Browsing by Subject "MINOS"
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Item Measurement of the muon neutrino inclusive charged current cross section on iron using the MINOS detector(2010-05) Loiacono, Laura Jean; Kopp, Sacha; Lang, Karol; Markert, Christina; Ritchie, Jack; Sneden, ChristopherThe Neutrinos at the Main Injector (NuMI) facility at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL) produces an intense muon neutrino beam used by the Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search (MINOS), a neutrino oscillation experiment, and the Main INjector ExpeRiment [nu]-A, (MINER[nu]A), a neutrino interaction experiment. Absolute neutrino cross sections are determined via [mathematical equation], where the numerator is the measured number of neutrino interactions in the MINOS Detector and the denominator is the flux of incident neutrinos. Many past neutrino experiments have measured relative cross sections due to a lack of precise measurements of the incident neutrino flux, normalizing to better established reaction processes, such as quasielastic neutrino-nucleon scattering. But recent measurements of neutrino interactions on nuclear targets have brought to light questions about our understanding of nuclear effects in neutrino interactions. In this thesis the [nu subscript mu] inclusive charged current cross section on iron is measured using the MINOS Detector. The MINOS detector consists of alternating planes of steel and scintillator. The MINOS detector is optimized to measure muons produced in charged current [nu subscript mu] interactions. Along with muons, these interactions produce hadronic showers. The neutrino energy is measured from the total energy the particles deposit in the detector. The incident neutrino flux is measured using the muons produced alongside the neutrinos in meson decay. Three ionization chamber monitors located in the downstream portion of the NuMI beamline are used to measure the muon flux and thereby infer the neutrino flux by relation to the underlying pion and kaon meson flux. This thesis describes the muon flux instrumentation in the NuMI beam, its operation over the two year duration of this measurement, and the techniques used to derive the neutrino flux.Item Sterile neutrino searches in MINOS and MINOS+ experiments(2015-05) Huang, Junting, 1984-; Lang, Karol, 1955-; Ritchie, Jack; Schwitters, Roy; Dicus, Duane; Gebhardt, KarlThis dissertation presents the searches on sterile neutrinos using the data collected in MINOS+ Experiment from September 2013 to September 2014, and the full data set of MINOS Experiment collected from 2005 to 2012. Anomalies in short baseline experiments, such as LSND and MiniBooNE, showed hints of sterile neutrinos, a type of neutrino that does not interact with the Standard Model particles. In this work, two models are considered: 3+1 and large extra dimension (LED). In the 3+1 model, one sterile neutrino state is added into the standard oscillation scheme consisting of three known active neutrino states ν[subscript e], ν[subscript µ] and ν[subscript τ]. In the LED model, sterile neutrinos arise as Kaluza-Klein (KK) states due to assumed large extra dimensions. Mixing between sterile and active neutrino states may modify the oscillation patterns observed in the MINOS detectors. Both searches yield null results. For 3+1, a combined fit of MINOS and MINOS+ data gives a stronger limit on θ₂₄ in the range of 10⁻² eV² < ∆m²₄₃ < 1 eV² than previous experiments. For LED, with the complete MINOS data set, the size of extra dimensions is constrained to be smaller than ∼ 0.35 µm at 90% C.L. in the limit of a vanishing lightest neutrino mass.Item Study of antineutrino oscillations using accelerator and atmospheric data in MINOS(2014-05) Cao, Son Van; Lang, Karol, 1955-The Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search (MINOS) is a long baseline experiment that was built for studying the neutrino oscillation phenomena. The MINOS experiment uses high intensity muon neutrino and antineutrino beams created by Neutrinos at the Main Injector facility (NuMI) at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab). Neutrino interactions are recorded by two sampling steel-scintillator tracking calorimeters: 0.98 kton Near Detector at Fermilab, IL and 5.4 kton Far Detector at the Soudan Underground Laboratory, MN. These two detectors are functionally identical, which helps to reduce the systematic uncertainties in the muon neutrino and antineutrino disappearance measurements. The Near Detector, located 1.04 km from the neutrino production target, is used to measure the initial beam composition and neutrino energy proximal to the neutrino source. The collected data at the Near Detector is then used to predict energy spectrum in the Far Detector. By comparing this prediction to collected data at the Far Detector, which is 735 km away from the target, it enables a measurement of a set of parameters that govern the neutrino oscillation phenomenon. The flexibility of the NuMI beam configuration and the magnetization of the MINOS detectors facilitate the identification of v[subscript mu] and v̄[subscript mu] charged-current interactions on an event-by-event basis. This enables one to measure neutrino and antineutrino oscillation parameters independently and therefore allows us to test the CPT symmetry in the lepton sector. To enhance the sensitivity of the oscillation parameters measurement, a number of techniques have been implemented. Event classification, shower energy estimation and energy resolution bin fitting, which are described in this dissertation, are three of these techniques. Moreover, the most stringent constraints on oscillation parameters can be achieved by combining multiple data sets. This dissertation reports the measurement of antineutrino oscillation parameters using the complete MINOS accelerator and atmospheric data set of charged-current v̄[subscript mu] events.Item Using Quasi-elastic Events to Measure Neutrino Oscillations with MINOS Detectors in the NuMI Neutrino Beam(2010-07-14) Watabe, MasakiMINOS (Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search) experiment has been designed to search for a change in the avor composition of a beam of muon neutrinos as they travel between the Near Detector at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory and the Far Detector in the Soudan mine in Minnesota, 735 km from the target. The MINOS oscillation analysis is mainly performed with the charged current (CC) events and sensitive to constrain high-delta m2 values. However, the quasi-elastic (QEL) charged current interaction is dominant in the energy region important to access low-delta m2 values. For further improvement, the QEL oscillation analysis is performed in this dissertation. A data sample based on a total of 2.50 x 1020 POT is used for this analysis. In summary, 55 QEL-like events are observed at the Far detector while 87.06 +/- 13.17 (syst:) events are expected with null oscillation hypothesis. These data are consistent with vm disappearance via oscillation with delta m2 = 2.10 +/- 0.37 (stat:) +/- 0.24 (syst:) eV2 and the maximal mixing angle.