0000000000478604
AUTHOR
P. Gumplinger
Search for heavy neutrinos in \(\pi ^{ + } \to \mu ^{ + }\nu \) decay and status of lepton universality test in the PIENU experiment
International audience; In the present work of the PIENU experiment, heavy neutrinos were sought in pion decays \(\pi ^{ + } \to \mu ^{ + }\nu \). No evidence for extra peak was found in the muon kinetic energy spectrum and 90% confidence level upper limits were set on the neutrino mixing matrix \(|U_{\mu i}|^{2}\) in the mass range of 15.7 to 33.8 MeV/c^2, improving an order of magnitude over previous experiments. Current status of lepton universality test is also reported.
Improved search for two body muon decay μ+→e+XH
Charged lepton flavor violating muon decay ${\ensuremath{\mu}}^{+}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{e}^{+}{X}_{H}$, where ${X}_{H}$ is a massive neutral boson, was sought by searching for extra peaks in the muon decay ${\ensuremath{\mu}}^{+}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{e}^{+}\ensuremath{\nu}\overline{\ensuremath{\nu}}$ energy spectrum in the ${m}_{{X}_{H}}$ mass region $47.8--95.1\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{MeV}/{c}^{2}$. No signal was found and 90% confidence level upper limits were set on the branching ratio $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}({\ensuremath{\mu}}^{+}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{e}^{+}{X}_{H})/\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Gamma}}({\ensuremath{\mu}}^{+}\ensuremath{\rightarrow}{e}^{+}\ensuremath{\nu}\overline{…
Measurements of the T2K neutrino beam properties using the INGRID on-axis near detector
Precise measurement of neutrino beam direction and intensity was achieved based on a new concept with modularized neutrino detectors. INGRID (Interactive Neutrino GRID) is an on-axis near detector for the T2K long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. INGRID consists of 16 identical modules arranged in horizontal and vertical arrays around the beam center. The module has a sandwich structure of iron target plates and scintillator trackers. INGRID directly monitors the muon neutrino beam profile center and intensity using the number of observed neutrino events in each module. The neutrino beam direction is measured with accuracy better than 0.4 mrad from the measured profile center. The …
Search for heavy neutrinos in → Decay
In the present work of the PIENU experiment, heavy neutrinos were sought in pion decays π+→μ+ν at rest by examining the observed muon energy spectrum for extra peaks in addition to the expected peak for a light neutrino. No evidence for heavy neutrinos was observed. Upper limits were set on the neutrino mixing matrix |Uμi|2 in the neutrino mass region of 15.7–33.8 MeV/c$^{2}$, improving on previous results by an order of magnitude.
Improved search for heavy neutrinos in the decay π→eν
A search for massive neutrinos has been made in the decay π+→e+ν. No evidence was found for extra peaks in the positron energy spectrum indicative of pion decays involving massive neutrinos (π→e+νh). Upper limits (90% C.L.) on the neutrino mixing matrix element |Uei|2 in the neutrino mass region 60–135 MeV/c2 were set and are an order of magnitude improvement over previous results.
Search for three body pion decays π+→l+νX
The three body pion decays π+→l+νX(l=e,μ), where X is a weakly interacting neutral boson, were searched for using the full data set from the PIENU experiment. An improved limit on Γ(π+→e+νX)/Γ(π+→μ+νμ) in the mass range 0<mX<120 MeV/c2 and a first result for Γ(π+→μ+νX)/Γ(π+→μ+νμ) in the region 0<mX<33.9 MeV/c2 were obtained. The Majoron-neutrino coupling model was also constrained using the current experimental result of the π+→e+νe(γ) branching ratio.
Improved search for heavy neutrinos in the decay π→eν
A search for massive neutrinos has been made in the decay π+→e+ν. No evidence was found for extra peaks in the positron energy spectrum indicative of pion decays involving massive neutrinos (π→e+νh). Upper limits (90% C.L.) on the neutrino mixing matrix element |Uei|2 in the neutrino mass region 60–135 MeV/c2 were set and are an order of magnitude improvement over previous results.
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.
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, …
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)…
Initial results from the PIENU experiment
The pion branching ratio, $R_{\pi } = \frac { {\Gamma }(\pi ^{+} \rightarrow e^{+} \nu _{e} + \pi ^{+}\rightarrow e^{+} \nu _{e} \gamma )}{\Gamma (\pi ^{+} \rightarrow \mu ^{+} \nu _{\mu } + \pi ^{+} \rightarrow \mu ^{+} \nu _{\mu } \gamma )}$ , provides a sensitive test of lepton universality and constraints on many new physics scenarios. The theoretical uncertainty on the Standard Model prediction of R π is 0.02 %, a factor of twenty smaller than the experimental uncertainty. The analysis of a subset of data taken by the PIENU experiment will be presented. The result, R π = (1.2344 ± 0.0023(s t a t) ± 0.0019(s y s t)) ⋅ 10−4 [1], is consistent with the Standard Model prediction and repres…