Giles Barr

Abstract:

The T2K experiment is a long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment aiming to observe the appearance of νe in a νμ beam. The νμ beam is produced at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC), observed with the 295 km distant Super-Kamiokande Detector and monitored by a suite of near detectors at 280 m from the proton target. The near detectors include a magnetized off-axis detector (ND280) which measures the unoscillated neutrino flux and neutrino cross-sections. The present paper describes the outermost component of ND280 which is a Side Muon Range Detector (SMRD) composed of scintillation counters with embedded wavelength shifting fibers and Multi-Pixel Photon Counter readout. The components, performance and response of the SMRD are presented. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.

Abstract:

The Tokai-to-Kamioka (T2K) experiment studies neutrino oscillations using an off-axis muon neutrino beam with a peak energy of about 0.6 GeV that originates at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex accelerator facility. Interactions of the neutrinos are observed at near detectors placed at 280 m from the production target and at the far detector - Super-Kamiokande - located 295 km away. The flux prediction is an essential part of the successful prediction of neutrino interaction rates at the T2K detectors and is an important input to T2K neutrino oscillation and cross section measurements. A FLUKA and GEANT3-based simulation models the physical processes involved in the neutrino production, from the interaction of primary beam protons in the T2K target, to the decay of hadrons and muons that produce neutrinos. The simulation uses proton beam monitor measurements as inputs. The modeling of hadronic interactions is reweighted using thin target hadron production data, including recent charged pion and kaon measurements from the NA61/SHINE experiment. For the first T2K analyses the uncertainties on the flux prediction are evaluated to be below 15% near the flux peak. The uncertainty on the ratio of the flux predictions at the far and near detectors is less than 2% near the flux peak. © 2013 American Physical Society.

Abstract:

The production of protons, anti-protons, neutrons, deuterons and tritons in minimum bias p+C interactions is studied using a sample of 385 734 inelastic events obtained with the NA49 detector at the CERN SPS at 158 GeV/c beam momentum. The data cover a phase space area ranging from 0 to 1.9 GeV/c in transverse momentum and in Feynman x from -0.8 to 0.95 for protons, from -0.2 to 0.3 for anti-protons and from 0.1 to 0.95 for neutrons. Existing data in the far backward hemisphere are used to extend the coverage for protons and light nuclear fragments into the region of intra-nuclear cascading. The use of corresponding data sets obtained in hadron-proton collisions with the same detector allows for the detailed analysis and model-independent separation of the three principle components of hadronization in p+C interactions, namely projectile fragmentation, target fragmentation of participant nucleons and intra-nuclear cascading. © 2013 The Author(s).

Abstract:

Data taking has now finished for the low-energy phase of the MINOS experiment. The main osillation results from these data are presented. The disappearance of muon neutrinos and muon anti-neutrinos from the NuMI beam are combined with atmospheric data to produce a best fit for the atmospheric oscillation parameters. The |?m232| measurement, which is the most constraining in the world, is (2.39+-000910) × 10-3eV2. The value of sin2(2?32) is measured to be 0.957+-00035036. The latest results of the electron neutrino appearance search are presented and rule out ?13 = 0 at 2s. Results from the MINOS time of flight study are also presented and a preview of the physics available in the next phase of the experiment, MINOS+ is given.