Booster Neutrino Beam Research Articles

Design of the cryogenic systems for the Near and Far LAr-TPC detectors of the Short-Baseline Neutrino program (SBN) at Fermilab

The Short-Baseline Neutrino (SBN) physics program at Fermilab and Neutrino Platform (NP) at CERN are part of the international Neutrino Program leading to the development of Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility/Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (LBNF/DUNE) science project. The SBN program consisting of three Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LAr-TPC) detectors positioned along the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) at Fermilab includes an existing detector known as MicroBooNE (170-ton LAr-TPC) plus two new experiments known as SBN’s Near Detector (SBND, ∼260 tons) and SBN’s Far Detector (SBN-FD, ∼760 tons). All three detectors have distinctly different design of their cryostats thus defining specific requirements for the cryogenic systems. Fermilab has already built two new facilities to house SBND and SBN-FD detectors. The cryogenic systems for these detectors are in various stages of design and construction with CERN and Fermilab being responsible for delivery of specific sub-systems. This contribution presents specific design requirements and typical implementation solutions for each sub-system of the SBND and SBN-FD cryogenic systems.

Search for Dark Matter in the beam-dump of a proton beam with MiniBooNE

A search for the production of sub-GeV dark matter via vector boson mediators was carried out using 8 GeV protons from the Fermilab Booster in a dedicated run where 1.86×1020 protons were delivered to the steel beam dump of the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB). The MiniBooNE detector, 490 m downstream of the beam dump, is sensitive to the elastic scattering of dark matter particles off nucleons in the detector mineral oil, and neutrinos are an irreducible background. Here, a description of the detection principle and the analysis method of this novel and powerful technique to search for dark matter is given, and the results of a search in the context of a vector portal model of dark matter, as well as future prospects, are discussed.

Measurements of muon neutrino charged-current interactions by the MicroBooNE experiment

MicroBooNE is a 170 ton Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) experiment located at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. It has been operating in the Booster neutrino beam since October 2015 and is already demonstrating the superb imaging capabilities of LArTPC detectors. MicroBooNE is the first large LArTPC detector to be exposed to a high-intensity neutrino beam. Among its primary physics goals are precise measurements of muon neutrino charged-current (CC) interactions on argon. In order to analyse its high-statistics data, a suite of fully automated techniques have been developed that reconstruct the LArTPC images and separate muon neutrino CC interactions from their cosmic-ray and neutral current backgrounds. These proceedings will describe the reconstruction and selection of muon neutrino CC event candidates, and present measured distributions of the observed events based on 5e19 protons on target from the first MicroBooNE data-taking period.

VALOR joint oscillation analysis using multiple LAr-TPCs in the Booster Neutrino Beam at Fermilab

Anomalies observed by different experiments, the most significant ones being the ∼3.8 sigma νe appearance in a ∼50 MeV νµ beam from muon decay at rest observed by the LSND experiment and the ∼3.8 sigma νe and appearance in a ∼1 GeV neutrino beam from pion decay in flight observed by MiniBooNE, suggest the existence of sterile neutrinos. The Short Baseline Neutrino (SBN) program at Fermilab aims to perform a sensitive search for sterile neutrinos by performing analyses of νe appearance and νµ disappearance employing three Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers (LAr-TPCs) at different baselines.The VALOR neutrino fitting group was established within the T2K experiment and has led numerous flagship T2K oscillation analyses, and provided sensitivity and detector optimisation studies for DUNE and Hyper-K. The neutrino oscillation framework developed by this group is able to perform fits of several samples and systematic parameters within different neutrino models and experiments. Thus, VALOR is an ideal environment for the neutrino oscillation fits using multiple LAr-TPC detectors with proper treatment of correlated systematic uncertainties necessary for the SBN analyses.

Model uncertainties at MicroBooNE

The MicroBooNE experiment is a 170 ton Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) experiment designed for short-baseline neutrino physics, located at surface level in the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) at Fermilab. A muon neutrino-argon charged current (CC) cross section measurement in the energy range of ∼200 MeV - 2 GeV has recently been started. These proceedings describe our first steps to understand the potential of MicroBooNE to distinguish between di?erent theories for modeling nuclear effects in neutrino scattering and the interaction model systematics that apply to MicroBooNE measurements (in particular to the muon neutrino CC event selection), before the first neutrino-argon cross sections can be derived.

Physics Program of the Short-Baseline Near Detector

SBND (Short-Baseline Near Detector) will be a 112 ton liquid argon TPC neutrino detector located 110 m from the target of the Fermilab Booster Neutrino Beam. SBND, together with the MicroBooNE and ICARUS-T600 detectors at 470 m and 600 m, respectively, make up the Fermilab Short-Baseline Neutrino (SBN) Program. SBN will search for new physics in the neutrino sector by testing the sterile neutrino hypothesis in the 1 eV2 mass squared region with unrivaled sensitivity. SBND will measure the unoscillated beam flavor composition to enable precision searches for neutrino oscillations via both electron neutrino appearance and muon neutrino disappearance in the far detectors. With a data sample of millions of neutrino interactions (both electron and muon neutrinos), SBND will also perform detailed studies of the physics of neutrino-argon interactions, even in rare channels. In this poster the physics program of SBND will be presented.

SBND: Status of the Fermilab Short-Baseline Near Detector

SBND (Short-Baseline Near Detector) will be a 112 ton liquid argon TPC neutrino detector located 110m from the target of the Fermilab Booster Neutrino Beam. SBND, together with the MicroBooNE and ICARUS-T600 detectors at 470m and 600m, respectively, make up the Fermilab Short-Baseline Neutrino (SBN) Program. SBN will search for new physics in the neutrino sector by testing the sterile neutrino hypothesis in the 1 eV2 mass-squared region with unrivaled sensitivity. SBND will measure the un-oscillated beam flavor composition to enable precision searches for neutrino oscillations via both electron neutrino appearance and muon neutrino disappearance in the far detectors. With a data sample of millions of neutrino interactions (both electron and muon neutrinos), SBND will also perform detailed studies of the physics of neutrino-argon interactions, even in rare channels. In addition, SBND plays an important role in an on-going R&D effort within neutrino physics to develop the LArTPC technology toward many-kiloton-scale detectors for next generation long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments. The design details and current status of the detector is presented here.

Sterile neutrino searches with the ICARUS T600 detector

The successful run of ICARUS T600 at LNGS underground laboratory, receiving CNGS beam and atmospheric neutrinos, represents the first large-scale example of a liquid Argon TPC in a neutrino physics experiment. The relevant physics and technological results proved the maturity of the LAr TPC technique. The ICARUS T600 detector will take part in the SBN project at the Booster neutrino beam at FNAL, that has the goal to provide a definitive answer to the sterile neutrino puzzle by measuring both νe appearance and νμ disappearance. The detector is currently undergoing an extensive overhauling at CERN, and its installation at FNAL is scheduled for the beginning of 2017.

Muon momentum measurement in ICARUS-T600 LAr-TPC via multiple scattering in few-GeV range

The measurement of muon momentum by Multiple Coulomb Scattering is a crucial ingredient to the reconstruction of νμ CC events in the ICARUS-T600 liquid argon TPC in absence of magnetic field, as in the search for sterile neutrinos at Fermilab where ICARUS will be exposed to ∼ 1 GeV Booster neutrino beam. A sample of ∼ 1000 stopping muons produced by charged current interactions of CNGS νμ in the surrounding rock at the INFN Gran Sasso underground Laboratory provides an ideal benchmark in the few-GeV range since their momentum can be directly and independently obtained by the calorimetric measurement. Stopping muon momentum in the 0.5–4.5 GeV/c range has been reconstructed via Multiple Coulomb Scattering with resolution ranging from 10 to 25% depending on muon energy, track length and uniformity of the electric field in the drift volume.

Search for sterile neutrinos in muon neutrino disappearance mode at FNAL

The NESSiE Collaboration has been setup to undertake a conclusive experiment to clarify the muon-neutrino disappearance measurements at short baselines in order to put severe constraints to models with more than the three-standard neutrinos. To this aim the current FNAL-Booster neutrino beam for a Short-Baseline experiment was carefully evaluated by considering the use of magnetic spectrometers at two sites, near and far ones. The detector locations were studied, together with the achievable performances of two OPERA-like spectrometers. The study was constrained by the availability of existing hardware and a time-schedule compatible with the undergoing project of multi-site Liquid–Argon detectors at FNAL. The settled physics case and the kind of proposed experiment on the Booster neutrino beam would definitively clarify the existing tension between the nu _{mu } disappearance and the nu _{e} appearance/disappearance at the eV mass scale. In the context of neutrino oscillations the measurement of nu _{mu } disappearance is a robust and fast approach to either reject or discover new neutrino states at the eV mass scale. We discuss an experimental program able to extend by more than one order of magnitude (for neutrino disappearance) and by almost one order of magnitude (for antineutrino disappearance) the present range of sensitivity for the mixing angle between standard and sterile neutrinos. These extensions are larger than those achieved in any other proposal presented so far.

The NESSiE way to searches for sterile neutrinos at FNAL

Neutrino physics is nowadays receiving more and more attention as a possible source of information for the long–standing problem of new physics beyond the Standard Model. The recent measurement of the mixing angle θ13 in the standard mixing oscillation scenario encourages us to pursue the still missing results on leptonic CP violation and absolute neutrino masses. However, puzzling measurements exist that deserve an exhaustive evaluation.The NESSiE Collaboration has been setup to undertake conclusive experiments to clarify the muon–neutrino disappearance measurements at small L/E, which will be able to put severe constraints to models with more than the three-standard neutrinos, or even to robustly measure the presence of a new kind of neutrino oscillation for the first time. To this aim the use of the current FNAL–Booster neutrino beam for a Short–Baseline experiment has been carefully evaluated. Its recent proposal refers to the use of magnetic spectrometers at two different sites, Near and Far ones. Their positions have been extensively studied, together with the possible performances of two OPERA–like spectrometers. The proposal is constrained by availability of existing hardware and a time–schedule compatible with the undergoing project of a multi–site Liquid–Argon detectors at FNAL.The experiment to be possibly setup at Booster will allow to definitively clarify the current νμ disappearance tension with νe appearance and disappearance at the eV mass scale.

Developing LAr scintillation light collection ideas in the Short Baseline Neutrino Detector

Scintillation light is becoming the most rapidly developing feature of Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) neutrino detectors due to its capability to enhance and expand their physics reach traditionally based on charge readout. The SBND detector, set to be built on the Booster Neutrino Beam Line at Fermilab, is in a unique position to test novel liquid argon scintillation light readout systems in a detector with physics neutrino events. The different ideas under consideration by the collaboration are described, including an array of PMTs detecting direct light, SiPM coupled lightguide bars and a setup which uses PMTs/SiPMS and wavelength shifter covered reflector foils, as well as their respective strengths and physics foci and the benchmarks used to compare them.

ICARUS T600: physics results and future activities

The ICARUS T600 detector has proven the effectiveness of Liquid Argon TPC technology with a successful three-year long run at the INFN Gran Sasso National Laboratories (LNGS).ICARUS T600 LNGS data strongly contributed to the global effort in searching for neutrino oscillations mediated by sterile states. A definitive clarification of the sterile neutrino puzzle will come from the new multi-station, Short Baseline Neutrino (SBN) experiment at the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) at Fermilab, where a refurbished T600 will act as Far Detector.Presently the T600 detector is located at CERN, undergoing a major overhauling which will allow its participation in the 5 years program of the Fermilab upcoming SBN project. Moreover, ICARUS T600 is also foreseen to collect data with the NUMI Beam to be later exploited in the wider picture of the DUNE Long-Baseline project, recently undertaken by the United States community.This contribution will report the present physics results obtained by the ICARUS Collaboration, as well as describe the overhauling activities and the physics program for the detector in its future deployment at Fermilab.

The LAr1-ND Experiment

LAr1-ND is a Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) based experiment which will operate in the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) at Fermilab, at a distance of 110m from the target. The 112t active volume detector will make precision measurements of the neutrino interaction cross section in argon, as well as forming the near detector for the short-baseline neutrino (SBN) programme at Fermilab. The 4m × 4m × 5m TPC consists of 2 anode planes, each composed of 3 wire planes, with a central cathode. In combination with the MicroBooNE and ICARUS-T600 detectors, this experiment provides a powerful opportunity to understand observed neutrino anomalies, and has the potential to make precision measurements of oscillations to sterile states.In addition to the physics goals, the detector technology developed and used in this experiment will form an important step towards the future detectors for long-baseline neutrino experiments. The detector design will be discussed in the context of its physics potential, and contribution to future technologies.

The WA104 Experiment at CERN

The refurbishment operations, inside the WA104 programme at CERN, of the Icarus T600 detector, in view of its possible run on the FNAL short-baseline Booster neutrino beam (BNB), will be outlined.

Improving Dark Matter Searches by Measuring the Nucleon Axial Form Factor: Perspectives from MicroBooNE

The MicroBooNE neutrino experiment at Fermilab is constructing a liquid-argon time-projection chamber for the Booster Neutrino Beam to study neutrino oscillations and interactions with nucleons and nuclei, starting in 2014. We describe the experiment and focus on its unique abilities to measure cross sections at low values of Q2. In particular, the neutral-current elastic scattering cross section is especially interesting, as it is sensitive to the contribution of the strange sea quark spin to the angular-momentum of the nucleon, Δs. Implications for dark-matter searches are discussed.

A method for measuring coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering at a far off-axis high-energy neutrino beam target

We present an experimental method for measuring the process of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CENNS). This method uses a detector situated transverse to a high-energy neutrino beam production target. This detector would be sensitive to the low-energy neutrinos arising from decay-at-rest pions in the target. We discuss the physics motivation for making this measurement and outline the predicted backgrounds and sensitivities using this approach. We report a measurement of neutron backgrounds as found in an off-axis surface location of the Fermilab Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) target. The results indicate that the Fermilab BNB target is a favorable location for a CENNS experiment.

MicroBooNE

MicroBooNE is an experiment which will run in the Booster Neutrino Beam at Fermilab and is meant, predominantly, to investigate the low energy excess found by MiniBooNE in a νe appearance experiment. It will use a liquid argon TPC for its very good electron/photon discrimination capabilities. It will also address the LSND anomaly and measure neutrino cross sections on liquid argon. In addition it is meant as an R&D vehicle for larger liquid argon detectors planned for future experiments.

The Status of the MicroBooNE Experiment

The MicroBooNE experiment is an upcoming liquid argon TPC experiment which will pursue a program of short baseline neutrino physics in the Fermilab Booster Neutrino Beam, starting in early 2014. I give a description of the experiment and review the current status of various aspects of the MicroBooNE detector.

Readout electronics for the MicroBooNE LAr TPC, with CMOS front end at 89K

MicroBooNE experiment will use a ∼ 100 ton Liquid Argon (LAr) Time Projection Chamber (TPC) detector, presently under construction, to observe interactions of neutrinos from the on-axis Booster Neutrino Beam and off-axis NuMI Beam at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. The experiment will address the low energy excess observed by the MiniBooNE experiment, measure low energy neutrino cross sections, and serve as the necessary next step in a phased program towards massive Liquid Argon TPC detectors. An overview of the front end readout architecture of the MicroBooNE experiment will be presented. The design, prototypes and the production electronics system, comprised of cold CMOS electronics, warm interface electronics and TPC digitizing electronics will be described in some detail. The results of extensive tests on the noise versus temperature and of the uniformity of response will be presented.