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Ternes, C. A., Gariazzo, S., Hajjar, R., Mena, O., Sorel, M., & Tortola, M. (2019). Neutrino mass ordering at DUNE: An extra nu bonus. Phys. Rev. D, 100(9), 093004–10pp.
Abstract: We study the possibility of extracting the neutrino mass ordering at the future Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment using atmospheric neutrinos, which will be available before the muon neutrino beam starts being operational. The large statistics of the atmospheric muon neutrino and antineutrino samples at the far detector, together with the baselines of thousands of kilometers that these atmospheric (anti) neutrinos travel, provide ideal ingredients to extract the neutrino mass ordering via matter effects in the neutrino propagation through Earth. Crucially, muon capture by argon provides excellent charge tagging, allowing us to disentangle the neutrino and antineutrino signature. This is an important extra benefit of having a liquid argon time projection chamber as a far detector, that could render an similar to 3.5 sigma extraction of the mass ordering after approximately 7 yr of exposure.
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Terol-Calvo, J., Tortola, M., & Vicente, A. (2020). High-energy constraints from low-energy neutrino nonstandard interactions. Phys. Rev. D, 101(9), 095010–14pp.
Abstract: Many scenarios of new physics predict the existence of neutrino nonstandard interactions, new vector contact interactions between neutrinos, and first generation fermions beyond the Standard Model. We obtain model-independent constraints on the Standard Model effective field theory at high energies from bounds on neutrino nonstandard interactions derived at low energies. Our analysis explores a large set of new physics scenarios and includes full one-loop running effects below and above the electroweak scale. Our results show that neutrino nonstandard interactions already push the scale of new physics beyond the TeV. We also conclude that bounds derived by other experimental probes, in particular by low-energy precision measurements and by charged lepton flavor violation searches, are generally more stringent. Our study constitutes a first step toward the systematization of phenomenological analyses to evaluate the impact of neutrino nonstandard interactions for new physics scenarios at high energies.
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DUNE Collaboration(Abi, B. et al), Antonova, M., Barenboim, G., Cervera-Villanueva, A., De Romeri, V., Fernandez Menendez, P., et al. (2020). Neutrino interaction classification with a convolutional neural network in the DUNE far detector. Phys. Rev. D, 102(9), 092003–20pp.
Abstract: The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment is a next-generation neutrino oscillation experiment that aims to measure CP-violation in the neutrino sector as part of a wider physics program. A deep learning approach based on a convolutional neural network has been developed to provide highly efficient and pure selections of electron neutrino and muon neutrino charged-current interactions. The electron neutrino (antineutrino) selection efficiency peaks at 90% (94%) and exceeds 85% (90%) for reconstructed neutrino energies between 2-5 GeV. The muon neutrino (antineutrino) event selection is found to have a maximum efficiency of 96% (97%) and exceeds 90% (95%) efficiency for reconstructed neutrino energies above 2 GeV. When considering all electron neutrino and antineutrino interactions as signal, a selection purity of 90% is achieved. These event selections are critical to maximize the sensitivity of the experiment to CP-violating effects.
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DUNE Collaboration(Abud, A. A. et al), Amedo, P., Antonova, M., Barenboim, G., Cervera-Villanueva, A., De Romeri, V., et al. (2023). Identification and reconstruction of low-energy electrons in the ProtoDUNE-SP detector. Phys. Rev. D, 107(9), 092012–22pp.
Abstract: Measurements of electrons from ?e interactions are crucial for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) neutrino oscillation program, as well as searches for physics beyond the standard model, supernova neutrino detection, and solar neutrino measurements. This article describes the selection and reconstruction of low-energy (Michel) electrons in the ProtoDUNE-SP detector. ProtoDUNE-SP is one of the prototypes for the DUNE far detector, built and operated at CERN as a charged particle test beam experiment. A sample of low-energy electrons produced by the decay of cosmic muons is selected with a purity of 95%. This sample is used to calibrate the low-energy electron energy scale with two techniques. An electron energy calibration based on a cosmic ray muon sample uses calibration constants derived from measured and simulated cosmic ray muon events. Another calibration technique makes use of the theoretically well-understood Michel electron energy spectrum to convert reconstructed charge to electron energy. In addition, the effects of detector response to low-energy electron energy scale and its resolution including readout electronics threshold effects are quantified. Finally, the relation between the theoretical and reconstructed low-energy electron energy spectra is derived, and the energy resolution is characterized. The low-energy electron selection presented here accounts for about 75% of the total electron deposited energy. After the addition of lost energy using a Monte Carlo simulation, the energy resolution improves from about 40% to 25% at 50 MeV. These results are used to validate the expected capabilities of the DUNE far detector to reconstruct low-energy electrons.
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Rossi, R. R., Sanchez Garcia, G., & Tortola, M. (2024). Probing nuclear properties and neutrino physics with current and future CEνNS experiments. Phys. Rev. D, 109(9), 095044–17pp.
Abstract: The recent observation of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) with neutrinos from pion decay at rest (N-DAR) sources by the COHERENT Collaboration has raised interest in this process in the search for new physics. Unfortunately, current uncertainties in the determination of nuclear parameters relevant to those processes can hide new physics effects. This is not the case for processes involving lower-energy neutrino sources such as nuclear reactors. Note, however, that a CEvNS measurement with reactor neutrinos depends largely on a (still-missing) precise determination of the quenching factor at very low energies, making its observation more challenging. In the upcoming years, once this signal is confirmed, a combined analysis of N-DAR and reactor CEvNS experiments will be very useful to probe particle and nuclear physics, with a reduced dependence on nuclear uncertainties. In this work, we explore this idea by simultaneously testing the sensitivity of current and future CEvNS experiments to neutrino nonstandard interactions (NSIs) and the neutron root mean square (rms) radius, considering different neutrino sources as well as several detection materials. We show how the interplay between future reactor and accelerator CEvNS experiments can help to get robust constraints on the neutron rms and to break degeneracies between the NSI parameters. Our forecast could be used as a guide to optimize the experimental sensitivity to the parameters under study.
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