0000000000489333
AUTHOR
A. Rubbia
Search for eV (pseudo)scalar penetrating particles in the SPS neutrino beam
We carried out a model-independent search for light scalar or pseudoscalar particles $a$'s (an example of which is the axion) that couple to two photons by using a photon-regeneration method at high energies allowing a substantial increase in the sensitivity to $eV$ masses.\ The experimental set-up is based on elements of the CERN West Area Neutrino Facility (WANF) beam line and theNOMAD neutrino detector.\ The new particles, if they exist, could be produced through the Primakoff effect in interactions of high energy photons, generated by the 450 $GeV$ protons in the CERN SPS neutrino target, with virtual photons from the WANF horn magnetic field.\ The particles would penetrate the downstre…
Proposal for SPS beam time for the baby MIND and TASD neutrino detector prototypes
The design, construction and testing of neutrino detector prototypes at CERN are ongoing activities. This document reports on the design of solid state baby MIND and TASD detector prototypes and outlines requirements for a test beam at CERN to test these, tentatively planned on the H8 beamline in the North Area, which is equipped with a large aperture magnet. It is hoped that this will allow for the current proposal to be considered in light of the recently approved projects related to neutrino activities with the SPS in the North Area in the medium term 2015-2020. The design, construction and testing of neutrino detector prototypes at CERN are ongoing activities. This document reports on t…
Search for heavy neutrinos mixing with tau neutrinos
We report on a search for heavy neutrinos ($\nus$) produced in the decay $D_s\to \tau \nus$ at the SPS proton target followed by the decay $\nudecay$ in the NOMAD detector. Both decays are expected to occur if $\nus$ is a component of $\nu_{\tau}$.\ From the analysis of the data collected during the 1996-1998 runs with $4.1\times10^{19}$ protons on target, a single candidate event consistent with background expectations was found. This allows to derive an upper limit on the mixing strength between the heavy neutrino and the tau neutrino in the $\nus$ mass range from 10 to 190 $\rm MeV$. Windows between the SN1987a and Big Bang Nucleosynthesis lower limits and our result are still open for f…
Physics at a neutrino factory
In response to the growing interest in building a Neutrino Factory to produce high intensity beams of electron- and muon-neutrinos and antineutrinos, in October 1999 the Fermilab Directorate initiated two six-month studies. The first study, organized by N. Holtkamp and D. Finley, was to investigate the technical feasibility of an intense neutrino source based on a muon storage ring. This design study has produced a report in which the basic conclusion is that a Neutrino Factory is technically feasible, although it requires an aggressive R&D program. The second study, which is the subject of this report, was to explore the physics potential of a Neutrino Factory as a function of the muon…
Towards a test of the weak equivalence principle of gravity using anti-hydrogen at CERN
International audience; The aim of the GBAR (Gravitational Behavior of Antimatter at Rest) experiment is to measure the free fall acceleration of an antihydrogen atom, in the terrestrial gravitational field at CERN and therefore test the Weak Equivalence Principle with antimatter. The aim is to measure the local gravity with a 1% uncertainty which can be reduced to few parts of 10-3.
Inclusive production of ρ0(770), f0(980) and f2(1270) mesons in νμ charged current interactions
The inclusive production of the meson resonances $\rho^{0}(770)$, $f_0(980)$ and $f_2(1270)$ in neutrino-nucleus charged current interactions has been studied with the NOMAD detector exposed to the wide band neutrino beam generated by 450 GeV protons at the CERN SPS. For the first time the $f_{0}(980)$ meson is observed in neutrino interactions. The statistical significance of its observation is 6 standard deviations. The presence of $f_{2}(1270)$ in neutrino interactions is reliably established. The average multiplicity of these three resonances is measured as a function of several kinematic variables. The experimental results are compared to the multiplicities obtained from a simulation b…
Simultaneous measurement of the muon neutrino charged-current cross section on oxygen and carbon without pions in the final state at T2K
Authors: K. Abe,56 N. Akhlaq,45 R. Akutsu,57 A. Ali,32 C. Alt,11 C. Andreopoulos,54,34 L. Anthony,21 M. Antonova,19 S. Aoki,31 A. Ariga,2 T. Arihara,59 Y. Asada,69 Y. Ashida,32 E. T. Atkin,21 Y. Awataguchi,59 S. Ban,32 M. Barbi,46 G. J. Barker,66 G. Barr,42 D. Barrow,42 M. Batkiewicz-Kwasniak,15 A. Beloshapkin,26 F. Bench,34 V. Berardi,22 L. Berns,58 S. Bhadra,70 S. Bienstock,53 S. Bolognesi,6 T. Bonus,68 B. Bourguille,18 S. B. Boyd,66 A. Bravar,13 D. Bravo Berguño,1 C. Bronner,56 S. Bron,13 A. Bubak,51 M. Buizza Avanzini ,10 T. Campbell,7 S. Cao,16 S. L. Cartwright,50 M. G. Catanesi,22 A. Cervera,19 D. Cherdack,17 N. Chikuma,55 G. Christodoulou,12 M. Cicerchia,24,† J. Coleman,34 G. Collazu…
A study of quasi-elastic muon neutrino and antineutrino scattering in the NOMAD experiment
We have studied the muon neutrino and antineutrino quasi-elastic (QEL) scattering reactions ($\nu_\mu n\to \mu^- p$ and $\bar{\nu}_\mu p\to \mu^+ n$) using a set of experimental data collected by the NOMAD collaboration. We have performed measurements of the cross-section of these processes on a nuclear target (mainly Carbon) normalizing it to the total $\nu_\mu$ ($\bar{\nu}_\mu$) charged current cross-section. The results for the flux averaged QEL cross-sections in the (anti)neutrino energy interval 3-100 GeV are $\sigma^{qel}_{\nu_\mu} = (0.92 \pm 0.02 (stat) \pm 0.06 (syst))\times 10^{-38} \cm^2$ and $\sigma{qel}_{\bar{\nu}_\mu} = (0.81 \pm 0.05 (stat) \pm 0.08 (syst))\times 10^{-38} \cm…
Search for a new gauge boson in $\pi^{0}$ decays
A search was made for a new light gauge boson $X$ which might be produced in $\pi^{0}\to\gamma + X$ decay from neutral pions generated by 450-GeV protons in the CERN SPS neutrino target. The X's would penetrate the downstream shielding and be observed in the NOMAD detector via the Primakoff effect, in the process of $X \to\pi^{0}$ conversion in the external Coulomb field of a nucleus. With $1.45\times10^{18}$ protons on target, 20 candidate events with energy between 8 and 140 GeV were found from the analysis of neutrino data. This number is in agreement with the expectation of 18.1$\pm$2.8 background events from standard neutrino processes. A new 90% C.L. upper limit on the branching ratio…
LBNO-DEMO: Large-scale neutrino detector demonstrators for phased performance assessment in view of a long-baseline oscillation experiment
In June 2012, an Expression of Interest for a long-baseline experiment (LBNO) has been submitted to the CERN SPSC. LBNO considers three types of neutrino detector technologies: a double-phase liquid argon (LAr) TPC and a magnetised iron detector as far detectors. For the near detector, a high-pressure gas TPC embedded in a calorimeter and a magnet is the baseline design. A mandatory milestone is a concrete prototyping effort towards the envisioned large-scale detectors, and an accompanying campaign of measurements aimed at assessing the detector associated systematic errors. The proposed $6\times 6\times 6$m$^3$ DLAr is an industrial prototype of the design discussed in the EoI and scalable…