Measurement of electron neutrino appearance with the MINOS experiment

Abstract

MINOS is a long-baseline two-detector neutrino oscillation experiment that uses a high intensity muon neutrino beam to investigate the phenomena of neutrino oscillations. By measuring the neutrino interactions in a detector near the neutrino source and again 735 km away from the production site, it is possible to probe the parameters governing neutrino oscillation. The majority of the {nu}{sub {mu}} oscillate to {nu}{sub {tau}} but a small fraction may oscillate instead to {nu}{sub e}. This thesis presents a measurement of the {nu}{sub e} appearance rate in the MINOS far detector using the first two years of exposure. Methods for constraining the far detector backgrounds using the near detector measurements is discussed and a technique for estimating the uncertainty on the background and signal selection are developed. A 1.6{sigma} excess over the expected background rate is found providing a hint of {nu}{sub e} appearance.