Session G02: Accelerator-Based Neutrino Physics

Prospects for long-baseline neutrino physics in the 2020s

In the previous decade, experiments using accelerator-produced intense beams of muon (anti)neutrinos measured the appearance of electron (anti)neutrinos for the first time. These measurements confirmed a non-zero value of the last remaining neutrino mixing angle, first established by the reactor experiments in 2012. While the long-baseline experiments continue to provide precision measurements of neutrino mixing angles, fundamental questions such as the neutrino mass ordering and charge-parity violation in neutrinos still remain unknown.

In this talk, I will review the latest results from the NOvA and the T2K experiments, providing a snapshot of the accelerator-based neutrino oscillation measurements. With these experiments continuing to collect high-quality data into the latter half of the decade, the statistical uncertainty will be reduced and certain physics milestones might be within reach. The NOvA and T2K collaborations are also working on a combined joint-fit of their data which will not only provide a significantly tighter statistical constraint but will also be useful for breaking degeneracies in the individual measurements. I will discuss the status and plans for the joint analysis of the most recent NOvA and T2K data.

Long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments are poised to make new discoveries over the coming decade. The next generation of experiments, such as DUNE, are scheduled to start running towards the end of this decade. They will be well-positioned to make a high-significance measurement of charge-parity violation in the neutrino sector within a few years of data-taking. This talk will outline the current landscape of long-baseline neutrino oscillation measurements and lay out the path for how it might develop through the rest of this decade.   

Search for an Anomalous Excess in Neutrino-Induced Interactions in the MicroBooNE Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber

The MicroBooNE experiment was designed primarily to explore the nature of the previously observed low-energy excess in electron neutrino candidates in the MiniBooNE experiment located in the Booster Neutrino Beamline at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Using an 85-ton active volume Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber with its excellent electron versus photon separation capability, the MicroBooNE experiment searches for an anomalous excess with an electromagnetic signature in several neutrino-induced interaction channels. In this talk, I will report the search results based on data taken from February 2016 to July 2018 in several exclusive and inclusive charged-current electron neutrino-induced interaction channels as well as a neutral-current Δ radiative decay channel.