In this thesis, the question of neutrino mass hierarchy is investigated. For this purpose, possibilities of neutrino mass origin are mentioned and phenomenology of neutrino oscillations within three active neutrino framework is introduced. Using that, it is described what neutrino mass hierarchy is and why it would be good to know it. After that, an overview of approaches to this problem is provided, including outline of the JUNO experiment. The approach based on comparison of mass splitting measured in experiments with reactor antineutrinos and accelerator neutrinos is investigated in great detail. The final part of this thesis is measurement of resistive plate chamber properties, as this type of detector was considered to be used in the JUNO experiment (but eventually other type will be used instead).

The NOMAD experiment is a neutrino oscillation experiment, capable of identifying \nm, \nmb, \nel, \neb\ and \nt\ for use in oscillation analyses. A search for \mutoe\ oscillations is conducted, emphasising the development of two separate beam simulators, to provide the background, (no oscillation), \nel\ signal. Both beam descriptions include fits to the results of the SPY experiment that measured hadron production from a 450~GeV proton beam on beryllium target. An independent analysis of the raw SPY data to produce the particle yield is reported. A series of criteria are described for the selection and classification of neutrino events. These produce the data samples necessary for both tuning the beam simulation and determining the oscillation signal. The development of a GEANT and FLUKA based Monte Carlo beam simulator is presented, providing good agreement to the measured neutrino beam. This simulation method has sizeable variations depending on the beamline geometry, which is not known precisely. This causes large systematic errors. An empirical parametrisation is proposed and used for the first time in a NOMAD oscillation search. It uses the measured neutrino spectra at NOMAD, except the \nel, to infer the meson production at the target, and then predict the \nel\ spectrum. This method has good agreement with the data and is also insensitive to alterations of the beamline geometry, resulting in much smaller systematic errors. The reduction of the systematic errors allows the \mutoe\ oscillations search to be performed with much greater precision. Comparisons of the \nel/\nm\ ratio between the empirical parametrisation and data yields no evidence for \mutoe\ oscillations, setting a limit on the mixing parameter, $sin^2(2 \theta) &lt 1.9 \times 10^{-3} \mbox{(90\% CL)}$ at high $\Delta m^2$. The present sensitivity of the analysis on the mixing parameter is 0.0017.

In this thesis I present the results of a periodicity study on the neutrino data collected over the span of the first two phases of SNO, at both low (1 day⁻¹ - 0.1 yr⁻¹) and high (1 day⁻¹ - 0.1 min⁻¹) frequency ranges. The high frequency study is the first of its kind, and is of particular interest in that it opens a window into the detection of solar g-mode oscillations, which have never been conclusively experimentally verified. In a data set with 7,646 neutrino candidates over a period of 698.29 live days, there was no detected high-frequency periodic signal. In addition to a wide-range, single-peak high-frequency search, I have performed a directed-region frequency analysis, and a noise-motivated broad-band analysis. All searches indicate an absence of periodicity in the 8B solar neutrino signal as measured by SNO. I have also carried out an analysis of time dependence in the context of a trigger-less burst search, with the motivation of either observing neutrinos from an optically occluded supernova, or setting an upper limit on the senstitivity of our detector for such an observation. I include discussions of backgrounds to such a search that are specific to a heavy-water Cherenkov detector such as SNO. / text

The NOMAD experiment is a neutrino oscillation experiment, capable of identifying \nm, \nmb, \nel, \neb\ and \nt\ for use in oscillation analyses. A search for \mutoe\ oscillations is conducted, emphasising the development of two separate beam simulators, to provide the background, (no oscillation), \nel\ signal. Both beam descriptions include fits to the results of the SPY experiment that measured hadron production from a 450~GeV proton beam on beryllium target. An independent analysis of the raw SPY data to produce the particle yield is reported. A series of criteria are described for the selection and classification of neutrino events. These produce the data samples necessary for both tuning the beam simulation and determining the oscillation signal. The development of a GEANT and FLUKA based Monte Carlo beam simulator is presented, providing good agreement to the measured neutrino beam. This simulation method has sizeable variations depending on the beamline geometry, which is not known precisely. This causes large systematic errors. An empirical parametrisation is proposed and used for the first time in a NOMAD oscillation search. It uses the measured neutrino spectra at NOMAD, except the \nel, to infer the meson production at the target, and then predict the \nel\ spectrum. This method has good agreement with the data and is also insensitive to alterations of the beamline geometry, resulting in much smaller systematic errors. The reduction of the systematic errors allows the \mutoe\ oscillations search to be performed with much greater precision. Comparisons of the \nel/\nm\ ratio between the empirical parametrisation and data yields no evidence for \mutoe\ oscillations, setting a limit on the mixing parameter, $sin^2(2 \theta) &lt 1.9 \times 10^{-3} \mbox{(90\% CL)}$ at high $\Delta m^2$. The present sensitivity of the analysis on the mixing parameter is 0.0017.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Canterbury, 2007. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (p. 62-63). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Canterbury, 2009. / Typescript (photocopy). "July 15, 2009." Includes bibliographical references (p. 71-73). Also available via the World Wide Web.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(理学) / 甲第21948号 / 理博第4526号 / 新制||理||1650(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院理学研究科物理学・宇宙物理学専攻 / (主査)准教授 WENDELL Roger, 教授 中家 剛, 教授 鶴 剛 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(理学) / 甲第18672号 / 理博第4021号 / 新制||理||1580(附属図書館) / 31605 / 京都大学大学院理学研究科物理学・宇宙物理学専攻 / (主査)教授 中家 剛, 准教授 市川 温子, 教授 谷森 達 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

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. / text