An atmospheric muon neutrino disappearance measurement with the MINOS Far Detector
by Gogos, Jeremy Peter, Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, 2007, 185 pages; 3291500

Abstract:

It is now widely accepted that the Standard Model assumption of massless neutrinos is wrong, due primarily to the observation of solar and atmospheric neutrino flavor oscillations by a small number of convincing experiments. The MINOS Far Detector, capable of observing both the outgoing lepton and associated showering products of a neutrino interaction, provides an excellent opportunity to independently search for an oscillation signature in atmospheric neutrinos. To this end, a MINOS data set from an 883 live day, 13.1 kt-yr exposure collected between July, 2003 and April, 2007 has been analyzed. 105 candidate charged current muon neutrino interactions were observed, with 120.5 ± 1.3 (statistical error only) expected in the absence of oscillation. A maximum likelihood analysis of the observed log(L/E) spectrum shows that the null oscillation hypothesis is excluded at over 96% confidence and that the best fit oscillation parameters are sin2 2&thetas; 23 = 0.95−0.32 and Δ[special characters omitted] × 10−3 eV2. This measurement of oscillation parameters is consistent with the best fit values from the Super-Kamiokande experiment at 68% confidence.

 
AdvisersJon Urheim; Peter Litchfield
SchoolUNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA
SourceDAI/B 68-12, p. , Mar 2008
Source TypeDissertation
SubjectsParticle physics
Publication Number3291500
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