Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2016 Fall Meeting of the APS Division of Nuclear Physics
Volume 61, Number 13
Thursday–Sunday, October 13–16, 2016; Vancouver, BC, Canada
Session PF: Neutrino-nucleus interactions |
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Chair: Stanley Yen, TRIUMF Room: Pavilion Ballroom A |
Sunday, October 16, 2016 10:30AM - 10:42AM |
PF.00001: Deuterium target data for precision neutrino-nucleus cross sections Richard Hill, Aaron Meyer, Minerba Betancourt, Richard Gran Amplitudes derived from scattering data on elementary targets are basic inputs to neutrino-nucleus cross section predictions. A prominent example is the isovector axial nucleon form factor, $F_A(q^2)$, which controls charged current signal processes at accelerator-based neutrino oscillation experiments. Previous extractions of $F_A$ from neutrino-deuteron scattering data rely on a dipole shape assumption that introduces an unquantified error. A new analysis of world data for neutrino-deuteron scattering is performed using a model-independent, and systematically improvable, representation of $F_A$. A complete error budget for the nucleon isovector axial radius leads to $r_A^2=0.46(22) \,{\rm fm}^2$, with a much larger uncertainty than determined in the original analyses. The quasielastic neutrino-neutron cross section is determined as $\sigma(\nu_\mu n \to \mu^- p)\big|_{E_\nu =1\,{\rm GeV}} = 10.1(0.9) \times 10^{-39}{\rm cm}^2$. The propagation of nucleon-level constraints and uncertainties to nuclear cross sections is illustrated using MINERvA data and the GENIE event generator. These techniques can be readily extended to other amplitudes and processes. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, October 16, 2016 10:42AM - 10:54AM |
PF.00002: MINERvA Status and Result. Mr Nuruzzaman The MINERvA (Main INjector ExpeRiment for v-A) experiment, operating since 2009, is a few-GeV neutrino-nucleus scattering experiment in the NuMI beamline at Fermilab. The experiment measures neutrino and anti-neutrino interactions on a variety of nuclei including plastic scintillator, lead, carbon, iron, and liquid helium. The goal of the experiment is to measure high-precision inclusive and exclusive cross sections as well as study nuclear effects to both improve the neutrino-nucleus interaction models used by neutrino oscillation experiments and to probe the nuclear medium. The current status and recent results of the experiment will be presented. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, October 16, 2016 10:54AM - 11:06AM |
PF.00003: A MiniBooNE Accelerator-Produced (sub)-GeV Dark Matter Search Remington Thornton Cosmological observations indicate that our universe contains dark matter (DM), yet we have no measurements of its microscopic properties. Whereas the gravitational interaction of DM is well understood, its interaction with the Standard Model is not. Direct detection experiments search for a nuclear recoil interaction produced by a DM relic particle and have a low-mass sensitivity edge of order 1 GeV. To detect DM with mass below 1 GeV, either the sensitivity of the experiments needs to be improved or use of accelerators producing boosted low-mass DM are needed. Using neutrino detectors to search for low-mass DM is logical due to the similarity of the DM and $\nu$ signatures in the detector. The MiniBooNE experiment, located at Fermilab on the Booster Neutrino Beamline, ran for 10 years in $\nu$ and $\bar{\nu}$ modes and is already well understood, making it desirable to search for accelerator-produced boosted low-mass DM. A search for DM produced by 8 GeV protons hitting a steel beam-dump has finished, collecting $1.86\times10^{20}~\mathrm{POT}$. Final analysis containing 90\% confidence limits and a model independent fit will be presented. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, October 16, 2016 11:06AM - 11:18AM |
PF.00004: The Mini-CAPTAIN Neutron Run and Future CAPTAIN Program Robert Cooper The Cryogenic Apparatus for Precision Tests of Argon Interaction with Neutrinos (CAPTAIN) is an experimental program to measure critical neutrino interaction cross sections in argon for the DUNE long-baseline program. These cross sections are important for understanding and improving the energy resolution of measurements for neutrino oscillations and supernova detection in argon. The full CAPTAIN detector is a 5-ton fiducial volume liquid argon (LAr) time-projection chamber (TPC) with an independently triggered photon detection system (PDS) for fast-timing capabilities on accelerators. To test the full CAPTAIN concept, the 1-ton fiducial volume mini-CAPTAIN detector has been deployed. Mini-CAPTAIN is another LAr TPC with PDS. It was recently deployed to the Weapons Neutron Research (WNR) facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory to measure high-energy neutron interactions in argon. The WNR is a pulsed accelerator capable of delivering neutrons up to 800~MeV in energy. In this talk, I will report on the analysis of the first time-of-flight tagged, high-energy neutron response in liquid argon from our February 2016 run. I will also highlight a second neutron run at the WNR scheduled for Summer 2017 and discuss the implications these data have on the future CAPTAIN program. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, October 16, 2016 11:18AM - 11:30AM |
PF.00005: The COHERENT Experiment: Overview and Update of Results Jason Newby The COHERENT collaboration recently completed the first year of operation at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) with a 14 kg CsI detector optimized for coherent elastic neutrino nuclear scattering (CEvNS) sensitivity. The Oak Ridge National Laboratory is now converting a service corridor only 20 meters from the SNS target into a dedicated neutrino laboratory. By the Fall of 2016, the collaboration will deploy three additional targets to measure the CEvNS cross section dependence on the target nuclei neutron number with targets ranging from argon to cesium for an unambiguous first observation. The status of the CsI data analysis and related background evaluations will be presented and the details of the anticipated detector performance for all four targets will be reported. Beyond these proof-of-principle CEvNS measurements, the intensity, pulse-structure, and beam-energy make the Spallation Neutron Source ideally suited for a set of high-precision measurements using more massive, purpose-built detectors to address a host of physics topics including searches for non-standard neutrino interactions and a measurement of the weak mixing angle. The broader impact of a larger scale COHERENT program will be outlined. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, October 16, 2016 11:30AM - 11:42AM |
PF.00006: Background Studies at the Spallation Neutron Source for the COHERENT Experiment Matthew Heath The COHERENT experiment is attempting a first measurement of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Lab. CEvNS is a standard model process that is important in understanding supernova neutrinos, the structure of the weak interaction, and as a background for dark matter searches. COHERENT is placing a suite of four detector technologies in a basement location at the SNS: point contact germanium detectors, CsI[Na] crystals, NaI[Tl] crystals, and single phase liquid argon. Previous attempts to measure the CEvNS process have grappled with very high rates of backgrounds due to the low energy thresholds required. Accelerator-correlated neutrons are the most troublesome background for COHERENT because a simple accelerator on/off background subtraction procedure fails to remove them. To understand these backgrounds, COHERENT features measurements from the SciBath detector and the Sandia Neutron Scatter Camera (NSC). Important neutron measurements from both SciBath and the NSC, as well as gamma measurements from the SNS basement location where the four detector technologies for COHERENT will be placed will be discussed. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, October 16, 2016 11:42AM - 11:54AM |
PF.00007: Length Invisibilization of Tachyonic Neutrinos Ahmad Reza Estakhr Faster than the speed of light particle such as tachyonic neutrino due to its superluminal nature disapper and is undetectable. $L = i \Omega^{-1} L_o$ where, $i=\sqrt{-1}$ is imaginary Number, $\Omega=1/\sqrt{\beta_{s}^{2}-1}$ is Estakhr's Omega factor, $L$ is the Superluminal Length , $L_o$ is the proper length, $\beta_s=V_s / c$ > 1 is superluminal speed parameter, $V_s$ is Superluminal velocity and $c$ is speed of light. [Preview Abstract] |
Sunday, October 16, 2016 11:54AM - 12:06PM |
PF.00008: Results for quasi-elastic anti-neutrino scattering on scintillator from the MINERvA experiment Heidi Schellman We present a new preliminary measurement of the charge-current quasi-elastic scattering cross section for anti-neutrinos on scintillator (CH) over the energy range 1.5-10 GeV. The data were taken with the MINERvA detector in the NuMI beamline at Fermilab and cover the energy range of interest for the proposed DUNE long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment and of JLAB elastic scattering experiments. Of particular interest to the nuclear community are possible signatures for short range correlations and/or meson exchange currents in these data. We present comparisons to a range of nuclear models. [Preview Abstract] |
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