Accelerator Neutrinos

Abstract:

The current laws of physics do not explain the observed imbalance of matter and antimatter in the universe. Sakharov proposed that an explanation would require the violation of CP symmetry between matter and antimatter. The only CP violation observed so far is in the weak interactions of quarks, and it is too small to explain the matter-antimatter imbalance of the universe. It has been shown that CP violation in the lepton sector could generate the matter-antimatter disparity through the process called leptogenesis. The quantum mixing of neutrinos, the neutral leptons in the Standard Model, provides a potential source of CP violation through a complex phase dCP, which may have consequences for theoretical models of leptogenesis. This CP violation can be measured in muon neutrino to electron neutrino oscillations and the corresponding antineutrino oscillations, which are experimentally accessible with accelerator-produced beams as established by the T2K experiment. Until now, the value of dCP has not been significantly constrained by neutrino oscillation experiments. Here the T2K collaboration reports a measurement that favors large enhancement of the neutrino oscillation probability, excluding values of dCP which result in a large enhancement of the observed anti-neutrino oscillation probability at three standard deviations (3 sigma). The 3 sigma confidence level interval for dCP, which is cyclic and repeats every 2pi, is [-3.41,-0.03] for the so-called normal mass ordering, and [-2.54,-0.32] for the inverted mass ordering. Our results show an indication of CP violation in the lepton sector. Herein we establish methods for sensitive searches for matter-antimatter asymmetry in neutrino oscillations using accelerator-produced neutrino beams. Future measurements with larger data samples will determine whether the leptonic CP violation is larger than the quark sector CP violation.

Abstract:

This Letter reports the first evidence of electroweak production of same-sign W boson pairs where at least one of the W bosons is longitudinally polarized and the most stringent constraint to date for the production of two longitudinally polarized same-sign W bosons. The dataset used corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 140  fb−1 of proton-proton collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV, collected with the ATLAS detector during run 2 of the Large Hadron Collider. The study is performed in final states including two same-sign leptons (electrons or muons), missing transverse momentum, and at least two jets with a large invariant mass and a large rapidity difference. Two independent fits are performed targeting the production of same-sign W bosons with at least one, or two longitudinally polarized W bosons. The observed (expected) significance of the production with at least one longitudinally polarized W boson is 3.3 (4.0) standard deviations. An observed (expected) 95% confidence level upper limit of 0.45 (0.70) fb is reported on the fiducial production cross section of two longitudinally polarized same-sign W bosons.

Abstract:

The jet energy calibration and its uncertainties are derived from measurements of the calorimeter response to single particles in both data and Monte Carlo simulation using proton–proton collisions at s=13$$\sqrt{s} = 13$$ TeV collected with the ATLAS detector during Run 2 at the Large Hadron Collider. The jet calibration uncertainty for anti-kT$$k_T$$ jets with a jet radius parameter of Rjet=0.4$$_\textrm{jet} = 0.4$$ and in the central jet rapidity region is about 2.5% for transverse momenta (pT$$p_{\text {T}}$$) of 20 GeV$$\text {GeV}$$, about 0.5%$$0.5\%$$ for pT=300$$p_{\text {T}} =300$$ GeV$$\text {GeV}$$ and 0.7%$$0.7\%$$ for pT=4$$p_{\text {T}} =4$$ TeV$$\text {TeV}$$. Excellent agreement is found with earlier determinations obtained from pT$$p_\textrm{T}$$-balance based in situ methods (Z/γ$$Z/\gamma $$+jets). The combination of these two independent methods results in the most precise jet energy measurement achieved so far with the ATLAS detector with a relative uncertainty of 0.3%$$0.3\%$$ at pT=300$$p_\textrm{T}=300$$ GeV and 0.6%$$0.6\%$$ at 4 TeV. The jet energy calibration is also derived with the single-particle calorimeter response measurements separately for quark- and gluon-induced jets and furthermore for jets with Rjet$$_\textrm{jet}$$ varying from 0.2 to 1.0 retaining the correlations between these measurements. Differences between inclusive jets and jets from boosted top-quark decays, with and without grooming the soft jet constituents, are also studied.

Abstract:

This Letter presents an investigation of low-energy electron-neutrino interactions in the Fermilab Booster Neutrino Beam by the MicroBooNE experiment, motivated by the excess of electron-neutrino-like events observed by the MiniBooNE experiment. This is the first measurement to use data from all five years of operation of the MicroBooNE experiment, corresponding to an exposure of $1.11\times {10}^{21}$ protons on target, a 70% increase on past results. Two samples of electron neutrino interactions without visible pions are used, one with visible protons and one without any visible protons. The MicroBooNE data show reasonable agreement with the nominal prediction, with $p$ values $\ge 26.7\%$ when the two ${\nu }_e$ samples are combined, though the prediction exceeds the data in limited regions of phase space. The data are further compared to two empirical models that modify the predicted rate of electron-neutrino interactions in different variables in the simulation to match the unfolded MiniBooNE low energy excess. In the first model, this unfolding is performed as a function of electron neutrino energy, while the second model aims to match the observed shower energy and angle distributions of the MiniBooNE excess. This measurement excludes an electronlike interpretation of the MiniBooNE excess based on these models at $>99\%{\mathrm{CL}}_{\mathrm{s}}$ in all kinematic variables.

Abstract:

Measurements of W+W− → e±νμ∓ν production cross-sections are presented, providing a test of the predictions of perturbative quantum chromodynamics and the electroweak theory. The measurements are based on data from pp collisions at s$$ \sqrt{s} $$ = 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider in 2015–2018, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 140 fb−1. The number of events due to top-quark pair production, the largest background, is reduced by rejecting events containing jets with b-hadron decays. An improved methodology for estimating the remaining top-quark background enables a precise measurement of W+W− cross-sections with no additional requirements on jets. The fiducial W+W− cross-section is determined in a maximum-likelihood fit with an uncertainty of 3.1%. The measurement is extrapolated to the full phase space, resulting in a total W+W− cross-section of 127 ± 4 pb. Differential cross-sections are measured as a function of twelve observables that comprehensively describe the kinematics of W+W− events. The measurements are compared with state-of-the-art theory calculations and excellent agreement with predictions is observed. A charge asymmetry in the lepton rapidity is observed as a function of the dilepton invariant mass, in agreement with the Standard Model expectation. A CP-odd observable is measured to be consistent with no CP violation. Limits on Standard Model effective field theory Wilson coefficients in the Warsaw basis are obtained from the differential cross-sections.