Steve Biller

Abstract:

This paper details the solar neutrino analysis of the 385.17-day Phase-III data set acquired by the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO). An array of $^3$He proportional counters was installed in the heavy-water target to measure precisely the rate of neutrino-deuteron neutral-current interactions. This technique to determine the total active $^8$B solar neutrino flux was largely independent of the methods employed in previous phases. The total flux of active neutrinos was measured to be $5.54^{+0.33}_{-0.31}(stat.)^{+0.36}_{-0.34}(syst.)\times 10^{6}$ cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$, consistent with previous measurements and standard solar models. A global analysis of solar and reactor neutrino mixing parameters yielded the best-fit values of $\Delta m^2 = 7.59^{+0.19}_{-0.21}\times 10^{-5}{eV}^2$ and $\theta = 34.4^{+1.3}_{-1.2}$ degrees.

Abstract:

Results are reported from a search for low-multiplicity neutrino bursts in the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory. Such bursts could indicate the detection of a nearby core-collapse supernova explosion. The data were taken from Phase I (1999 November-2001 May), when the detector was filled with heavy water, and Phase II (2001 July-2003 August), when NaCl was added to the target. The search was a blind analysis in which the potential backgrounds were estimated and analysis cuts were developed to eliminate such backgrounds with 90% confidence before the data were examined. The search maintained a greater than 50% detection probability for standard supernovae occurring at a distance of up to 60 kpc for Phase I and up to 70 kpc for Phase II. No low-multiplicity bursts were observed during the data-taking period. © 2011. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printedin the U.S.A.

Abstract:

Results are reported from a joint analysis of Phase I and Phase II data from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory. The effective electron kinetic energy threshold used is Teff=3.5 MeV, the lowest analysis threshold yet achieved with water Cherenkov detector data. In units of 106 cm-2 s-1, the total flux of active-flavor neutrinos from B8 decay in the Sun measured using the neutral current (NC) reaction of neutrinos on deuterons, with no constraint on the B8 neutrino energy spectrum, is found to be ΦNC=5.140-0.158+0.160(stat)-0.117+0.132(syst). These uncertainties are more than a factor of 2 smaller than previously published results. Also presented are the spectra of recoil electrons from the charged current reaction of neutrinos on deuterons and the elastic scattering of electrons. A fit to the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory data in which the free parameters directly describe the total B8 neutrino flux and the energy-dependent νe survival probability provides a measure of the total B8 neutrino flux Φ8B=5.046-0.152+0.159(stat) -0.123+0.107(syst). Combining these new results with results of all other solar experiments and the KamLAND reactor experiment yields best-fit values of the mixing parameters of θ12=34.06-0.84+1.16 degrees and Δm212=7.59-0. 21+0.20×10-5 eV2. The global value of Φ8B is extracted to a precision of -2.95+2.38%. In a three-flavor analysis the best fit value of sin2θ13 is 2.00-1.63+2.09×10-2. This implies an upper bound of sin2θ13<0.057 (95% C.L.). © 2010 The American Physical Society.