|
T2K Collaboration(Abe, K. et al), Cervera-Villanueva, A., Escudero, L., Izmaylov, A., Sorel, M., & Stamoulis, P. (2015). Measurements of neutrino oscillation in appearance and disappearance channels by the T2K experiment with 6.6 x 10(20) protons on target. Phys. Rev. D, 91(7), 072010–50pp.
Abstract: We report on measurements of neutrino oscillation using data from the T2K long-baseline neutrino experiment collected between 2010 and 2013. In an analysis of muon neutrino disappearance alone, we find the following estimates and 68% confidence intervals for the two possible mass hierarchies: normal hierarchy: sin(2)theta(23) = 0.514(-0.055)(+0.056) and Delta m(32)(2) = (2.51 +/- 0.10) x 10(-3) eV(2)/c(4) and inverted hierarchy: sin(2)theta(23) = 0.511 +/- 0.055 and Delta m(13)(2) = (2.48 +/- 0.10) x 10(-3) eV(2)/c(4). The analysis accounts for multinucleon mechanisms in neutrino interactions which were found to introduce negligible bias. We describe our first analyses that combine measurements of muon neutrino disappearance and electron neutrino appearance to estimate four oscillation parameters, vertical bar Delta m(2)vertical bar, sin(2)theta(23), sin(2)theta(13,) delta(CP), and the mass hierarchy. Frequentist and Bayesian intervals are presented for combinations of these parameters, with and without including recent reactor measurements. At 90% confidence level and including reactor measurements, we exclude the region delta(CP) = [0.15; 0.83]pi for normal hierarchy and delta(CP) = [-0.08; 1.09]pi for inverted hierarchy. The T2K and reactor data weakly favor the normal hierarchy with a Bayes factor of 2.2. The most probable values and 68% one-dimensional credible intervals for the other oscillation parameters, when reactor data are included, are sin(2)theta(23) = 0.528(-0.055)(+0.038) and vertical bar Delta m(32)(2)vertical bar = (2.51 +/- 0.11) x 10(-3) eV(2)/c(4).
|
|
|
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 T2K on-axis neutrino beam. Phys. Rev. D, 91(11), 112002–17pp.
Abstract: We report a measurement of the nu(mu) charged current quasielastic cross-sections on carbon in the T2K on-axis neutrino beam. The measured charged current quasielastic cross-sections on carbon at mean neutrino energies of 1.94 GeV and 0.93 GeV are (11.95 +/- 0.19(stat)(-1.47)(+1.82)(syst)) x 10(-39) cm(2)/neutron, and (10.64 +/- 0.37(stat)(-1.65)(+2.03)(syst)) x 10(-39) cm(2)/neutron, respectively. These results agree well with the predictions of neutrino interaction models. In addition, we investigated the effects of the nuclear model and the multi-nucleon interaction.
|
|
|
T2K Collaboration(Abe, K. et al), Cervera-Villanueva, A., Escudero, L., Izmaylov, A., Sorel, M., & Stamoulis, P. (2015). Neutrino oscillation physics potential of the T2K experiment. Prog. Theor. Exp. Phys., (4), 043C01–36pp.
Abstract: The observation of the recent electron neutrino appearance in a muon neutrino beam and the high-precision measurement of the mixing angle theta(13) have led to a re-evaluation of the physics potential of the T2K long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. Sensitivities are explored for CP violation in neutrinos, non-maximal sin(2) 2 theta(23), the octant of theta(23), and the mass hierarchy, in addition to the measurements of delta CP, sin(2) theta(23), and Delta m(32)(2), for various combinations of nu-mode and (nu) over bar -mode data-taking. With an exposure of 7.8 x 10(21) protons-on-target, T2K can achieve 1 sigma resolution of 0.050 (0.054) on sin(2) theta(23) and 0.040 (0.045) x 10(-3) eV(2) on Delta m(32)(2) for 100% (50%) neutrino beam mode running assuming sin(2) theta(23) = 0.5 and Delta m(32)(2) = 2.4 x 10(-3) eV(2). T2K will have sensitivity to the CP-violating phase delta(CP) at 90% C.L. or better over a significant range. For example, if sin(2) 2 theta(23) is maximal (i.e.theta(23) = 45 degrees) the range is -115 degrees < delta(CP) < -60 degrees for normal hierarchy and +50 degrees < delta(CP) < + 130 degrees for inverted hierarchy. When T2K data is combined with data from the NO nu A experiment, the region of oscillation parameter space where there is sensitivity to observe a non-zero delta CP is substantially increased compared to if each experiment is analyzed alone.
|
|
|
T2K Collaboration(Abe, K. et al), Cervera-Villanueva, A., Escudero, L., Izmaylov, A., Sorel, M., & Stamoulis, P. (2015). Measurement of the electron neutrino charged-current interaction rate on water with the T2K ND280 pi(0) detector. Phys. Rev. D, 91(11), 112010–11pp.
Abstract: This paper presents a measurement of the charged current interaction rate of the electron neutrino beam component of the beam above 1.5 GeV using the large fiducial mass of the T2K pi(0) detector. The predominant portion of the v(e) flux (similar to 85%) at these energies comes from kaon decays. The measured ratio of the observed beam interaction rate to the predicted rate in the detector with water targets filled is 0.89 +/- 0.08(stat) +/- 0.11(sys), and with the water targets emptied is 0.90 +/- 0.09(stat) +/- 0.13 (sys). The ratio obtained for the interactions on water only from an event subtraction method is 0.87 +/- 0.33(stat) +/- 0.21(sys). This is the first measurement of the interaction rate of electron neutrinos on water, which is particularly of interest to experiments with water Cherenkov detectors.
|
|
|
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)).
|
|
|
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.
|
|
|
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).
|
|
|
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.
|
|
|
T2K Collaboration(Abe, K. et al), Cervera-Villanueva, A., Izmaylov, A., Sorel, M., & Stamoulis, P. (2016). Measurement of Muon Antineutrino Oscillations with an Accelerator-Produced Off-Axis Beam. Phys. Rev. Lett., 116(18), 181801–8pp.
Abstract: T2K reports its first measurements of the parameters governing the disappearance of (nu) over bar μin an off-axis beam due to flavor change induced by neutrino oscillations. The quasimonochromatic (nu) over bar μbeam, produced with a peak energy of 0.6 GeVat J-PARC, is observed at the far detector Super-Kamiokande, 295 km away, where the (nu) over bar μsurvival probability is expected to be minimal. Using a data set corresponding to 4.01 x 10(20) protons on target, 34 fully contained mu-like events were observed. The best-fit oscillation parameters are sin(2) ((theta) over bar (23)) = 0.45 and vertical bar Delta(m) over bar (2)(32)vertical bar = 2.51 x 10(-3) eV(2) with 68% confidence intervals of 0.38-0.64 and 2.26-2.80 x 10(-3) eV(2), respectively. These results are in agreement with existing antineutrino parameter measurements and also with the nu(mu) disappearance parameters measured by T2K.
|
|
|
T2K Collaboration(Abe, K. et al), Cervera-Villanueva, A., Izmaylov, A., Sorel, M., & Stamoulis, P. (2016). Measurement of double-differential muon neutrino charged-current interactions on C8H8 without pions in the final state using the T2K off-axis beam. Phys. Rev. D, 93(11), 112012–25pp.
Abstract: We report the measurement of muon neutrino charged-current interactions on carbon without pions in the final state at the T2K beam energy using 5.734 x 10(20) protons on target. For the first time the measurement is reported as a flux-integrated, double-differential cross section in muon kinematic variables (cos theta(mu), p(mu)), without correcting for events where a pion is produced and then absorbed by final state interactions. Two analyses are performed with different selections, background evaluations and cross-section extraction methods to demonstrate the robustness of the results against biases due to model-dependent assumptions. The measurements compare favorably with recent models which include nucleon-nucleon correlations but, given the present precision, the measurement does not distinguish among the available models. The data also agree with Monte Carlo simulations which use effective parameters that are tuned to external data to describe the nuclear effects. The total cross section in the full phase space is sigma = (0.417 +/- 0.047(syst) +/- 0.005(stat)) x 10(-38) cm(2) nucleon(-1) and the cross section integrated in the region of phase space with largest efficiency and best signal-over-background ratio (cos theta(mu) > 0.6 and p(mu) > 200 MeV) is sigma = (0.202 +/- 0.036(syst) +/- 0.003(stat)) x 10(-38) cm(2) nucleon(-1).
|
|