0000000000050431
AUTHOR
Lester D.r. Thompson
The data acquisition system for the ANTARES neutrino telescope
The ANTARES neutrino telescope is being constructed in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of a large three-dimensional array of photo-multiplier tubes. The data acquisition system of the detector takes care of the digitisation of the photo-multiplier tube signals, data transport, data filtering, and data storage. The detector is operated using a control program interfaced with all elements. The design and the implementation of the data acquisition system are described.
Measurement of Coherent π+ Production in Low Energy Neutrino-Carbon Scattering
We report the first measurement of the flux-averaged cross section for charged current coherent π+ 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 …
Four-jet final state production in e+e- collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 130 and 136 GeV
The four-jet final state is analyzed to search for hadronic decays of pair-produced heavy particles. The analysis uses the ALEPH data collected at LEP in November 1995 at centre-of-mass energies of 130 and 136 GeV, corresponding to a total integrated luminosity of 5.7 pb(-1). An excess of four-jet events is observed with respect to the standard model predictions. In addition, these events exhibit an enhancement in the sum of the two di-jet masses around 105 GeV/c(2). The properties of these events are studied and compared to the expectations from standard processes and to pair production hypotheses. RI ANTONELLI, ANTONELLA/C-6238-2011; Passalacqua, Luca/F-5127-2011; Murtas, Fabrizio/B-5729-…
Testing charged current quasi-elastic and multinucleon interaction models in the NEUT neutrino interaction generator with published datasets from the MiniBooNE and MINER nu A experiments
There has been a great deal of theoretical work on sophisticated charged current quasi-elastic (CCQE) neutrino interaction models in recent years, prompted by a number of experimental results that measured unexpectedly large CCQE cross sections on nuclear targets. As the dominant interaction mode at T2K energies, and the signal process in oscillation analyses, it is important for the T2K experiment to include realistic CCQE cross section uncertainties in T2K analyses. To this end, T2K’s Neutrino Interaction Working Group has implemented a number of recent models in NEUT, T2K’s primary neutrino interaction event generator. In this paper, we give an overview of the models implemented and pres…
The ANTARES optical module
The ANTARES collaboration is building a deep sea neutrino telescope in the Mediterranean Sea. This detector will cover a sensitive area of typically 0.1 km-squared and will be equipped with about 1000 optical modules. Each of these optical modules consists of a large area photomultiplier and its associated electronics housed in a pressure resistant glass sphere. The design of the ANTARES optical module, which is a key element of the detector, has been finalized following extensive R & D studies and is reviewed here in detail.
T2K neutrino flux prediction
The Tokai-to-Kamioka (T2K) experiment studies neutrino oscillations using an off-axismuon neutrino beam with a peak energy of about 0.6 GeV that originates at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex accelerator facility. Interactions of the neutrinos are observed at near detectors placed at 280 m from the production target and at the far detector-Super-Kamiokande-located 295 km away. The flux prediction is an essential part of the successful prediction of neutrino interaction rates at the T2K detectors and is an important input to T2K neutrino oscillation and cross section measurements. A FLUKA and GEANT3-based simulation models the physical processes involved in the neutrino producti…
Combined Analysis of Neutrino and Antineutrino Oscillations at T2K.
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 ×10^(20) protons on target in neutrino mode, which yielded in the far detector 32 e-like and 135 μ-like events, and 7.471 × 10^(20) protons on target in antineutrino mode, which yielded 4 e-like and 66 μ-like events. Reactor measurements of sin(2)2θ(13) have been used as an additional constraint. The one-dimensional confidence interval at 90% for the phase δCP spans the range (−3.13, −0.39) for normal mass ordering. The CP conservation hypothesis …
Search for Electron Antineutrino Appearance in a Long-baseline Muon Antineutrino Beam
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 2.40 σ 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 a…
The ANTARES Optical Beacon System
ANTARES is a neutrino telescope being deployed in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of a three dimensional array of photomultiplier tubes that can detect the Cherenkov light induced by charged particles produced in the interactions of neutrinos with the surrounding medium. High angular resolution can be achieved, in particular when a muon is produced, provided that the Cherenkov photons are detected with sufficient timing precision. Considerations of the intrinsic time uncertainties stemming from the transit time spread in the photomultiplier tubes and the mechanism of transmission of light in sea water lead to the conclusion that a relative time accuracy of the order of 0.5 ns is desirabl…
Measurements of the T2K neutrino beam properties using the INGRID on-axis near detector
Precise measurement of neutrino beam direction and intensity was achieved based on a new concept with modularized neutrino detectors. INGRID (Interactive Neutrino GRID) is an on-axis near detector for the T2K long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. INGRID consists of 16 identical modules arranged in horizontal and vertical arrays around the beam center. The module has a sandwich structure of iron target plates and scintillator trackers. INGRID directly monitors the muon neutrino beam profile center and intensity using the number of observed neutrino events in each module. The neutrino beam direction is measured with accuracy better than 0.4 mrad from the measured profile center. The …
Studies of QCD in ${\rm e^+ e^-}\to $ hadrons at $E_{\rm cm} = 130$ and 136 GeV
Studies of QCD in $\mbox{e}^+\mbox{e}^- \rightarrow$ Hadrons at $E_{cm} = $} 130 and 136 GeV The ALEPH Collaboration An analysis of the properties of hadronic final states produced in electron-positron annihilation at centre-of-mass energies of 130 and 136 GeV is presented. The measurements are based on a data sample of 5.7 $\mbox{pb}^{-1}$ collected in November 1995 with the \Aleph detector at LEP. Inclusive charged particle distributions, jet rates and event-shape distributions are measured and the results are compared with the predictions of QCD-based models. From the measured distributions quantities are determined for which the dependence on the centre-of-mass energy can be predicted b…
First T2K measurement of transverse kinematic imbalance in the muon-neutrino charged-current single- π+ production channel containing at least one proton
This paper reports the first T2K measurement of the transverse kinematic imbalance in the single-$\pi^+$ production channel of neutrino interactions. We measure the differential cross sections in the muon-neutrino charged-current interaction on hydrocarbon with a single $\pi^+$ and at least one proton in the final state, at the ND280 off-axis near detector of the T2K experiment. The extracted cross sections are compared to the predictions from different neutrino-nucleus interaction event generators. Overall, the results show a preference for models which have a more realistic treatment of nuclear medium effects including the initial nuclear state and final-state interactions.
Searches for neutral Higgs bosons in e+e− collisions at centre-of-mass energies from 192 to 202 GeV
Searches for neutral Higgs bosons are performed with the 237 pb-1 of data collected in 1999 by the ALEPH detector at LEP, for centre-of-mass energies between 191.6 and 201.6 GeV. These searches apply to Higgs bosons within the context of the Standard Model and its minimal supersymmetric extension (MSSM) as well as to invisibly decaying Higgs bosons. No evidence of a signal is seen. A lower limit on the mass of the Standard Model Higgs boson of 107.7 GeV/c2 at 95% confidence level is set. In the MSSM, lower limits of 91.2 and 91.6 GeV/c2 are derived for the masses of the neutral Higgs bosons h and A, respectively. For a Higgs boson decaying invisibly and produced with the Standard Model cros…
Measurement of the muon neutrino inclusive charged-current cross section in the energy range of 1–3 GeV with the T2K INGRID detector
International audience; We report a measurement of the $\nu_{\mu}$-nucleus inclusive charged current cross section (=$\sigma^{cc}$) on iron using data from 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$^\circ$ to 1.1$^\circ$. 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 $\sigma^{cc}(1.1\text{ GeV}) = 1.10 \pm 0.15$ $(10^{-38}\text{cm}^2/\text{nucleon})$, $\sigma^{cc}(2.0\text{ GeV}) = 2.07 \pm 0.27$ $(10^{-38}\te…
Inclusive production of neutral vector mesons in hadronic Z decays
Data on the inclusive production of the neutral vector mesons rho(0)(770), omega(782), K*(0)(892), and phi (1020) in hadronic Z decays recorded with the ALEPH detector at LEP are presented and compared to Monte Carlo model predictions. Bose-Einstein effects are found to be important in extracting a reliable value for the p(0) production rate. An average p(0) multiplicity of 1.45 +/- 0.21 per event is obtained. The omega is detected via its three pion decay mode omega --> pi(+)pi(-)pi(0) and has a total rate of 1.07 +/- 0.14 per event. The multiplicity of the K*(0) is 0.83 +/- 0.09, whilst that of the phi is 0.122 +/- 0.009, both measured using their charged decay modes. The measurements pro…
Four-fermion production in $e^+e^-$ collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 130 and 136 GeV
Four-fermion events have been selected in a data sample of 5.8 pb(-1) collected with the ALEPH detector at centre-of-mass energies of 130 and 136 GeV. The final states l(+)l(-), l(+)l(-)l(+)l(-), , and <l(+)l(-) have been examined Five events are observed in the data, in agreement with the Standard Model predictions of 6.67 +/- 0.38 events from four-fermion processes and 0.14(-0.05)(+0.19) from background processes. RI ANTONELLI, ANTONELLA/C-6238-2011; Passalacqua, Luca/F-5127-2011; Murtas, Fabrizio/B-5729-2012; Sanchez, Federico/F-5809-2012; Ferrante, Isidoro/F-1017-2012
First results of the Instrumentation Line for the deep-sea ANTARES neutrino telescope
In 2005, the ANTARES Collaboration deployed and operated at a depth of 2500 m a so-called Mini Instrumentation Line equipped with Optical Modules (MILOM) at the ANTARES site. The various data acquired during the continuous operation from April to December 2005 of the MILOM confirm the satisfactory performance of the Optical Modules, their front-end electronics and readout system, as well as the calibration devices of the detector. The in-situ measurement of the Optical Module time response yields a resolution better than 0.5 ns. The performance of the acoustic positioning system, which enables the spatial reconstruction of the ANTARES detector with a precision of about 10 cm, is verified. T…
Study of Large Hemispherical Photomultiplier Tubes for the ANTARES Neutrino Telescope
The ANTARES neutrino telescope, to be immersed depth in the Mediterranean Sea, will consist of a 3 dimensional matrix of 900 large area photomultiplier tubes housed in pressure resistant glass spheres. The selection of the optimal photomultiplier was a critical step for the project and required an intensive phase of tests and developments carried out in close collaboration with the main manufacturers worldwide. This paper provides an overview of the tests performed by the collaboration and describes in detail the features of the PMT chosen for ANTARES.
The mass-hierarchy and CP-violation discovery reach of the LBNO long-baseline neutrino experiment.
The next generation neutrino observatory proposed by the LBNO collaboration will address fundamental questions in particle and astroparticle physics. The experiment consists of a far detector, in its first stage a 20 kt LAr double phase TPC and a magnetised iron calorimeter, situated at 2300 km from CERN and a near detector based on a high-pressure argon gas TPC. The long baseline provides a unique opportunity to study neutrino flavour oscillations over their 1st and 2nd oscillation maxima exploring the $L/E$ behaviour, and distinguishing effects arising from $\delta_{CP}$ and matter. In this paper we have reevaluated the physics potential of this setup for determining the mass hierarchy (M…
Search for heavy neutrinos with the T2K near detector ND280
This paper reports on the search for heavy neutrinos with masses in the range 140<MN<493 MeV/c2 using the off-axis near detector ND280 of the T2K experiment. These particles can be produced from kaon decays in the standard neutrino beam and then subsequently decay in ND280. The decay modes under consideration are N→ℓ±απ∓ and N→ℓ+αℓ−β(−)ν(α,β=e,μ). A search for such events has been made using the Time Projection Chambers of ND280, where the background has been reduced to less than two events in the current dataset in all channels. No excess has been observed in the signal region. A combined Bayesian statistical approach has been applied to extract upper limits on the mixing elements of heav…
Study of D0– mixing and D0 doubly Cabibbo-suppressed decays
Abstract Using a sample of four million hadronic Z events collected in ALEPH from 1991 to 1995, the decays D ∗+ → D 0 π s + , with D0 decaying to K−π+ or to K+π−, are studied. The relative branching ratio B(D0→K+π−)/B(D0→K−π+) is measured to be 1.84±0.59( stat. ) ±0.34( syst. ) %. The two possible contributions to the D0→K+π− decay, doubly Cabibbo-suppressed decays and D0– D 0 mixing, are disentangled by measuring the proper-time distribution of the reconstructed D0's. Assuming no interference between the two processes, the upper limit obtained on the mixing rate is 0.92% at 95% CL . The possible effect of interference between the two amplitudes is also assessed.
Measurement of the $\nu_{\mu}$ charged current quasi-elastic cross-section on carbon with the T2K on-axis neutrino beam
17 pages.- 21 figures
Fermion pair production in e+e- collisions at 189-209 GeV and constraints on physics beyond the Standard Model
Cross sections, angular distributions and forward-backward asymmetries are presented, of two-fermion events produced in e+e- collisions at centre-of-mass energies from 189 to 209 GeV at LEP, measured with the ALEPH detector. Results for e+e-, mu+mu-, tau+tau-, qq, bb and cc production are in agreement with the Standard Model predictions. Constraints are set on scenarios of new physics such as four-fermion contact interactions, leptoquarks, Z' bosons, TeV-scale quantum gravity and R-parity violating squarks and sneutrinos.
Measurement of double-differential muon neutrino charged-current interactions onC8H8without pions in the final state using the T2K off-axis beam
We report the measurement of muon neutrino charged-current interactions on carbon without pions in the final state at the T2K beam energy using 5.734×1020 protons on target. For the first time the measurement is reported as a flux-integrated, double-differential cross section in muon kinematic variables (cosθμ, pμ), 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 n…
First measurement of the quark-to-photon fragmentation function
Earlier measurements at LEP of isolated hard photons in hadronic Z decays, attributed to radiation from primary quark pairs, have been extended in the ALEPH experiment to include hard photon production inside hadron jets. Events are selected where all particles combine democratically to form hadron jets, one of which contains a photon with a fractional energy z greater than or equal to 0.7. After statistical subtraction of non-prompt photons, the quark-to-photon fragmentation function, D(z), is extracted directly from the measured 2-jet rate. By taking into account the perturbative contributions to D(z) obtained from an O(alpha alpha(s)) QCD calculation, the unknown non-perturbative compone…
Production of orbitally excited charm mesons in semileptonic B decays
A sample of 3.6 million hadronic Z decays recorded between 1991 and 1995 with the ALEPH detector at LEP is used to investigate semileptonic decays of B mesons into final states involving orbitally excited charm mesons. Topological vertex criteria are used to search for decays involving narrow D** states as well as wide D** resonances and non-resonant D(*)pi final states. The sum of the branching ratios for these processes is measured to be Br((B) over bar --> D pi l(-)(v) over bar) + Br((B) over bar --> D*pi l(-)(v) over bar) = (2.26 +/-t 0.29(stat) +/- 0.33(syst))%, which accounts for a significant fraction of the deficit between inclusive measurements and the sum of exclusive semileptonic…
Observation of Electron Neutrino Appearance in a Muon Neutrino Beam
The T2K experiment has observed electron neutrino appearance in a muon neutrino beam produced 295 km from the Super-Kamiokande detector with a peak energy of 0.6 GeV. A total of 28 electron neutrino events were detected with an energy distribution consistent with an appearance signal, corresponding to a significance of 7.3$\sigma$ when compared to 4.92 $\pm$ 0.55 expected background events. In the PMNS mixing model, the electron neutrino appearance signal depends on several parameters including three mixing angles $\theta_{12}$, $\theta_{23}$, $\theta_{13}$, a mass difference $\Delta m^2_{32}$ and a CP violating phase $\delta_{\mathrm{CP}}$. In this neutrino oscillation scenario, assuming $…
Search for Lorentz and CPT violation using sidereal time dependence of neutrino flavor transitions over a short baseline
A class of extensions of the Standard Model allows Lorentz and CPT violations, which can be identified by the observation of sidereal modulations in the neutrino interaction rate. A search for such modulations was performed using the T2K on-axis near detector. Two complementary methods were used in this study, both of which resulted in no evidence of a signal. Limits on associated Lorentz and CPT-violating terms from the Standard Model extension have been derived by taking into account their correlations in this model for the first time. These results imply such symmetry violations are suppressed by a factor of more than 1020 at the GeV scale.
Production of excited beauty states in Z decays
A data sample of about 3.0 million hadronicZ decays collected by the ALEPH experiment at LEP in the years 1991 through 1994 is used to make an inclusive selection of B hadron events. In this event sample 4227±140±252B* mesons in the decayB*→Bγ and 1944±108±161B** u,d mesons decaying into a B meson and a charged pion are reconstructed. Here and in the followingB** u,d denotes the eightL=1(bū) and (bd) states and their charge conjugate. For the well establishedB* meson the following quantities are obtained:ΔM=M B*−MB=(45.30±0.35±0.87) MeV/c2 andN B*/(N B+N B*)=(77.1±2.6±7.0)%. The angular distribution of the photons in theB* rest frame is used to measure the relative contribution of longitudi…
Determination of sin^2(theta(eff)(w)) using jet charge measurements in hadronic Z decays
The electroweak mixing angle is determined with high precision from measurements of the mean difference between forward and backward hemisphere charges in hadronic decays of the Z. A data sample of 2.5 million hadronic Z decays recorded over the period 1990 to 1994 in the ALEPH detector at LEP is used. The mean charge separation between event hemispheres containing the original quark and antiquark is measured for b (b) over bar and c (c) over bar events in subsamples selected by their long lifetimes or using fast D*'s. The corresponding average charge separation for light quarks is measured in an inclusive sample from the anticorrelation between charges of opposite hemispheres and agrees wi…
Indication of electron neutrino appearance from an accelerator-produced off-axis muon neutrino beam
The T2K experiment observes indications of $\nu_\mu\rightarrow \nu_e$ appearance in data accumulated with $1.43\times10^{20}$ protons on target. Six events pass all selection criteria at the far detector. In a three-flavor neutrino oscillation scenario with $|\Delta m_{23}^2|=2.4\times10^{-3}$ eV$^2$, $\sin^2 2\theta_{23}=1$ and $\sin^2 2\theta_{13}=0$, the expected number of such events is 1.5$\pm$0.3(syst.). Under this hypothesis, the probability to observe six or more candidate events is 7$\times10^{-3}$, equivalent to 2.5$\sigma$ significance. At 90% C.L., the data are consistent with 0.03(0.04)$<\sin^2 2\theta_{13}<$ 0.28(0.34) for $\delta_{\rm CP}=0$ and a normal (inverted) hierarchy.
Characterization of nuclear effects in muon-neutrino scattering on hydrocarbon with a measurement of final-state kinematics and correlations in charged-current pionless interactions at T2K
This paper reports measurements of final-state proton multiplicity, muon and proton kinematics, and their correlations in charged-current pionless neutrino interactions, measured by the T2K ND280 near detector in its plastic scintillator (C$_8$H$_8$) target. The data were taken between years 2010 and 2013, corresponding to approximately 6$\times10^{20}$ protons on target. Thanks to their exploration of the proton kinematics and of kinematic imbalances between the proton and muon kinematics, the results offer a novel probe of the nuclear-medium effects most pertinent to the (sub-)GeV neutrino-nucleus interactions that are used in accelerator-based long-baseline neutrino oscillation measureme…
First Muon-Neutrino Disappearance Study with an Off-Axis Beam
We report a measurement of muon-neutrino disappearance in the T2K experiment. The 295-km muon-neutrino beam from Tokai to Kamioka is the first implementation of the off-axis technique in a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. With data corresponding to 1.43 × 10(20) protons on target, we observe 31 fully-contained single μ-like ring events in Super-Kamiokande, compared with an expectation of 104 ± 14(syst) events without neutrino oscillations. The best-fit point for two-flavor νμ → ντ oscillations is sin 2(2θ(23)) = 0.98 and |Δm(2)(32)| = 2.65 × 10(−3) eV2. The boundary of the 90% confidence region includes the points (sin2 (2θ(23)), |Δm(2)(32)|) = (1.0, 3.1 × 10(−3) eV2), (0.84, …
Precise measurement of the neutrino mixing parameter θ23 from muon neutrino disappearance in an off-axis beam
New data from the T2K neutrino oscillation experiment produce the most precise measurement of the neutrino mixing parameter theta_{23}. Using an off-axis neutrino beam with a peak energy of 0.6 GeV and a data set corresponding to 6.57 x 10^{20} protons on target, T2K has fit the energy-dependent nu_mu oscillation probability to determine oscillation parameters. Marginalizing over the values of other oscillation parameters yields sin^2 (theta_{23}) = 0.514 +0.055/-0.056 (0.511 +- 0.055), assuming normal (inverted) mass hierarchy. The best-fit mass-squared splitting for normal hierarchy is Delta m^2_{32} = (2.51 +- 0.10) x 10^{-3} eV^2/c^4 (inverted hierarchy: Delta m^2_{13} = (2.48 +- 0.10) …
Search for pentaquarks states in Z decays
Exotic hadrons made of five quarks (pentaquarks) are searched for in hadronic Z decays collected by the ALEPH detector at LEP. No significant signal is observed. At 95% C.L. upper limits are set on the production rates N of such particles and their charge-conjugate state per Z decay: N Θ(1535)+·BR(Θ(1535)+→pK S0)<6.2×10-4, N Ε(1862)-·BR(Ε(1862)-→Ε -π-)<4.5×10-4, N Ε(1862)0·BR(Ε(1862)0→Ε -π+)<8.9×10-4, N Θc(3100)0·BR(Θc(3100) 0→D*-p)<6.3×10-4, N Θc(3100)0·BR(Θc(3100) 0→D-p)<31×10-4. © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Search for sleptons in e(+)e(-) collisions at centre-of-mass energies up to 184 GeV
The data collected by the ALEPH experiment at LEP at centre-of-mass energies around 183 GeV are analysed to search for sleptons, the partners of leptons in supersymmetric theories. The previously published search for acoplanar leptons and missing energy has been updated. New searches have been developed to cover a wider range of slepton signals. These include single electrons, acoplanar leptons accompanied by two photons plus missing energy as well as particles with lifetime. No evidence for the production of any such particles is found. Slepton mass limits are reported within gravity mediated and gauge mediated SUSY breaking scenarios. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
Measurement of triple gauge-boson couplings at 172 GeV
The triple gauge-boson couplings, αWΦ, αW and αBΦ, have been measured using 34 semileptonically and 54 hadronically decaying W+W- candidate events. The events were selected in the data recorded during 1996 with the ALEPH detector at 172 GeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 10.65 pb-1. The triple gauge-boson couplings have been measured using optimal observables constructed from kinematic information of W+W- events. The results are in agreement with the Standard Model expectation.
Tau hadronic branching ratios
From 64492 selected tau-pair events, produced at the Zeta(o) resonance, the measurement of the tau decays into hadrons from a global analysis using 1991, 1992 and 1993 ALEPH data is presented. Special emphasis is given to the reconstruction of photons and pi(o)'s, and the removal of fake photons. A detailed study of the systematics entering the pi(o) reconstruction is also given. A complete and consistent set of tau hadronic branching ratios is presented for 18 exclusive modes. Most measurements are more precise than the present world average. The new level of precision reached allows a stringent test of tau - mu universality in hadronic decays, g(tau)/g(mu) = 1.0013 +/- 0.0095, and the fir…
Measurement of the neutrino-oxygen neutral-current interaction cross section by observing nuclear deexcitation gamma rays
We report the first measurement of the neutrino-oxygen neutral-current quasielastic (NCQE) cross section. It is obtained by observing nuclear deexcitation $\gamma$-rays which follow neutrino-oxygen interactions at the Super-Kamiokande water Cherenkov detector. We use T2K data corresponding to $3.01 \times 10^{20}$ protons on target. By selecting only events during the T2K beam window and with well-reconstructed vertices in the fiducial volume, the large background rate from natural radioactivity is dramatically reduced. We observe 43 events in the $4-30$ MeV reconstructed energy window, compared with an expectation of 51.0, which includes an estimated 16.2 background events. The background …
First measurement of the charged current ν¯μ double differential cross section on a water target without pions in the final state
We thank the J-PARC staff for superb accelerator performance. We thank the CERN NA61/SHINE Collaboration for providing valuable particle production data. We acknowledge the support of MEXT, Japan; NSERC (Grant No. SAPPJ-2014-00031), the NRC and CFI, Canada; the CEA and CNRS/IN2P3, France; the DFG, Germany; the INFN, Italy; the National Science Centre and Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Poland; the RSF (Grant No. 19-12-00325) and the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Russia; MINECO and ERDF funds, Spain; the SNSF and SERI, Switzerland; the STFC, UK; and the DOE, USA. We also thank CERN for the UA1/NOMAD magnet, DESY for the HERA-B magnet mover system, NII for SINET4, the We…
Searches for the neutral Higgs bosons of the MSSM in e+e− collisions at centre-of-mass energies of 181–184 GeV
The data collected by ALEPH at LEP at centre-of-mass energies ranging from 181 to 184 GeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 57 pb(-1), are analysed to search for pair-produced neutral Higgs bosons h and A, in the b (b) over bar b (b) over bar and tau(+)tau(-)b (b) over bar final states. Two events are found in the data with 2.5 expected from standard model processes. When combined with the lower energy data collected by ALEPH and with earlier reported searches for associated hZ production, these analyses are interpreted in the context of the minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model (MSSM). For standard choices of MSSM parameter sets, this combination results in 95%…
Measurement of the
A new method is presented for the measurement of the mean $\tau$ lepton lifetime using events in which $\tau$'s are pair-produced and both $\tau$'s decay to hadrons and $\nu_\tau$. Based on the correlation between the two $\tau$'s produced at a symmetric $e^+ e^-$ collider, the 3DIP method relies on the three-dimensional information from a double-sided vertex detector and on kinematic constraints for the precise measurement of the $\tau$ decay angles. Using the data collected from 1992 to 1994 with the ALEPH detector at LEP, a $\tau$ lifetime of $288.0 \pm 3.1 \pm 1.3 $\fs is obtained from the sample in which both $\tau$'s decay to one charged track, and $292.8 \pm 5.6 \pm 3.0 $\fs from the…
Measurement of the W mass by direct reconstruction in e+e- collisions at 172 GeV
The mass of the W boson is obtained from reconstructed invariant mass distributions in W-pair events. The sample of W pairs is selected from 10.65 pb(-1) collected with the ALEPH detector at a mean centre-of-mass energy of 172.09 GeV. The invariant mass distribution of simulated events are fitted to the experimental; distributions and the following W masses are obtained: WW --> , m(W) = 81.30 +/- 0.47(stat.) +/- 0.11(syst.)GeV/c(2), WW --> l nu (l=e,mu), m(W) = 80.54 +/- 0.47(stat.) +/- 0.11(syst.)GeV/c(2), WW --> tau nu, m(W) = 79.56 +/- 1.08(stat.) +/- 0.23(syst.) GeV/c(2). The statistical errors are the expected errors for Monte Carlo samples of the same integrated luminosity as the data…
Measurement of the Inclusive NuMu Charged Current Cross Section on Carbon in the Near Detector of the T2K Experiment
T2K has performed the first measurement of nu(mu) inclusive charged current interactions on carbon at neutrino energies of similar to 1 GeV where the measurement is reported as a flux-averaged double differential cross section in muon momentum and angle. The flux is predicted by the beam Monte Carlo and external data, including the results from the NA61/SHINE experiment. The data used for this measurement were taken in 2010 and 2011, with a total of 10.8 x 10(19) protons-on-target. The analysis is performed on 4485 inclusive charged current interaction candidates selected in the most upstream fine-grained scintillator detector of the near detector. The flux-averaged total cross section is (…
Search for charginos nearly mass degenerate with the lightest neutralino in e+e− collisions at centre-of-mass energies up to 209 GeV
A search for charginos nearly mass degenerate with the lightest neutralino is performed with the data collected by the ALEPH detector at LEP, at centre-of-mass energies between 189 and 209 GeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 628 pb-1. The analysis is based on the detection of isolated and energetic initial state radiation photons, produced in association with chargino pairs whose decay products have little visible energy. The number of candidate events observed is in agreement with that expected from Standard Model background sources. These results are combined with those of other direct searches for charginos, and a lower limit of 88 GeV/c2 at 95 % confidence level is derived…
Measurement of the e+e- → ZZ production cross section at centre-of-mass energies of 183 and 189 GeV
The ee -> ZZ cross section at sqrt(s)=182.7 and 188.6 GeV has been measured using the ALEPH detector. The analysis covers all of the visible ZZ final states and yields cross section measurements of sigma_ZZ(182.7 GeV) = 0.11 +- (0.16,0.11) (stat.) +- 0.04 (syst.) pb and sigma_ZZ(188.6 GeV) = 0.67 +- 0.13 (stat.) +- 0.04 (syst.) pb consistent with the Standard Model expectations.
Exclusive production of pion and kaon meson pairs in two photon collisions at LEP
Exclusive production of pi and K meson pairs in two photon collisions is measured with ALEPH data collected between 1992 and 2000. Cross-sections are presented as a function of cos theta* and invariant mass, for \ cos theta* \ < 0.6 and invariant masses between 2.0 and 6.0 GeV/c(2) (2.25 and 4.0 GeV/c(2)) for pions (kaons). The shape of the distributions are found to be well described by QCD predictions but the data have a significantly higher normalization. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier B.V.
First measurement of the muon neutrino charged current single pion production cross section on water with the T2K near detector
The T2K off-axis near detector, ND280, is used to make the first differential cross section measurements of muon neutrino charged current single positive pion production on a water target at energies ∼0.8 GeV. The differential measurements are presented as a function of the muon and pion kinematics, in the restricted phase space defined by pπ+>200 MeV/c, pμ>200 MeV/c, cos(θπ+)>0.3 and cos(θμ)>0.3. The total flux integrated νμ charged current single positive pion production cross section on water in the restricted phase space is measured to be ⟨σ⟩ϕ=4.25±0.48(stat)±1.56(syst)×10-40 cm2/nucleon. The total cross section is consistent with the NEUT prediction (5.03×10-40 cm2/nucleon) and 2σ…
Measurement of the Inclusive Electron Neutrino Charged Current Cross Section on Carbon with the T2K Near Detector
The T2K off-axis near detector, ND280, is used to make the first differential cross-section measurements of electron neutrino charged current interactions at energies ~1 GeV as a function of electron momentum, electron scattering angle and four-momentum transfer of the interaction. The total flux-averaged $\nu_e$ charged current cross-section on carbon is measured to be $1.11\pm0.09~(stat)\pm0.18~(syst)\times10^{-38} cm^2/nucleon$. The differential and total cross-section measurements agree with the predictions of two leading neutrino interaction generators, NEUT and GENIE. The NEUT prediction is $1.23\times10^{-38} cm^2/nucleon$ and the GENIE prediction is $1.08\times10^{-38} cm^2/nucleon$…
The T2K Experiment
The T2K experiment is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. Its main goal is to measure the last unknown lepton sector mixing angle {\theta}_{13} by observing {\nu}_e appearance in a {\nu}_{\mu} beam. It also aims to make a precision measurement of the known oscillation parameters, {\Delta}m^{2}_{23} and sin^{2} 2{\theta}_{23}, via {\nu}_{\mu} disappearance studies. Other goals of the experiment include various neutrino cross section measurements and sterile neutrino searches. The experiment uses an intense proton beam generated by the J-PARC accelerator in Tokai, Japan, and is composed of a neutrino beamline, a near detector complex (ND280), and a far detector (Super-Kamiokande)…
Evidence of Electron Neutrino Appearance in a Muon Neutrino Beam
The T2K Collaboration reports evidence for electron neutrino appearance at the atmospheric mass splitting, vertical bar Delta m(32)(2)vertical bar approximate to 2.4 X 10(-3) eV(2). An excess of electron neutrino interactions over background is observed from a muon neutrino beam with a peak energy of 0.6 GeV at the Super-Kamiokande (SK) detector 295 km from the beam's origin. Signal and background predictions are constrained by data from near detectors located 280 m from the neutrino production target. We observe 11 electron neutrino candidate events at the SK detector when a background of 3.3 +/- 0.4(syst) events is expected. The background-only hypothesis is rejected with a p value of 0.0…
Measurement of the single π0 production rate in neutral current neutrino interactions on water
The single π0 production rate in neutral current neutrino interactions on water in a neutrino beam with a peak neutrino energy of 0.6 GeV has been measured using the POD, one of the subdetectors of the T2K near detector. The production rate was measured for data taking periods when the POD contained water (2.64×1020 protons-on-target) and also periods without water (3.49×1020 protons-on-target). A measurement of the neutral current single π0 production rate on water is made using appropriate subtraction of the production rate with water in from the rate with water out of the target region. The subtraction analysis yields 106±41±69 signal events where the uncertainties are statistical (stat.…
Inclusive semileptonic branching ratios of b hadrons produced in Z decays
A measurement of the inclusive semileptonic branching ratios of b hadrons produced in Z decay is presented, using four million hadronic events collected by the ALEPH detector from 1991 to 1995. Electrons and muons are selected opposite to b-tagged hemispheres. Two different methods are explored to distinguish the contributions from direct $\bl$ and cascade $\bcl$ decays to the total lepton yield. One is based on the lepton transverse momentum spectrum, the other makes use of the correlation between the charge of the lepton and charge estimators built from tracks in the opposite hemisphere of the event. The latter method reduces the dependence on the modelling of semileptonic b decays. The r…