance of 2.40s and no discrepancy between data and PMNS predictions is found. A complementary analysis that introduces an additional free parameter which allows non-PMNS values of electron neutrino and antineutrino appearance also finds no discrepancy between data and PMNS predictions.
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NEXT Collaboration(Henriques, C. A. O. et al), Benlloch-Rodriguez, J. M., Carcel, S., Carrion, J. V., Diaz, J., Felkai, R., et al. (2022). Neutral Bremsstrahlung Emission in Xenon Unveiled. Phys. Rev. X, 12(2), 021005–23pp.
Abstract: We present evidence of non-excimer-based secondary scintillation in gaseous xenon, obtained using both the NEXT-White time projection chamber (TPC) and a dedicated setup. Detailed comparison with first-principle calculations allows us to assign this scintillation mechanism to neutral bremsstrahlung (NBrS), a process that is postulated to exist in xenon that has been largely overlooked. For photon emission below 1000 nm, the NBrS yield increases from about 10(-2) photon/e(-) cm(-1) bar(-1) at pressure-reduced electric field values of 50 V cm(-1) bar(-1) to above 3 x 10(-1) photon/e(-) cm(-1) bar(-1) at 500 V cm(-1) bar(-1). Above 1.5 kV cm(-1) bar(-1), values that are typically employed for electroluminescence, it is estimated that NBrS is present with an intensity around 1 photon/e(-) cm(-1) bar(-1), which is about 2 orders of magnitude lower than conventional, excimer-based electroluminescence. Despite being fainter than its excimeric counterpart, our calculations reveal that NBrS causes luminous backgrounds that can interfere, in either gas or liquid phase, with the ability to distinguish and/or to precisely measure low primary-scintillation signals (S1). In particular, we show this to be the case in the "buffer region, where keeping the electric field below the electroluminescence threshold does not suffice to extinguish secondary scintillation. The electric field leakage in this region should be mitigated to avoid intolerable levels of NBrS emission. Furthermore, we show that this new source of light emission opens up a viable path toward obtaining S2 signals for discrimination purposes in future single-phase liquid TPCs for neutrino and dark matter physics, with estimated yields up to 20-50 photons/e(-) cm(-1).
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