Accelerator Neutrinos

Abstract:

The MicroBooNE experiment is an 85 tonne active mass liquid argon time projection chamber neutrino detector exposed to the on-axis Booster Neutrino Beam at Fermilab. One of MicroBooNE’s physics goals is the precise measurement of neutrino interactions on argon in the 1 GeV energy regime. Building on the capabilities of the MicroBooNE detector, this analysis identifies $K^{+}$ mesons, a key signature for the study of strange particle production in neutrino interactions. This measurement is furthermore valuable for background estimation for future nucleon decay searches and for improved reconstruction and particle identification capabilities in experiments such as the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment. In this Letter, we present the first-ever measurement of a flux-integrated cross section for charged-current muon neutrino induced $K^{+}$ production on argon nuclei, determined to be $7.93\pm 3.22(\mathrm{stat})\pm 2.83(\mathrm{syst})\times {10}^{-42}{\mathrm{cm}}^2/\mathrm{nucleon}$ based on an analysis of $6.88\times {10}^{20}$ protons on target. This result was found to be consistent with model predictions from different neutrino event generators within the reported uncertainties.

Abstract:

Measurements of tt¯ℓ+ℓ-$$t\bar{t}\ell ^{+}\ell ^{-}$$ production in the region of high dilepton invariant mass with effective field theory (EFT) interpretations are presented. They are performed using final states with three isolated leptons (electrons or muons) and are based on s=13$$\sqrt{s} = 13$$ TeV$$\text {T}\text {e}\hspace{-1.00006pt}\text {V}$$ proton–proton collision data with an integrated luminosity of 140fb-1$$140\,\textrm{fb}^{-1}$$, recorded from 2015 to 2018 with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Measurements of the tt¯ℓ+ℓ-$$t\bar{t}\,\ell ^+\ell ^-$$ signal strength and cross-section upper-limits are performed inclusively in lepton flavour and separately for electrons and muons. The study also aims to probe anomalous four-fermion interactions including to test for possible lepton flavor universality violation. No significant deviations from the Standard Model predictions are observed and the measurements are interpreted through the EFT formalism to provide new constraints on the relevant operators.

Abstract:

A search for R-parity-conserving supersymmetry in events with large missing transverse momentum, jets and at least one hadronically decaying τ$$\tau $$-lepton is presented. Both gluino and squark pair production are considered, with the cascade decay of each gluino or squark producing either a τ$$\tau $$-slepton or a τ$$\tau $$-sneutrino. Three channels are examined, requiring either exactly one hadronically decaying τ$$\tau $$-lepton and no other leptons, exactly one hadronically decaying τ$$\tau $$-lepton and at least one other lepton, or two or more hadronically decaying τ$$\tau $$-leptons. Analyses in the three channels are optimised independently and combined statistically. Two separate analysis strategies, either a cut-and-count or machine-learning approach, are used. The search uses 140 fb-1$$\textrm{fb}^{-1}$$ and 51.8 fb-1$$\textrm{fb}^{-1}$$ of pp collision data recorded by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider during 2015–2018 at s=13$$\sqrt{s} = 13$$ TeV and 2022–2023 at s=13.6$$\sqrt{s} = 13.6$$ TeV, respectively. Gluino masses below 2.25 TeV and squark masses up to 1.7 TeV are excluded

Abstract:

High-Pressure Gas Time Projection Chambers (HPgTPCs) have benefits such as low energy thresholds, magnetisability, and 4π acceptance, making them ideal for neutrino experiments such as DUNE. We present the design of an FPGA-based solution optimised for Gaseous Argon Near Detector (ND-GAr), which is part of the Phase-II more capable near detector for DUNE. These electronics reduce the cost significantly compared to using collider readout electronics, which are typically designed for much higher occupancy and therefore, for example, need much larger numbers of FPGAs and power per channel. We demonstrate the performance of our electronics with the Teststand for an Overpressurised Argon Detector (TOAD) at Fermilab in the US at a range of pressures and gas mixtures up to 4.5 barA, reading out ∼10 000 channels from a Multi-Wire Proportional Chamber (MWPC). The operation took place between April and July of 2024. We measure the noise characteristics of the system to be sufficiently low, and we identify sources of noise that can be further mitigated in the next iteration. We also note that the cooling scheme used in the test requires improvement before full-scale deployment. Despite these necessary improvements, we show that the system can fulfil the needs of a HPgTPC for a fraction of the price of collider readout electronics.

Abstract:

The ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider explores the use of modern neural networks for a multi-dimensional calibration of its calorimeter signal defined by clusters of topologically connected cells (topo-clusters). The Bayesian neural network (BNN) approach not only yields a continuous and smooth calibration function that improves performance relative to the standard calibration but also provides uncertainties on the calibrated energies for each topo-cluster. The results obtained by using a trained BNN are compared to the standard local hadronic calibration and to a calibration provided by training a deep neural network. The uncertainties predicted by the BNN are interpreted in the context of a fractional contribution to the systematic uncertainties of the trained calibration. They are also compared to uncertainty predictions obtained from an alternative estimator employing repulsive ensembles.