The Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search (MINOS) is a long-baseline accelerator neutrino experiment designed to measure properties of neutrino oscillation. Using a high intensity muon neutrino beam, produced by the Neutrinos at Main Injector (NuMI) complex at Fermilab, MINOS makes two measurements of neutrino interactions. The first measurement is made using the Near Detector situated at Fermilab and the second is made using the Far Detector located in the Soudan Underground laboratory in northern Minnesota. The primary goal of MINOS is to verify, and measure the properties of, neutrino oscillation between the two detectors using the muon neutrino to tau neutrino transition. A complementary measurement can be made to search for the existence of sterile neutrinos; an oft theorized, but experimentally unvalidated particle. The following thesis will show the results of a sterile neutrino search using MINOS RunI and RunII data totaling ~2.5x10^20 protons on target. Due to the theoretical nature of sterile neutrinos, complete formalism that covers transition probabilities for the three known active states with the addition of a sterile state is also presented. The formulation of the transition probabilities was done in concert with Stephen Parke
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:565116 |
| Date | January 2010 |
| Creators | Koskinen, D. J. |
| Publisher | University College London (University of London) |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/624505/ |
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