Session X16: Neutrinos VIII - Neutrino Interactions

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ProtoDUNE is the largest, currently-operating Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC), and serves as both a source of data for charged-particle interactions and a prototype for the upcoming Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). The detector was commissioned in Fall 2018, with test beam data taken immediately after that before the CERN Long Shutdown 2. The test beam consisted of hadrons (protons, positive pions and kaons) and muons in the momentum range of 1 - 7 GeV/c and electrons in the range of .3 - 7 GeV/c. The pion data from the test beam is of particular interest for DUNE in the context of both its neutrino interaction model and detector model. There is currently very limited data of pion-Ar interactions below .5 GeV/c momentum and no data beyond that. As such, the ProtoDUNE pion data will provide necessary constraints to DUNE’s experimental simulation. This talk will show progress on current efforts toward pion-Argon cross section measurements at ProtoDUNE.   

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ProtoDUNE-SP is a Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber(LArTPC) built at the CERN neutrino platform. As a particle passes through a LArTPC, it ionizes the medium. The charge liberated drifts through the medium under the influence of a strong electric field and gets collected at the anode. Energy reconstruction is carried out based on the charge received at the anode. Many factors, including Space Charge Effect (SCE), attenuation due to electronegative impurities, diffusion, and inactive wires, lead to non-uniformity in the charge deposition in various parts of the detector. We use the detector response for the through-going cosmic muons as a data-driven correction to remove any non-uniformities in the charge deposition throughout the TPC. We then perform the energy scale calibration using a sample of stopping cosmic muons such that we have a portion of a track for which $dE/dx$ is theoretically known to better than 1\%. In this method, we calculate the correction factors to remove non-uniformity in $dQ/dx$ in each part of the detector and in time. We then find the absolute calibration constant to convert $dQ/dx$ to $dE/dx$ comparing observed values with theoretical predictions.   

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With the Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search (MINOS) experiment decommissioned, muon and hadron monitors became an important diagnostic tool for the NuMI Off-axis $\nu_e$ Appearance (NOvA) experiment at Fermilab to monitor the Neutrinos at the Main Injector (NuMI) beam. The goal of this study is to maintain the quality of the monitor signals and to establish correlations with the neutrino beam profile. We report here on the progress of the beam data analysis and comparison with the simulation results.   

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NOvA is a long-baseline oscillation neutrino experiment designed to study and measure a wide range of important topics in neutrino physics such as the neutrino mixing parameters, the neutrino mass hierarchy, and CP violation in the lepton sector. The NOvA Test Beam experiment uses a scaled-down 30-ton NOvA detector to analyze tagged charged particles. A new tertiary beamline deployed at Fermilab is designed to select and identify electrons, muons, pions, kaons and protons in the energy range from 0.2 to 2 GeV. Using these data, the Test Beam program will provide NOvA with a better understanding of the largest systematic uncertainties impacting NOvA's analyses, which include the detector response, calibration, hadronic and electromagnetic energy resolution. In this talk, I will present the status and future plans for the NOvA Test Beam program, along with preliminary results.   

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NOvA is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment hosted by Fermilab. NOvA utilizes two functionally-identical detectors that lie 14.6~mrad off-axis from the NuMI beam line. Positioned 1~km from the beam target, the near detector provides an excellent platform to perform high-statistics studies of neutrino-nucleus interactions. The measurement of charged-current interactions is of great importance to current and future oscillation measurements, as these interactions are the signal for these measurements. This talk details the techniques used to measure the first double-differential electron neutrino charged-current cross section using data from the NOvA near detector.   

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Neutrinos emitted in the sub-dominant Carbon-Nitrogen-Oxygen (CNO) fusion cycles in the Sun are the only component of the low energy solar neutrino spectra whose flux has not yet been measured. The Borexino detector is an un-segmented liquid scintillator calorimeter and detects solar neutrinos via their elastic scattering on electrons. To measure the CNO solar neutrino interaction rate, the activity of its major background \(^{210}\)Bi decay need to be determined, and this is possible if convection motion of liquid scintillator is suppressed. After four years of efforts, from the thermal insulation of the detector to recent commissioning of experimental hall negative feedback heating system, we are able to stratify and stabilize the detector temperature profile and to collect enough data free from convection motion. This paves the way to the evidence of CNO solar neutrinos. We discuss in this talk the principle and sensitivity to CNO solar neutrinos of Borexino, as well as results on temperature stabilization and analysis of convection free data.   

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Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) is a 20-kton liquid scintillator detector whose primary scientific goal is to measure neutrino mass ordering. With its large fiducial mass and excellent energy resolution, JUNO can be a powerful neutrino telescope observing astrophysical neutrinos. For example, for neutrinos from a typical core collapse supernova at 10 kpc, JUNO can detect $\textasciitilde 5000$ electron-antineutrinos through inverse beta decay, $\textasciitilde 2000$ all flavor neutrinos through neutrino-proton elastic scattering (neutral current interaction), and $\textasciitilde 300$ electron-neutrino through neutrino-electron elastic scattering and neutrino interaction with carbon-12 nucleus. The high statistics and all-flavor detection of supernova neutrinos allow detailed measurements on supernova physics and neutrino properties.