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T2K Collaboration(Abe, K. et al), Cervera-Villanueva, A., Escudero, L., Izmaylov, A., Sorel, M., & Stamoulis, P. (2015). Measurement of the nu(mu) charged-current quasielastic cross section on carbon with the ND280 detector at T2K. Phys. Rev. D, 92(11), 112003–14pp.
Abstract: This paper reports a measurement by the T2K experiment of the nu(mu) charged current quasielastic (CCQE) cross section on a carbon target with the off-axis detector based on the observed distribution of muon momentum (rho(mu)) and angle with respect to the incident neutrino beam (theta(mu)). The flux-integrated CCQE cross section was measured to be <sigma > = (0.83 +/- 0.12) x 10(-38) cm(2). The energy dependence of the CCQE cross section is also reported. The axial mass, M-A(QE), of the dipole axial form factor was extracted assuming the Smith-Moniz CCQE model with a relativistic Fermi gas nuclear model. Using the absolute (shape-only) rho(mu)-cos theta(mu) distribution, the effective M-A(QE) parameter was measured to be 1.26(-0.18)(+0.21) GeV/c(2) (1.43(-0.22)(+0.28) GeV/c(2)).
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T2K Collaboration(Abe, K. et al), Cervera-Villanueva, A., Escudero, L., Izmaylov, A., Sorel, M., & Stamoulis, P. (2016). Upper bound on neutrino mass based on T2K neutrino timing measurements. Phys. Rev. D, 93(1), 012006–15pp.
Abstract: The Tokai to Kamioka (T2K) long-baseline neutrino experiment consists of a muon neutrino beam, produced at the J-PARC accelerator, a near detector complex and a large 295-km-distant far detector. The present work utilizes the T2K event timing measurements at the near and far detectors to study neutrino time of flight as a function of derived neutrino energy. Under the assumption of a relativistic relation between energy and time of flight, constraints on the neutrino rest mass can be derived. The sub-GeV neutrino beam in conjunction with timing precision of order tens of ns provide sensitivity to neutrino mass in the few MeV/c(2) range. We study the distribution of relative arrival times of muon and electron neutrino candidate events at the T2K far detector as a function of neutrino energy. The 90% C.L. upper limit on the mixture of neutrino mass eigenstates represented in the data sample is found to be m(v)(2) < 5.6 MeV2/c(4).
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Renner, J., Cervera-Villanueva, A., Hernando, J. A., Izmaylov, A., Monrabal, F., Muñoz, J., et al. (2015). Improved background rejection in neutrinoless double beta decay experiments using a magnetic field in a high pressure xenon TPC. J. Instrum., 10, P12020–19pp.
Abstract: We demonstrate that the application of an external magnetic field could lead to an improved background rejection in neutrinoless double-beta (0 nu beta beta) decay experiments using a high-pressure xenon (HPXe) TPC. HPXe chambers are capable of imaging electron tracks, a feature that enhances the separation between signal events (the two electrons emitted in the 0 nu beta beta decay of Xe-136) and background events, arising chiefly from single electrons of kinetic energy compatible with the end-point of the 0 nu beta beta decay (Q(beta beta)). Applying an external magnetic field of sufficiently high intensity (in the range of 0.5-1 Tesla for operating pressures in the range of 5-15 atmospheres) causes the electrons to produce helical tracks. Assuming the tracks can be properly reconstructed, the sign of the curvature can be determined at several points along these tracks, and such information can be used to separate signal (0 nu beta beta) events containing two electrons producing a track with two different directions of curvature from background (single-electron) events producing a track that should spiral in a single direction. Due to electron multiple scattering, this strategy is not perfectly efficient on an event-by-event basis, but a statistical estimator can be constructed which can be used to reject background events by one order of magnitude at a moderate cost (about 30%) in signal efficiency. Combining this estimator with the excellent energy resolution and topological signature identification characteristic of the HPXe TPC, it is possible to reach a background rate of less than one count per ton-year of exposure. Such a low background rate is an essential feature of the next generation of 0 nu beta beta experiments, aiming to fully explore the inverse hierarchy of neutrino masses.
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NEXT Collaboration(Ferrario, P. et al), Laing, A., Lopez-March, N., Gomez-Cadenas, J. J., Alvarez, V., Carcel, S., et al. (2016). First proof of topological signature in the high pressure xenon gas TPC with electroluminescence amplification for the NEXT experiment. J. High Energy Phys., 01(1), 104–18pp.
Abstract: The NEXT experiment aims to observe the neutrinoless double beta decay of Xe-136 in a high-pressure xenon gas TPC using electroluminescence (EL) to amplify the signal from ionization. One of the main advantages of this technology is the possibility to reconstruct the topology of events with energies close to Q(beta beta). This paper presents the first demonstration that the topology provides extra handles to reject background events using data obtained with the NEXT-DEMO prototype. Single electrons resulting from the interactions of Na-22 1275 keV gammas and electron-positron pairs produced by conversions of gammas from the Th-228 decay chain were used to represent the background and the signal in a double beta decay. These data were used to develop algorithms for the reconstruction of tracks and the identification of the energy deposited at the end-points, providing an extra background rejection factor of 24.3 +/- 1.4 (stat.)%, while maintaining an efficiency of 66.7 +/- 1.% for signal events.
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T2K Collaboration(Abe, K. et al), Cervera-Villanueva, A., Izmaylov, A., Sorel, M., & Stamoulis, P. (2016). Measurement of the muon neutrino inclusive charged-current cross section in the energy range of 1-3 GeV with the T2K INGRID detector. Phys. Rev. D, 93(7), 072002–23pp.
Abstract: We report a measurement of the nu(mu)-nucleus inclusive charged-current cross section (= sigma(cc)) on iron using data from the INGRID detector exposed to the J-PARC neutrino beam. The detector consists of 14 modules in total, which are spread over a range of off-axis angles from 0 degrees to 1.1 degrees. The variation in the neutrino energy spectrum as a function of the off-axis angle, combined with event topology information, is used to calculate this cross section as a function of neutrino energy. The cross section is measured to be sigma(cc) (1.1 GeV) = 1.10 +/- 0.15 (10(-38) cm(2)/nucleon), sigma(cc) (2.0 GeV) = 2.07 +/- 0.27 (10(-38) cm(2)/nucleon), and sigma(cc) (3.3 GeV) = 2.29 +/- 0.45 (10(-38) cm(2)/nucleon), at energies of 1.1, 2.0, and 3.3 GeV, respectively. These results are consistent with the cross section calculated by the neutrino interaction generators currently used by T2K. More importantly, the method described here opens up a new way to determine the energy dependence of neutrino-nucleus cross sections.
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