Browsing by Subject "Neutrinos"
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Item Accelerator systems and instrumentation for the NuMI neutrino beam(2005) Zwaska, Robert Miles; Kopp, SachaThe Neutrinos at the Main Injector (NuMI) neutrino beam facility began operating at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in 2005. NuMI produces an intense, muon-neutrino beam to a number of experiments. Foremost of these experiments is MINOS – the Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search – that uses two neutrino detectors in the beam, one at Fermilab and one in northern Minnesota, to investigate the phenomenon of neutrino oscillations. NuMI is a conventional, horn-focused neutrino beam. It is designed to accept a 400 kW, 120 GeV proton beam from the Fermilab Main Injector accelerator. The proton beam is steered onto a target, producing a secondary beam of mesons which are focused into a long evacuated volume where they decay to muons and neutrinos. Pulsed toroidal magnets (horns) focus an adjustable meson momentum range. Design of the beamline and its components is challenged by the 400 kW average proton beam power. To achieve such high proton power, the Fermilab Main Injector (MI) must store and accelerate ∼ 4×1013 protons per acceleration cycle. This requires the MI to be loaded with 6 or more batches of protons from the 8 GeV Booster accelerator. Such multiple-batch injection involves a synchronization of the two machines not previously required by the Fermilab accelerators. In this dissertation, we investigate timing errors that can arise between the two accelerators, and a feedback system which enables multiple Booster transfers into the Main Injector without significant loss of beam. Using this method of synchronous transfer, the Main Injector has delivered as many as 3×1013 protons per pulse to the NuMI beam. The instrumentation to asses the quality of the neutrino beam includes arrays of radiation-tolerant ionization chambers downstream of the decay volume. These arrays detect the remnant hadrons and tertiary muons produced with the neutrinos. This thesis discusses measurements using the arrays, including diagnostics of potential beam errors and initial alignment of the beamline elements. In addition, we describe theoretical calculations and experimental tests which demonstrate that the ionization chambers can withstand the intense particle fluxes in the beamline without signal loss due to space-charge build up in the detectors.Item Electromagnetic interactions in the MINOS detectors(2004) Vahle, Patricia LaVern; Lang, KarolItem From atoms to astronomy : new approaches in neutrino physics(2010-08) Jerkins, Melissa Travis; Raizen, Mark G.; Klein, Joshua; Keto, John; Lang, Karol; Komatsu, EiichiroIn this thesis I present research in neutrino physics utilizing tools from both atomic physics and astrophysics. Recent advances in atomic physics enable a new type of beta decay experiment to measure the absolute mass scale of the neutrino using a sample of ultracold atomic tritium. These initial conditions enable the detection of the helium ion in coincidence with the beta. I construct a two-dimensional fit incorporating both the shape of the beta spectrum and the direct reconstruction of the neutrino mass peak. I present simulation results of the feasible limits on the neutrino mass achievable in this new type of tritium beta decay experiment. The same advances in atomic physics that enable the creation of an atomic source for tritium beta decay also suggest a new method of achieving large-scale isotope separation. Multiple experiments that are investigating the absolute mass scale of the neutrino through neutrinoless double beta decay could benefit from this new technique, which applies generally to many elements, including the double beta emitter Nd-150 that is particularly difficult to separate in large quantities. The method is based on an irreversible change of the mass-to-magnetic moment ratio of a particular isotope in a supersonic atomic beam, followed by a magnetic multipole whose gradients deflect and guide the atoms. I present numerical simulations of isotope separation for a range of examples and demonstrate that large-scale isotope separation should be possible using ordinary inexpensive magnets and the existing technologies of supersonic beams and lasers. Additionally I report results from a search for low-multiplicity neutrino bursts in the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO). Such bursts could indicate detection of a nearby core-collapse supernova explosion. The data were taken from November 1999 to May 2001 when the detector was filled with heavy water (Phase I), as well as data from July 2001 to August 2003 when NaCl was added to the detector (Phase II). The search was a blind analysis in which the potential backgrounds were estimated and analysis cuts were developed to eliminate such backgrounds with 90% confidence before the data were examined. The search maintained a greater than 50% detection probability for standard supernovae occurring at a distance of up to 60 kpc for Phase I and up to 70 kpc for Phase II. No low-multiplicity bursts were observed during the data-taking period.Item Hadronic interactions in the MINOS detectors(2004) Kordosky, Michael Alan; Lang, KarolItem A measurement of muon neutrino disappearance with the MINOS detectors and NuMI beam(2008-12) Ospanov, Rustem; Lang, KarolMINOS is a long-baseline two-detector neutrino oscillation experiment that uses a high intensity muon neutrino beam to investigate the phenomena of neutrino oscillations. The neutrino beam is produced by the NuMI facility at Fermilab, Batavia, Illinois, and is observed at near and far detectors placed 734 km apart. The neutrino interactions in the near detector are used to measure the initial muon neutrino flux. The vast majority of neutrinos travel through the near detector and Earth matter without interactions. A fraction of muon neutrinos oscillate into other flavors resulting in the disappearance of muon neutrinos at the far detector. This thesis presents a measurement of the muon neutrino oscillation parameters in the framework of the two-neutrino oscillation hypothesis.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 Observation of disappearance of muon neutrinos in the NuMI beam(2008-05) Pavlović, Žarko, 1977-; Kopp, SachaThe Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search (MINOS) is a two detector long-baseline neutrino experiment designed to study the disappearance of muon neutrinos. MINOS will test the v[subscript mu] → v[subscript tau] oscillation hypothesis and measure precisely [Delta]m[superscript 2 subscript 23] and sin² 2[theta subscript 23] oscillation parameters. The source of neutrinos for MINOS experiment is Fermilab's Neutrinos at the Main Injector (NuMI) beamline. The energy spectrum and the composition of the beam is measured at two locations, one close to the source and the other 735 km downstream in the Soudan Mine Underground Laboratory in northern Minnesota. The precision measurement of the oscillation parameters requires an accurate prediction of the neutrino flux at the Far Detector. This thesis discusses the calculation of the neutrino flux at the Far Detector and its uncertainties. A technique that uses the Near Detector data to constrain the uncertainties in the calculation of the flux is described. The data corresponding to an exposure of 2.5×1020 protons on the NuMI target is presented and an energy dependent disappearance pattern predicted by neutrino oscillation hypotheses is observed in the Far Detector data. The fit to MINOS data, for given exposure, yields the best fit values for [Delta]m[superscript 2 subscript 23] and sin² 2[theta subscript 23] to be (2.38[superscript +0.20, subscript -0.16] x 10⁻³eV²/c⁴ and 1.00[subscript -0.08], respectively.Item Search for neutrinoless double beta decay of ¹¹⁶Cd and ⁸²Se and calorimeter simulations for the SuperNEMO experiment(2014-05) Liptak, Zachary John; Lang, Karol, 1955-Using the NEMO-3 detector, 410.4 g of ¹¹⁶Cd with a total exposure of 1.65 kg• y and 932 g of ⁸²Se with a total exposure of 3.75 kg• y were used to measure the half-life of two-neutrino double beta decay (2[nu][beta][beta]) to the ground states of ¹¹⁶Sn and ⁸²Kr and to place a lower limit on the neutrinoless double becay decay (0[nu][beta][beta]) to the same ground states. Under the single-states dominance hypothesis, the 2[nu][beta][beta] half-lives are found to be T 1/2(¹¹⁶Cd) = (2.90 ± 0.03(stat) ± 0.15(syst)×10¹⁹ yr and T 1/2(⁸²Se) = [10.62±0.11(stat)±0.56(syst)]×10¹⁹ yr. 0[nu][beta][beta] is excluded to 90% confidence level at T 1/2 ≥ 1.12 × 10²³ yr for ¹¹⁶Cd and T 1/2 ≥ 3.90 × 10²³ yr for ⁸²Se. These half-lives correspond to effective Majorana neutrino masses of m ≤ (4.33 - 5.54) eV and m ≤ (2.28 - 2.82) eV, respectively, in the light Majorana exchange mechanism.Item A search for sterile neutrinos in MINOS(2007-12) Osiecki, Thomas Henry, 1980-; Lang, KarolMINOS, the Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search, is a long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment based at Fermilab National Accelerator Laboratory. The experiment uses a neutrino beam, which is measured 1 km downstream from its origin in the Near detector at Fermilab and then 735 km later in the Far detector at the Soudan mine. By comparing these two measurements, MINOS can attain a very high precision for parameters in the atmospheric sector of neutrino oscillations. In addition to precisely determining [Delta]m[superscript 2,subscript23] and [theta]₂₃ through the disappearance of v[subscript mu], MINOS is able to measure v[subscript mu] [mathematical symbol for implies] v[subscript sterile] by looking for a deficit in the number of neutral current interactions seen in the Far detector. In this thesis, we present the results of a search for sterile neutrinos in MINOS.