Current Neutrino Experiments Research Articles

Statistical Issues on the Neutrino Mass Hierarchy with Δχ2

The neutrino mass hierarchy determination (ν MHD) is one of the main goals of the major current and future neutrino experiments. The statistical analysis usually proceeds from a standard method, a single-dimensional estimator 1D−Δχ2 that shows some drawbacks and concerns, together with a debatable strategy. The drawbacks and considerations of the standard method will be explained through the following three main issues. The first issue corresponds to the limited power of the standard method. The Δχ2 estimator provides us with different results when different simulation procedures were used. Regarding the second issue, when χminNH2 and χminIH2 are drawn in a 2D map, their strong positive correlation manifests χ2 as a bidimensional variable, instead of a single-dimensional estimator. The overlapping between the χ2 distributions of the two hypotheses leads to an experiment sensitivity reduction. The third issue corresponds to the robustness of the standard method. When the JUNO sensitivity is obtained using different procedures, either with Δχ2 as one-dimensional or χ2 as two-dimensional estimator, the experimental sensitivity varies with the different values of the atmospheric mass, the input parameter. We computed the oscillation of Δχ2¯ with the input parameter values, Δm2input. The MH significance using the standard method, Δχ2, strongly depends on the values of the parameter Δm2input. Consequently, the experiment sensitivity depends on the precision of the atmospheric mass. This evaluation of the standard method confirms the drawbacks.

A Modified Slicing Method with Multi-Dimensional Unfolding to Measure Hadron-Argon Cross Sections

Liquid argon technology is widely used by many previous and current neutrino experiments, and it is also promising for future large-scale neutrino experiments. When detecting neutrinos using liquid argon, many hadrons are involved, which can also interact with argon nuclei. In order to gain a better understanding of the detection processes, and to simulate neutrino events, knowledge of hadron-argon cross sections is needed. This paper describes a new procedure which improves upon the previous work with multi-dimensional unfolding to measure hadron-argon cross sections in a liquid argon time projection chamber. Through a simplified version of simulation, we demonstrate the validity of this procedure.

Neutrinos from core-collapse supernovae at KM3NeT

The SN1987A supernova was the first extragalactic neutrino de- tection, but no further observations have been made since. Detecting neutrinos from a galactic supernova would provide invaluable information on the supernova mechanism and particle behavior in dense environments, hence, improving the sensitivity of current and upcoming neutrino experiments is crucial. In this contribution, we discuss how the optical module design of the KM3NeT neutrino experiment would allow to observe supernova neutrinos. We present KM3NeT’s sensitivity to galactic supernovae and describe its associated online alert system for multi-messenger studies. Finally, we discuss KM3NeT’s ability to infer the supernova evolution from the time profile of the associated neutrino emission.

Measurement of proton-carbon forward scattering in a proof-of-principle test of the EMPHATIC spectrometer

The next generation of long-baseline neutrino experiments will be capable of precision measurements of neutrino oscillation parameters, precision neutrino-nucleus scattering, and unprecedented sensitivity to physics beyond the Standard Model. Reduced uncertainties in neutrino fluxes are necessary to achieve high precision and sensitivity in these future precise neutrino measurements. New measurements of hadron-nucleus interaction cross sections are needed to reduce uncertainties of neutrino fluxes. We report measurements of the differential cross-section as a function of scattering angle for proton-carbon interactions with a single charged particle in the final state at beam momenta of 20, 30, and 120 GeV/c. These measurements are the result of a beam test for EMPHATIC, a hadron-scattering and hadron-production experiment. The total, elastic and inelastic cross-sections are also extracted from the data and compared to previous measurements. These results can be used in current and future long-baseline neutrino experiments, and demonstrate the feasibility of future measurements by an upgraded EMPHATIC spectrometer.

Rocks, water, and noble liquids: Unfolding the flavor contents of supernova neutrinos

Measuring core-collapse supernova neutrinos, both from individual supernovae within the Milky Way and from past core collapses throughout the Universe (the diffuse supernova neutrino background, or DSNB), is one of the main goals of current and next generation neutrino experiments. Detecting the heavy-lepton flavor (muon and tau types, collectively ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{x}$) component of the flux is particularly challenging due to small statistics and large backgrounds. While the next galactic neutrino burst will be observed in a plethora of neutrino channels, allowing us to measure a small number of ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{x}$ events, only upper limits are anticipated for the diffuse ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{x}$ flux even after decades of data taking with conventional detectors. However, paleo detectors could measure the time-integrated flux of neutrinos from galactic core-collapse supernovae via flavor-blind neutral current interactions. In this work, we show how combining a measurement of the average galactic core-collapse supernova flux with paleo detectors and measurements of the DSNB electron-type neutrino fluxes with the next-generation water Cherenkov detector Hyper-Kamiokande and the liquid noble gas detector DUNE will allow to determine the mean supernova ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{x}$ flux parameters with precision of order ten percent. Realizing this potential requires both the cosmic supernova rate out to $z\ensuremath{\sim}1$ and the integrated Galactic supernova rate over the last $\ensuremath{\sim}1\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{Gyr}$ to be established at the $\ensuremath{\sim}10%$ level.

Axionlike particles from primordial black hole evaporation and their detection in neutrino experiments

The primordial black holes (PBHs) play as a novel source to radiate light elementary particles of energies in the region of a few hundred MeV. We explore the possibility that the axion-like particles (ALPs) with mass less than 1 MeV are produced from PBH evaporation. The absorption of light ALPs in the underground detector targets then induces energetic photoelectron signatures in current and future neutrino experiments. Utilizing the PBH ALP event rate, we place general exclusion limits on the axion couplings at Super-K and Hyper-K. We also translate these limits into the upper bound on the fraction of DM composed of PBHs $f_{\rm PBH}$.

Neutrino physics in TeV scale gravity theories

In this paper, the general features of the neutrino sector in TeV scale quantum gravity theories, such as ADD and Many Species Theory, is investigated. This class of theories has an inherent way to generate small neutrino masses. After reviewing this mechanism it is generalized to a realistic three-flavour case. Furthermore, a procedure is presented how to diagonalize a mass matrix which is generated by this class of theories and how one can find the Standard Model flavour eigenstates. The developed general approach is applied to two specific scenarios within ADD and Many Species Theory and possible effects on neutrino oscillations and on unitarity of the lepton mixing matrix are calculated. Finally, a short overview of phenomenology which can be potentially testable by the nowadays neutrino experiments is presented.

A substandard candle: the low-nu method at few-GeV neutrino energies

As accelerator-based neutrino oscillation experiments improve oscillation parameter constraints with more data, control over systematic uncertainties on the incoming neutrino flux and interaction models is increasingly important. The intense beams offered by modern experiments permit a variety of options to constrain the flux using in situ “standard candle” measurements. These standard candles must use very well understood interaction processes to avoid introducing additional interaction model dependence. One option often discussed in this context is the “low-nu ” method, which is designed to isolate neutrino interactions where there is low energy-transfer to the nucleus, such that the interaction cross section is expected to be approximately constant as a function of neutrino energy. The shape of the low-energy transfer event sample can then be used to extract the flux shape. Applications of the method at high neutrino energies (many tens of GeV) are well understood. However, the applicability of the method at the lower energies of current and future few-GeV accelerator neutrino experiments remains unclear due to the presence of nuclear and form-factor effects inherent in the interaction models.In this analysis we examine the prospects for improving constraints on the accelerator neutrino fluxes in situ with the low-nu method in an experiment-independent way, using (anti)neutrino interactions on argon and hydrocarbon targets from the GENIE, NEUT, NuWro and GiBUU event generators. We begin by investigating the extent to which deviations from the constant cross-section assumption are dependent on poorly understood aspects of the neutrino interaction model. We then assess whether a low energy-transfer event sample can be confidently identified using experimentally accessible observables. We finally consider how the practicalities of reconstructing the energy spectrum of interacting neutrinos in realistic detectors might further limit the utility of low-nu flux constraints. The results show that flux constraints from the low-nu method would be severely dependent on the interaction model assumptions used in an analysis of neutrinos with energies below 5 GeV, and anti-neutrinos below at least 15 GeV. The spread of model predictions show that a low-nu analysis is unlikely to offer much improvement on typical neutrino flux uncertainties, even with a perfect detector. Notably—running counter to the assumption inherent to the low-nu method—the model-dependence increases with decreasing energy transfer for experiments in the few-GeV region.

Solutions to the MiniBooNE Anomaly from New Physics in Charged Meson Decays.

We point out that production of new bosons by charged meson decays can greatly enhance the sensitivity of beam-focused accelerator-based experiments to new physics signals. This enhancement arises since the charged mesons are focused and their three-body decays do not suffer from helicity suppression in the same way as their usual two-body decays. As a realistic application, we attempt to explain the MiniBooNE low energy excess utilizing this overlooked mechanism, uniquely realizing dark-sector interpretations as plausible solutions to the excess. As proof of the principle, we consider two well-motivated classes of dark-sector models, models of vector-portal dark matter and models of long-lived (pseudo)scalar. We argue that the model parameter values to accommodate the excess are consistent with existing limits and that they can be tested at current and future accelerator-based neutrino experiments.

Novel approach for evaluating detector-related uncertainties in a LArTPC using MicroBooNE data

Primary challenges for current and future precision neutrino experiments using liquid argon time projection chambers (LArTPCs) include understanding detector effects and quantifying the associated systematic uncertainties. This paper presents a novel technique for assessing and propagating LArTPC detector-related systematic uncertainties. The technique makes modifications to simulation waveforms based on a parameterization of observed differences in ionization signals from the TPC between data and simulation, while remaining insensitive to the details of the detector model. The modifications are then used to quantify the systematic differences in low- and high-level reconstructed quantities. This approach could be applied to future LArTPC detectors, such as those used in SBN and DUNE.

Dark matter annihilation to neutrinos

We review the annihilation of dark matter into neutrinos over a range of dark matter masses from MeV$/c^2$ to ZeV$/c^2$. Thermally-produced models of dark matter are expected to self-annihilate to standard model products. As no such signal has yet been detected, we turn to neutrino detectors to constrain the ``most invisible channel.'' We review the experimental techniques that are used to detect neutrinos, and revisit the expected contributions to the neutrino flux at current and upcoming neutrino experiments. We place updated constraints on the dark matter self-annhilation cross section to neutrinos $\langle \sigma v \rangle$ using the most recently available data, and forecast the sensitivity of upcoming experiments such as Hyper-Kamiokande, DUNE, and IceCube Gen-2. Where possible, limits and projections are scaled to a single set of dark matter halo parameters for consistent comparison. We consider Galactic and extragalactic signals of $s$, $p$, and $d$-wave annihilation processes directly into neutrino pairs, yielding constraints that range from $\langle \sigma v \rangle \sim 2.5\times10^{-26}~{\rm cm}^3 {\rm s}^{-1}$ at 30 MeV$/c^2$ to $10^{-17}~{\rm cm}^3{\rm s}^{-1}$ at 10$^{11}$ GeV$/c^2$. Experiments that report directional and energy information of their events provide much stronger constraints, outlining the importance of making such data public.

Neutrino event selection in the MicroBooNE liquid argon time projection chamber using Wire-Cell 3D imaging, clustering, and charge-light matching

An accurate and efficient event reconstruction is required to realize the full scientific capability of liquid argon time projection chambers (LArTPCs). The current and future neutrino experiments that rely on massive LArTPCs create a need for new ideas and reconstruction approaches. Wire-Cell, proposed in recent years, is a novel tomographic event reconstruction method for LArTPCs. The Wire-Cell 3D imaging approach capitalizes on charge, sparsity, time, and geometry information to reconstruct a topology-agnostic 3D image of the ionization electrons prior to pattern recognition. A second novel method, the many-to-many charge-light matching, then pairs the TPC charge activity to the detected scintillation light signal, thus enabling a powerful rejection of cosmic-ray muons in the MicroBooNE detector. A robust processing of the scintillation light signal and an appropriate clustering of the reconstructed 3D image are fundamental to this technique. In this paper, we describe the principles and algorithms of these techniques and their successful application in the MicroBooNE experiment. A quantitative evaluation of the performance of these techniques is presented. Using these techniques, a 95% efficient pre-selection of neutrino charged-current events is achieved with a 30-fold reduction of non-beam-coincident cosmic-ray muons, and about 80% of the selected neutrino charged-current events are reconstructed with at least 70% completeness and 80% purity.

Evaluation of Portable Acceleration Solutions for LArTPC Simulation Using Wire-Cell Toolkit

The Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) technology plays an essential role in many current and future neutrino experiments. Accurate and fast simulation is critical to developing efficient analysis algorithms and precise physics model projections. The speed of simulation becomes more important as Deep Learning algorithms are getting more widely used in LArTPC analysis and their training requires a large simulated dataset. Heterogeneous computing is an efficient way to delegate computationally intensive tasks to specialized hardware. However, as the landscape of compute accelerators quickly evolves, it becomes increasingly difficult to manually adapt the code to the latest hardware or software environments. A solution which is portable to multiple hardware architectures without substantially compromising performance would thus be very beneficial, especially for long-term projects such as the LArTPC simulations. In search of a portable, scalable and maintainable software solution for LArTPC simulations, we have started to explore high-level portable programming frameworks that support several hardware backends. In this paper, we present our experience porting the LArTPC simulation code in the Wire-Cell Toolkit to NVIDIA GPUs, first with the CUDA programming model and then with a portable library called Kokkos. Preliminary performance results on NVIDIA V100 GPUs and multi-core CPUs are presented, followed by a discussion of the factors affiecting the performance and plans for future improvements.

Impact of high energy beam tunes on the sensitivities to the standard unknowns at DUNE

Even though neutrino oscillations have been conclusively established, there are a few unanswered questions pertaining to leptonic Charge Parity violation (CPV), mass hierarchy (MH) and $\theta_{23}$ octant degeneracy. Addressing these questions is of paramount importance at the current and future neutrino experiments including the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) which has a baseline of 1300 km. In the standard mode, DUNE is expected to run with a {\textit{low energy}} (LE) tuned beam which peaks around the first oscillation maximum ($2-3$ GeV) (and then sharply falls off as we go to higher energies). However, the wide band nature of the beam available at long baseline neutrino facility (LBNF) allows for the flexibility in utilizing beam tunes that are well-suited at higher energies as well. In this work, we utilize a beam that provides high statistics at higher energies which is referred to as the {\textit{medium energy}} (ME) beam. This opens up the possibility of exploring not only the usual oscillation channels but also the $\nu_{\mu} \to \nu_{\tau}$ oscillation channel which was otherwise not accessible. Our goal is to find an optimal combination of beam tune and runtime (with the total runtime held fixed) distributed in neutrino and antineutrino mode that leads to an improvement in the sensitivities of these parameters at DUNE. In our analysis, we incorporate all the three channels ($\nu_{\mu} \to \nu_{e}, \nu_{\mu} \to \nu_{\mu}, \nu_{\mu} \to \nu_{\tau}$) and develop an understanding of their relative contributions in sensitivities at the level of $\Delta \chi^2$. Finally, we obtain the preferred combination of runtime using both the beam tunes as well as neutrino and antineutrino mode that lead to enhanced sensitivity to the current unknowns in neutrino oscillation physics i.e., CPV, MH and $\theta_{23}$ octant.

Neutrino decoherence from quantum gravitational stochastic perturbations

Neutrinos undergoing stochastic perturbations as they propagate experience decoherence, damping neutrino oscillations over distance. Such perturbations may result from fluctuations in space-time itself if gravity is a quantum force, including interactions between neutrinos and virtual black holes. In this work we model the influence of heuristic neutrino-virtual black hole interaction scenarios on neutrino propagation and evaluate the resulting signals in astrophysical and atmospheric neutrinos. We demonstrate how these effects can be represented in the framework of open quantum systems, allowing experimental constraints on such systems to be connected to quantum gravitational effects. Finally, we consider the energy-dependence of such Planck scale physics at energies observed in current neutrino experiments, and show that sensitivity to Planck scale physics well below the `natural' expectation is achievable in certain scenarios.

The sensitivity to electron antineutrinos from the binary neutron star systems at medium-baseline reactor neutrino oscillation experiment(s)

After gravitational wave (GW) transients were first observed in 2015, searching for the coincident neutrinos has become one of the most important missions at the current neutrino experiments. Particularly, the coincident searches draw more and more attentions after one GW candidate (denoted GW170817) was detected, which was the first sign of a production of a binary neutron star (BNS) merger. However, no candidate neutrinos have been found yet. As a prospective study, this article presents a search for the potential electron antineutrinos (ν¯e) from BNS mergers in future medium-baseline reactor neutrino oscillation (MBRO) experiment(s). On one hand, we examine the detection sensitivity to the ν¯e signals from BNS mergers at future MBRO experiment(s). On the other hand, we convert the ν¯e signal sensitivity to the ν¯e fluence upper limits and evaluate the furthest detectable distances for BNS mergers based on the evolution models describing the process of neutrino emission. Moreover, we also analyze the improvement of sensitivity and the enhancement of detectable distance with a proposed extra detector at future MBRO experiment(s).

A complete optical model for liquid-scintillator detectors

Liquid scintillator (LS) is widely used in various neutrino oscillation experiments, in particular, the reactor neutrino experiments. The complex absorption and re-emission processes of optical photons are known to be an important source of the non-linear and non-uniform response of LS detectors. Precise simulation of light propagation in LS is highly desirable to model the detector response and reduce the systematic errors. In this paper, we develop a novel optical model which can completely deal with the competitive photon absorption and subsequent re-emission processes of the LS components. It allows to directly plug in the laboratory measurements of the LS components to model any LS composition. Extensive measurements have been performed to obtain the essential optical parameters for this model. We validate the model with a bench-top experiment featuring a small LS volume. Furthermore, we demonstrate that for any given detector geometry, this model provides the capability of optimizing the LS recipe to maximize the light collection. It is valuable for designing future LS-based detectors and improving the agreement between Monte Carlo and data for current neutrino experiments.

Detector Physics with MicroBooNE

The MicroBooNE detector is a liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC), designed for the short-baseline neutrino physics program in the Booster neutrino beamline at Fermilab. Because of their exceptional calorimetric and tracking capabilities, LArTPCs are employed in many current and future neutrino experiments. MicroBooNE, as an operating physics experiment, plays a crucial role in characterising the performance of this technology. We present an overview of the ongoing detector physics studies in MicroBooNE, including a brief introduction to the detector sub-systems and a procedure for calibrating calorimetry in LArTPC. The latter involves studies of signal processing, charge uniformity, ionised electron lifetime and charge recombination. Through the laser system in MicroBooNE, we demonstrate that profound knowledge of the electric field is essential to conduct a neutrino experiment with LArTPCs.

Lattice QCD and neutrino-nucleus scattering

This document is one of a series of whitepapers from the USQCD collaboration. Here, we discuss opportunities for lattice QCD in neutrino-oscillation physics, which inevitably entails nucleon and nuclear structure. In addition to discussing pertinent lattice-QCD calculations of nucleon and nuclear matrix elements, the interplay with models of nuclei is discussed. This program of lattice- QCD calculations is relevant to current and upcoming neutrino experiments, becoming increasingly important on the timescale of LBNF/DUNE and HyperK.

Weak production of strange Ξ baryons off the nucleon

The charged current Cabibbo-supressed associated $K \Xi$ production off the nucleon induced by anti-neutrinos is studied at low and intermediate energies. The non-resonant terms are obtained using a microscopical model based on the SU(3) chiral Lagrangian. The basic parameters of the model are $f_\pi$, the pion decay constant, Cabibbo's angle, the proton and neutron magnetic moments and the axial vector coupling constants for the baryons octet, D and F, that are obtained from the analysis of the semileptonic decays of neutron and hyperons. In addition, we also consider $\Sigma^\ast(1385)$ resonance, which can decay in $K \Xi$ final state when this channel is open. The studied mechanism is the prime source of $\Xi$ production at anti-neutrino energies around $2$ GeV and the calculated cross sections at these energies can be measured at the current and future neutrino experiments.