Bayes, R., Laing, A., Soler, F. J. P., Cervera-Villanueva, A., Gomez-Cadenas, J. J., Hernandez, P., et al. (2012). Golden channel at a neutrino factory revisited: Improved sensitivities from a magnetized iron neutrino detector. Phys. Rev. D, 86(9), 093015–27pp.
Abstract: This paper describes the performance and sensitivity to neutrino mixing parameters of a Magnetised Iron Neutrino Detector at a Neutrino Factory with a neutrino beam created from the decay of 10 GeV muons. Specifically, it is concerned with the ability of such a detector to detect muons of the opposite sign to those stored (wrong-sign muons) while suppressing contamination of the signal from the interactions of other neutrino species in the beam. A new, more realistic simulation and analysis, which improves the efficiency of this detector at low energies, has been developed using the GENIE neutrino event generator and the GEANT4 simulation toolkit. Low-energy neutrino events down to 1 GeV were selected, while reducing backgrounds to the 10(-4) level. Signal efficiency plateaus of similar to 60% for nu(mu) and similar to 70% for (nu) over bar (mu) events were achieved starting at similar to 5 GeV. Contamination from the nu(mu) -> nu(tau) oscillation channel was studied for the first time and was found to be at the level between 1% and 4%. Full response matrices are supplied for all the signal and background channels from 1 GeV to 10 GeV. The sensitivity of an experiment involving a Magnetised Iron Neutrino Detector detector of 100 ktons at 2000 km from the Neutrino Factory is calculated for the case of sin(2)2 theta(13) similar to 10(-1). For this value of theta(13), the accuracy in the measurement of the CP-violating phase is estimated to be Delta delta(CP) similar to 3 degrees-5 degrees, depending on the value of delta(CP), the CP coverage at 5 sigma is 85% and the mass hierarchy would be determined with better than 5 sigma level for all values of delta(CP).
|
Edgecock, T. R. et al, Agarwalla, S. K., Cervera-Villanueva, A., Donini, A., Ghosh, T., Gomez-Cadenas, J. J., et al. (2013). High intensity neutrino oscillation facilities in Europe. Phys. Rev. Spec. Top.-Accel. Beams, 16(2), 021002–18pp.
Abstract: The EUROnu project has studied three possible options for future, high intensity neutrino oscillation facilities in Europe. The first is a Super Beam, in which the neutrinos come from the decay of pions created by bombarding targets with a 4 MW proton beam from the CERN High Power Superconducting Proton Linac. The far detector for this facility is the 500 kt MEMPHYS water Cherenkov, located in the Frejus tunnel. The second facility is the Neutrino Factory, in which the neutrinos come from the decay of mu(+) and mu(-) beams in a storage ring. The far detector in this case is a 100 kt magnetized iron neutrino detector at a baseline of 2000 km. The third option is a Beta Beam, in which the neutrinos come from the decay of beta emitting isotopes, in particular He-6 and Ne-18, also stored in a ring. The far detector is also the MEMPHYS detector in the Frejus tunnel. EUROnu has undertaken conceptual designs of these facilities and studied the performance of the detectors. Based on this, it has determined the physics reach of each facility, in particular for the measurement of CP violation in the lepton sector, and estimated the cost of construction. These have demonstrated that the best facility to build is the Neutrino Factory. However, if a powerful proton driver is constructed for another purpose or if the MEMPHYS detector is built for astroparticle physics, the Super Beam also becomes very attractive.
|
Bross, A., Wands, R., Bayes, R., Laing, A., Soler, F. J. P., Cervera-Villanueva, A., et al. (2013). Toroidal magnetized iron neutrino detector for a neutrino factory. Phys. Rev. Spec. Top.-Accel. Beams, 16(8), 081002–16pp.
Abstract: A neutrino factory has unparalleled physics reach for the discovery and measurement of CP violation in the neutrino sector. A far detector for a neutrino factory must have good charge identification with excellent background rejection and a large mass. An elegant solution is to construct a magnetized iron neutrino detector (MIND) along the lines of MINOS, where iron plates provide a toroidal magnetic field and scintillator planes provide 3D space points. In this paper, the current status of a simulation of a toroidal MIND for a neutrino factory is discussed in light of the recent measurements of large theta(13). The response and performance using the 10 GeV neutrino factory configuration are presented. It is shown that this setup has equivalent delta(CP) reach to a MIND with a dipole field and is sensitive to the discovery of CP violation over 85% of the values of delta(CP).
|
NEXT Collaboration(Gomez-Cadenas, J. J. et al), Alvarez, V., Carcel, S., Cervera-Villanueva, A., Diaz, J., Ferrario, P., et al. (2014). Present Status and Future Perspectives of the NEXT Experiment. Adv. High. Energy Phys., 2014, 907067–22pp.
Abstract: NEXT is an experiment dedicated to neutrinoless double beta decay searches in xenon. The detector is a TPC, holding 100 kg of high-pressure xenon enriched in the Xe-136 isotope. It is under construction in the Laboratorio Subterraneo de Canfranc in Spain, and it will begin operations in 2015. The NEXT detector concept provides an energy resolutionbetter than 1% FWHM and a topological signal that can be used to reduce the background. Furthermore, the NEXT technology can be extrapolated to a 1 ton-scale experiment.
|
Hamacher-Baumann, P., Lu, X. G., & Martin-Albo, J. (2020). Neutrino-hydrogen interactions with a high-pressure time projection chamber. Phys. Rev. D, 102(3), 033005–15pp.
Abstract: We investigate the idea of detecting pure neutrino-hydrogen interactions in a multinuclear target using the transverse kinematic imbalance technique [Lu et al., Phys. Rev. D 92, 051302 (2015)] in a high-pressure time projection chamber (HPTPC). With full solid-angle acceptance, MeV-level proton tracking threshold, state-of-the-art tracking resolution, and an 0(100 m(3)) gas volume at 10 bar, an HPTPC could provide an opportunity to realize this technique. We propose the use of hydrogen-rich gases in the TPC to achieve high detection purity with a large hydrogen mass. With the projected neutrino beam exposure at the DUNE experiment, neutrino-hydrogen events of the order of 10(4) per year with purity above 90% could be achieved with such an HPTPC using methane gas. In this paper, we present a systematic study of the event rate and purity for a variety of argon-alkanc mixtures, and examine these gas candidates for the TPC tracking-related properties.
|
