Abstract

The OPERA experiment at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory was designed to study νμ → ντ oscillations in appearance mode in the CNGS neutrino beam. In this paper we report the detection of the 5th ντ candidate event found in the analysis of an enlarged data sample. Given the number of analysed events and the low background, νμ → ντ oscillations have been established with a significance of 5.1σ. The analysis of the present electron neutrino sample in the framework of the 3 + 1 sterile model is also presented. Finally the analysis of the muon charge ratio in the cosmic ray sample is discussed.

Highlights

  • After more than 60 years since the first direct observation of anti-νe from reactors, neutrinos are still the least known particles of the Standard Model, which foresees the existence of three neutrinos, one for each charged lepton

  • The muon spectrometers were composed of an iron-core dipole magnet with drift tubes used as precision trackers and 22 layers of resistive plate chambers (RPC) inside the magnetized iron

  • The OPERA experiment was designed to observe νμ → ντ oscillations through τ appearance in a pure νμ beam

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Summary

Introduction

After more than 60 years since the first direct observation of anti-νe from reactors, neutrinos are still the least known particles of the Standard Model, which foresees the existence of three neutrinos, one for each charged lepton. Even if the absolute mass scale has not yet been measured, the two ∆m2 values are well known from neutrino oscillation experiments, as well as the mixing matrix, all except for the phase. Nowadays there are many experiments that have observed neutrino oscillations, both from natural (solar and atmospheric) and artificial (nuclear reactors and neutrino beams) sources. This paper is a review of the latest results from the OPERA experiment, designed to observe, on a muon neutrino beam, oscillations in tau neutrinos induced by ∆m2atm and θ23 , the parameters. It is worth noticing that, thanks to the use of nuclear emulsions, OPERA is a unique experiment, able to identify the CC interactions of all the three neutrino flavors (νe , νμ , and ντ )

The OPERA Experiment
Events Classification and Scanning
The τ candidateobserved observed by
Charged Hadron Multiplicities in Charged-Current Neutrino–Lead Interactions
Cosmic Ray Physics
Discussion
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