Title: Sterile neutrino physics at NOvA experiment Author: Róbert Králik Institute: Institute of Particle and Nuclear Physics Supervisor: RNDr. Karel Soustružník, Ph.D., Institute of Particle and Nuclear Physics Abstract: NOvA sterile neutrinos search via neutral current (NC) disappearance analysis is moving to a two-detector fit method to be able to fit to a wider range of sterile neutrino oscillations parameters. This introduces among other things a bigger contribution of the neutrino flux systematic uncertainty, which currently makes up the largest overall uncertainty for the ongoing NC disappearance anal- ysis. This thesis focuses on reducing this uncertainty and looks for different ways of making a more precise prediction of the neutrino flux. We point out Horn-Off analysis as the base for doing so and describe the production of a new Horn-Off simulation and the analysis of the Horn-Off results. We were not able to draw any conclusions that would reduce the NC disappearance systematic uncertainty, but the results showed herein can be helpful in the future attempts at a better neutrino flux prediction and a lower neutrino flux systematic uncertainty. Keywords: sterile neutrino neutrino flux NOvA 1

The T2K Experiment is a long-baseline accelerator neutrino oscillation experiment, whose primary aim is to look for ν_e appearance in a ν_μ beam. A predominantly ν_μ beam is produced at J-PARC in Tokai on the east coast of Japan, and neutrino interactions are measured both by a near detector complex, 280 m from the neutrino production target,and by a large water Cerenkov detector, Super-Kamiokande, 295 km away. This thesis is concerned with oscillations ν_μ → ν_e, within both a standard three neutrino model and a model in which there is one additional sterile neutrino. By looking at ν_e appearance over the T2K baseline, this thesis looks for oscil- lations involving one additional sterile neutrino. A region of the short baseline neutrino oscillation parameter space favoured by other experiments is excluded at 3σ. The ND280 is also used to search for ν_e appearance over a short baseline. A ν_e selection is developed, and limits on the short baseline oscillation parameter space are set. Sensitivity predictions are also made for future T2K running. The T2K ND280 is interesting for this work since the detector technology is different to that of other experiments that have seen indications of short baseline electron-neutrino appearance. In the standard three-flavour neutrino oscillation picture, a combined analy- sis of the electron-neutrino appearance results of T2K and another long-baseline accelerator neutrino experiment, MINOS, is presented. Combining the two re- sults with the Feldman-Cousins method results in sin² 2θ₁₃ = 0 being excluded at 2.7σ, assuming the normal neutrino mass hierarchy.

The liquid-scintillator neutrino-detector (LSND) and mini booster neutrino experiment (MiniBooNE) experiments claim to observe the oscillation ῡ_µ→ ῡ_e, which can only be explained by additional neutrinos and is a claim that must be further tested. This thesis proposes a new accelerator and experiment called νSTORM to refute or confirm the oscillation these claims by studying the CPT-equivalent channel ν_e→ν_µ. A 3.8-GeV/c muon decay ring is proposed with neutrino detectors placed 20 m and 2000 m from the decay ring. The detector technology would be a magnetized iron sampling calorimeter, where the magnetic field is induced by a superconducting transmission line. In a frequentist study, the sensitivity of this experiment after 5 years would be >10σ. The range of the thesis discussion starts with the proton front-end design and ends with neutrino parameter estimation. After describing the phenomenology of sterile neutrinos, the facility and detector performance work is presented. Finally, the systematics are explained before the sensitivity and parameter-estimation works are explained.

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Neutrino physics has been going through rapid developments since the particle was first proposed by Pauli. The observation of neutrino oscillations has prompted an investigation of the issue of neutrino mass, with the "seesaw" mechanism garnering theoretical support. The HUNTER (Heavy Unseen Neutrinos from the Total Energy-momentum Reconstruction) experiment brings together AMO, nuclear physics and high energy physics researchers from Temple University, Houston University, UCLA and Princeton University to develop an apparatus capable of probing the keV-mass range of sterile neutrinos with high precision. The HUNTER detector makes use of the well-established COLTRIMS techniques for the collection of all the decay products of a neutrino-producing decay, and the reconstruction of their initial momenta and energies. Energy and momentum conservation allow then for the reconstruction of the missing neutrino mass.Electrons produced in the decay are guided towards their detector by an optimized set of electrodes paired to a magnetic field to confine their trajectories into spirals. A magnetic shield protects the electron from external stray fields that could alter their trajectories. A thorough study on the main source of background, namely the source scattering of ions, was conducted. As an additional topic, the feasibility of a directional-sensitive dark matter search experiment has been studied. Simple models of galactic dark matter distribution suggest that the motion of the Earth in space might introduce a directional anisotropy in the WIMPs momentum distribution at the Earth. The shape of a WIMP-like recoil in a target material could be be used to extract directional information for the incident WIMP, and thus confirm the anisotropy. The peculiar microphysics of liquid Argon requires thermalization of ionization electrons for a signal to form. To determine if directional information can be extracted, one needs to understand the energy spectrum of the electrons emitted in recoil event. Then, one needs a model to determine the time scale of the thermalization, and the distance to which the electrons travel. / Physics

L'expérience STEREO a été proposé afin de donner une réponse sans ambiguïté àl'idée d'un état de neutrino stérile léger ($Delta m^{2}sim 1eV^{2}$) comme l'origine del'anomalie réacteur des antineutrinos. Le but de l'expérience est de confirmer ou de rejetercette hypothèse en recherchant un patron d'oscillation à courte distance (9-11 m) dans lespectre en énergie des $overline{nu_{e}}$'s émis par le réacteur nucléaire de recherchede l'Institut Laue-Langevin à Grenoble (France). A cet effet, le détecteur estcomposé de 2 tonnes du liquide scintillant dopé au Gd et lu par un réseau detubes photomultiplicateurs, et est segmenté en 6 cellules dans la direction depropagation des antineutrinos. Les $overline{nu_{e}}$'s sont détectés par le processusIBD en observant un signal corrélé dans letemps d'un dépôt d'énergie rapide d'un positron et un signal retardé produitpar la capture d'un neutron. La mesure des petites oscillations deformantle spectre d'énergie des antineutrinos nécessite une bonne résolution en énergieet une excellente connaissance de la réponse du détecteur. Ce manuscrit présenteune étude de simulation détaillée basée sur le logiciel Geant4 STEREO, ce quia permis le développement du système de calibration par sources. Ce système aété conçu pour répondre à toutes les exigences physiques de STEREO: calibrerl'échelle de l'énergie et de l'efficacité de capture de neutrons au niveau de 2%,connaître la réponse en énergie dans le spectre d'énergie réacteur antineutrino(1-8 MeV), étudier et la caractériser la réponse et des non-uniformités dudétecteur. A cet effet, on propose un système de calibration consistant en trois sous-systèmes:un sous-système automatisé pour déplacer des sources radioactives autour dudétecteur pour calibrer l'échelle en énergie dans chaque cellule de manièreindépendante. Un second sous-système pour déplacer une source AmBe sous ledétecteur, dont l'objectif est d'inter-calibrerl'efficacité de capture de neutrons entre les cellules. Enfin, un troisième systèmemanuel qui consistent en trois tubes de calibration placés à l'intérieur du liquidescintillante pour évaluer l'efficacité absolue de la capture des neutrons danstrois cellules différentes. La dernièrepartie de ce manuscrit est consacré à l'étude et la caractérisation du bruite de fond gammaet les signaux neutrino attendus. / The STEREO experiment has been proposed to give an unambiguous responseto the hypothesis of a light sterile neutrino state ($Delta m^{2}sim 1 eV^{2}$)as the origin of the reactor antineutrino anomaly. Its goal is to confirm or reject thishypothesis by searching at short distance (9-11 m) for a neutrino oscillation patternin the energy spectrum of the $overline{nu_{e}}$’s emitted by the research nuclear reactorof the Laue-Langevin Institute in Grenoble (France). To this end, the detector iscomposed of 2 tons of Gd-loaded liquid scintillator read out by an array of PMTs, andis segmented in 6 cells in the direction of the $overline{nu_{e}}$’s propagation. Antineutrinosare detected via the IBD process by observing a time correlatedsignal composed of a prompt energy deposit from a positron and a delayed signal produced bythe neutron capture. Measuring small oscillations superimposed on the reactor antineutrinoenergy spectrum requires a good energy resolution and an excellent knowledge ofthe detector response. This manuscript presents a dedicated Geant4 simulation studyof a calibration system based on radioactive sources.This system has been conceived to fulfill all the STEREO physics requirements:calibrating the energy scale and the neutron capture efficiency at the 2 % level,knowing the energy response in the reactor antineutrino energy spectrum (0-8 MeV),and characterizing the detector response in a broader sense (non-uniformities, non-linearity,particle identification, etc). To this end, we proposethree calibration subsystems: one automated subsystem to moveradioactive sources around the detector, whose main role is to calibrate the energy scale in each cellindependently; a second subsystem to inter-calibrate the neutron captureefficiency between cells by moving an AmBe source under the detector; and finally,a third subsystem consisting in three manualcalibration tubes inside the liquid scintillator, necessary to assess the absolute neutron captureefficiency inside three different cells. The final part of this manuscript is devoted tothe study of the selection criteria, and the proposal of methods to reject the expected gammabackground.

Orientador: Pedro Cunha de Holanda / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Fisica Gleb Wataghin / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-12T10:44:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Boriero_DanielFrancisco_M.pdf: 4969339 bytes, checksum: 948e129914cf07a208b25eb26a168a96 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008 / Resumo: Necessário na maioria das teorias para atribuir massa aos neutrinos e explicar o fenômeno de oscilação de sabores, o neutrino de mão direita, estéril em SU(2)L U(1)Y, é um candidato natural a matéria escura não bariônica. Cosmologicamente produzido via oscilação não ressonante de quiralidade do neutrino de mão esquerda e situado na categoria "Warm" de matéria escura, está atualmente desfavorecido como candidato a formar a totalidade da matéria escura. Apresentamos um cenário subdominante, no qual o neutrino estéril formaria apenas uma fração fs do total da matéria escura. Através da análise do sinal negativo do decaimento radiativo em raios-x difusos e ausência de supressão em estruturas de Lyman-a aplicadas na previsão de abundância gerada pelo modelo de massa n MSM, obtemos o limite de fs £ 0,65(2 s) em modelo cosmológico composto L (Ws +C)DM. Com esse resultado mostramos que o neutrino estéril ainda é um candidato viável para uma componente relativística da matéria escura, possível solução para o excesso de potência em pequena escala do modelo puramente "Cold". / Abstract: Needed in the most theories to confer mass to neutrinos and explain avour oscillations, the right-handed neutrino, sterile in SU(2)L U(1) Y , is a natural non-baryonic dark matter candidate. Cosmologicaly produced by non-resonant oscillattion with left-handed neutrinos and situated in the Warm regime, it's currently disfavored as composing the total dark matter. We present subdominant scenario where the sterile neutrino would compose only a fraction fs of the total dark matter, to constrain the model are utilized negative signals from diffuse X-Ray background and suppression from Lyman- a large scale structure applied to nMSM sterile neutrino theoretical production. We found the limit fs £ 0.65 (2 s) for a composed cosmological model L (Ws + C)DM. This result shows that the sterile neutrino is still a viable candidate for a relativistic component of dark matter and a possible solution to solve the excess power problem of the standard LCDM model in small scales. / Mestrado / Fisica das Particulas Elementares e Campos ; Cosmologia / Mestre em Física

Orientador: Orlando Luis Goulart Peres / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Física Gleb Wataghin / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-24T13:21:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 BastoGonzalez_VictorSaul_D.pdf: 37659795 bytes, checksum: f4492cea9594ac4fbffc288a0c46526a (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014 / Resumo: Motivados pelos indícios experimentais da existência de um quarto neutrino, que surge nos dados de oscilações coletados nos experimentos de aparecimento e desaparecimento de neutrinos, e pela possibilidade teórica de explicar a pequena massa dos neutrinos através de dimensões extras grandes, fizemos análises em procura de vestígios destas duas motivações nos experimentos IceCube e KATRIN. A existência deste quarto neutrino implicaria 1) que existem mais neutrinos que os três tipos de neutrinos do Modelo Padrão da física de partículas, 2) que as interações deste novo neutrino não são descritas pelo Modelo Padrão, 3) que os parâmetros da mistura dos três tipos de neutrinos do Modelo Padrão seriam afetados pela mistura com este novo neutrino e 4) que a diferença dos quadrados das massas, ?m^{2}, associada a este neutrino seria grande, ?m^{2} ~1 eV^{2}. Usando os dados de neutrinos atmosféricos de IceCube, podemos indagar pela existência do quarto neutrino, pois para, ?m^{2} ~1 eV^{2} acontece uma conversão de sabor devida ao efeito de matéria sobre o neutrino no intervalo de energias analisado no IceCube. Assim, este efeito de matéria permite-nos pôr limites sobre os parâmetros que governam as oscilações de neutrinos estéreis. O experimento KATRIN procurará medir a massa do neutrino. Esta medida será feita analisando a cinemática dos elétrons emitidos no decaimento beta do Trítio que é uma medida independente do modelo físico, pois está fundamentada na conservação da energia. A presença de estados mais pesados, como os que existem quando neutrinos estéreis estão presentes, nos permitirá vincular estes neutrinos estéreis. Especificamente, analisamos em KATRIN indícios de um e dois neutrinos estéreis e também de dimensões extras grandes / Abstract: Motivated by the experimental evidence of the existence of a fourth neutrino, which arises from the data collected of neutrino oscillations in appearance and disappearance experiments, and by the theoretical possibility to explain the smallness of the mass of the neutrinos through large extra dimensions, we performed analyses in search of seeking indication of these two motivations in the IceCube and KATRIN experiments. The existence of this fourth neutrino would imply 1) that there are more types of neutrinos than the three types of neutrinos present in the Standard Model of particle physics, 2) that this new neutrino interactions are not described by the Standard Model, 3) that the parameters of the three neutrinos mixing would be affected by mixing with this new type of neutrino, and 4) that the squared-mass difference , ?m^{2} associated with this new neutrino would be large, , ?m^{2} ~1 eV^{2}. Using the atmospheric neutrino data from IceCube, we can investigate the existence of the fourth neutrino because a flavor conversion happens in the limit , ?m^{2} ~1 eV^{2} due to the effect of matter on the neutrino in the range of energies analyzed in the IceCube. Thus, this matter effect allows us to constrain the parameters that govern the sterile neutrino oscillations. The KATRIN experiment will seek to measure the neutrino mass. This measure will be performed by analyzing the kinematics of electrons emitted in the tritium beta decay, which is an independent measure of the physical model because it is based on energy conservation. The presence of heavier states such as those that exist when sterile neutrinos are present, will allow us to constrain these sterile neutrinos. Specifically, we analyze in KATRIN evidence of one and two sterile neutrinos and also of large extra dimensions / Doutorado / Física / Doutor em Ciências

No description available.

Nuclear reactors have played an essential role in developing our current understanding of neutrinos. The precision measurement of these high-flux, pure-flavor and controllable artificial neutrino sources shed lights on a wide range of fundamental questions in physics. Specifically, the Reactor Antineutrino Anomaly hints that there may exist a novel eV-scale sterile neutrino, which requires new physics beyond the Standard Model. Performing reactor neutrino spectrum measurements at very-short baseline will improve our imperfect understanding of antineutrino emission from fissile material. CHANDLER is a new-generation neutrino experiment aiming for reactor antineutrino spectrum measurements, to test the eV-scale sterile neutrino oscillation hypothesis unambiguously. The second prototype detector, MiniCHANDLER, was deployed 25 meters from a $2.9~GW_{th}$ commercial nuclear reactor in North Anna, Virginia. To fight against the overwhelming background arising from its surface-level deployment, CHANDLER detectors adopt a novel design using lithium-6 ($^6$Li) loaded zinc sulfide (ZnS) scintillator to tag neutron capture events, which significantly improves the IBD detection efficiency. The use of the Raghavan optical lattice brings enormous enhancement of light collection towards high energy resolution, which unlocks reconstruction of event topology to further suppress backgrounds. The ability of measuring reactor antineutrino spectra enables the potential application of CHANDLER technology in nuclear nonproliferation. This thesis features the prototype detectors instrumentation, data analysis development and Monte Carlo study for the CHANDLER experiment during 2016 to 2020. The detector calibration and energy reconstruction with vertical muon forms a core piece of this thesis. We report our observation of IBD spectrum with 5.5$sigma$ significance with a four month deployment of the minimal shielded MiniCHANDLER prototype at North Anna. The application of separation cuts and topological selections in the analysis are instrumental for a segmented plastic scintillator detector. We also present our results from the proton scintillation quenching measurement at Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory, with the deployment of the first prototype detector, MicroCHANDLER, at a neutron beam. / Doctor of Philosophy / The sterile neutrino is a hypothetical particle yet to be observed, whose existence is suggested by a number of physics experiments with strong theoretical motivation. Due to the low chance of a neutrino interacting with matter, most neutrino detectors use a special process called inverse beta decay (IBD) to detect them. The CHANDLER experiment set out to measure antineutrinos produced by a reactor in the vicinity of its core. We found a significant signal of antineutrinos from our four-month deployment. This thesis details the technology and analysis that enables neutrino detection and improves detection efficiency. We also shows how we squeeze out the maximum information available to us from raw data, through the process called reconstruction. Other research topics related to the CHANDLER detector RandD are also included in this thesis.