Proposal for an Extended Run of T2K to 20×102120\times10^{21} POT

68 pages, 31 figures68 pages, 31 figures68 pages, 31 figuresRecent measurements by the T2K neutrino oscillation experiment indicate that CP violation in neutrino mixing may be observed in the future by long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments. We propose an extension to the currently approved T2K running from 7.8\times 10^{21}~\mbox{POT} to 20\times 10^{21}~\mbox{POT}, aiming at initial observation of CP violation with 3$\,\sigma$ or higher significance for the case of maximum CP violation. The program also contains a measurement of mixing parameters, $\theta_{23}$ and $\Delta m^2_{32}$, with a precision of 1.7$^\circ$ or better and 1%, respectively. With accelerator and beamline upgrades, as well as analysis improvements, this program would occur before the next generation of long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments that are expected to start operation in 2026

Search for electron antineutrino appearance in a long-baseline muon antineutrino beam

Electron antineutrino appearance is measured by the T2K experiment in an accelerator-produced antineutrino beam, using additional neutrino beam operation to constrain parameters of the Pontecorvo-Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata (PMNS) mixing matrix. T2K observes 15 candidate electron antineutrino events with a background expectation of 9.3 events. Including information from the kinematic distribution of observed events, the hypothesis of no electron antineutrino appearance is disfavored with a significance of 2.40σ and no discrepancy between data and PMNS predictions is found. A complementary analysis that introduces an additional free parameter which allows non-PMNS values of electron neutrino and antineutrino appearance also finds no discrepancy between data and PMNS predictions

Measurements of (nu)over-bar(mu) and (nu)over-bar(mu) + nu(mu) charged-current cross-sections without detected pions or protons on water and hydrocarbon at a mean anti-neutrino energy of 0.86 GeV

International audienceWe report measurements of the flux-integrated |$\overline{\nu}_\mu$| and |$\overline{\nu}_\mu+\nu_\mu$| charged-current cross-sections on water and hydrocarbon targets using the T2K anti-neutrino beam with a mean beam energy of 0.86 GeV. The signal is defined as the (anti-)neutrino charged-current interaction with one induced |$\mu^\pm$| and no detected charged pion or proton. These measurements are performed using a new WAGASCI module recently added to the T2K setup in combination with the INGRID Proton Module. The phase space of muons is restricted to the high-detection efficiency region, |$p_{\mu}>400~{\rm MeV}/c$| and |$\theta_{\mu}200~{\rm MeV}/c$|⁠, |$\theta_{\pi}600~{\rm MeV}/c$|⁠, |$\theta_{\rm p}<70^{\circ}$| is required. In this paper, both the |$\overline{\nu}_\mu$| cross-sections and |$\overline{\nu}_\mu+\nu_\mu$| cross-sections on water and hydrocarbon targets and their ratios are provided by using the D’Agostini unfolding method. The results of the integrated |$\overline{\nu}_\mu$| cross-section measurements over this phase space are |$\sigma_{\rm H_{2}O}=(1.082\pm0.068(\rm stat.)^{+0.145}_{-0.128}(\rm syst.)) \times 10^{-39}\,{\rm cm^{2} / nucleon}$|⁠, |$\sigma_{\rm CH}=(1.096\pm0.054(\rm stat.)^{+0.132}_{-0.117}(\rm syst.)) \times 10^{-39}\,{\rm cm^{2} / nucleon}$|⁠, and |$\sigma_{\rm H_{2}O}/\sigma_{\rm CH} = 0.987\pm0.078(\rm stat.)^{+0.093}_{-0.090}(\rm syst.)$|⁠. The |$\overline{\nu}_\mu+\nu_\mu$| cross-section is |$\sigma_{\rm H_{2}O} = (1.155\pm0.064(\rm stat.)^{+0.148}_{-0.129}(\rm syst.)) \times 10^{-39}\,{\rm cm^{2} / nucleon}$|⁠, |$\sigma_{\rm CH}=(1.159\pm0.049(\rm stat.)^{+0.129}_{-0.115}(\rm syst.)) \times 10^{-39}\,{\rm cm^{2} / nucleon}$|⁠, and |$\sigma_{\rm H_{2}O}/\sigma_{\rm CH}=0.996\pm0.069(\rm stat.)^{+0.083}_{-0.078}(\rm syst.)$|⁠

Search for neutral-current induced single photon production at the ND280 near detector in T2K

Neutrino neutral-current (NC) induced single photon production is a sub-leading order process for accelerator-based neutrino beam experiments including T2K. It is, however, an important process to understand because it is a background for electron (anti)neutrino appearance oscillation experiments. Here, we performed the first search of this process below 1 GeV using the fine-grained detector at the T2K ND280 off-axis near detector. By reconstructing single photon kinematics from electron–positron pairs, we achieved 95% pure gamma ray sample from $5.738\times {10}^{20}$ protons-on-targets neutrino mode data. We do not find positive evidence of NC induced single photon production in this sample. We set the model-dependent upper limit on the cross-section for this process, at $0.114\times {10}^{-38}$ cm2 (90% C.L.) per nucleon, using the J-PARC off-axis neutrino beam with an average energy of $\left\langle {E}_{\nu }\right\rangle \sim 0.6$ GeV. This is the first limit on this process below 1 GeV which is important for current and future oscillation experiments looking for electron neutrino appearance oscillation signals

Measurement of the single pi(0) production rate in neutral current neutrino interactions on water

The single π0 production rate in neutral current neutrino interactions on water in a neutrino beam with a peak neutrino energy of 0.6 GeV has been measured using the PØD, one of the subdetectors of the T2K near detector. The production rate was measured for data taking periods when the PØD contained water (2.64×10(20) protons-on-target) and also periods without water (3.49×10(20) protons-on-target). A measurement of the neutral current single π0 production rate on water is made using appropriate subtraction of the production rate with water in from the rate with water out of the target region. The subtraction analysis yields 106 ± 41 ± 69 signal events where the uncertainties are statistical (stat.) and systematic (sys.) respectively. This is consistent with the prediction of 157 events from the nominal simulation. The measured to expected ratio is 0.68 ± 0.26 (stat) ± 0.44 (sys) ± 0.12 (flux). The nominal simulation uses a flux integrated cross section of 7.63×10(−39)cm(2) per nucleon with an average neutrino interaction energy of 1.3 GeV

Scintillation light detection in the 6-m drift-length ProtoDUNE Dual Phase liquid argon TPC

DUNE is a dual-site experiment for long-baseline neutrino oscillation studies, neutrino astrophysics and nucleon decay searches. ProtoDUNE Dual Phase (DP) is a 6  ×  6  ×  6 m 3 liquid argon time-projection-chamber (LArTPC) that recorded cosmic-muon data at the CERN Neutrino Platform in 2019-2020 as a prototype of the DUNE Far Detector. Charged particles propagating through the LArTPC produce ionization and scintillation light. The scintillation light signal in these detectors can provide the trigger for non-beam events. In addition, it adds precise timing capabilities and improves the calorimetry measurements. In ProtoDUNE-DP, scintillation and electroluminescence light produced by cosmic muons in the LArTPC is collected by photomultiplier tubes placed up to 7 m away from the ionizing track. In this paper, the ProtoDUNE-DP photon detection system performance is evaluated with a particular focus on the different wavelength shifters, such as PEN and TPB, and the use of Xe-doped LAr, considering its future use in giant LArTPCs. The scintillation light production and propagation processes are analyzed and a comparison of simulation to data is performed, improving understanding of the liquid argon properties

Search for CP Violation in Neutrino and Antineutrino Oscillations by the T2K Experiment with 2.2 x 10(21) Protons on Target

International audienceThe T2K experiment measures muon neutrino disappearance and electron neutrino appearance in accelerator-produced neutrino and antineutrino beams. With an exposure of 14.7(7.6)×1020 protons on target in the neutrino (antineutrino) mode, 89 νe candidates and seven anti-νe candidates are observed, while 67.5 and 9.0 are expected for δCP=0 and normal mass ordering. The obtained 2σ confidence interval for the CP-violating phase, δCP, does not include the CP-conserving cases (δCP=0, π). The best-fit values of other parameters are sin2θ23=0.526-0.036+0.032 and Δm322=2.463-0.070+0.071×10-3  eV2/c4

Characterization of nuclear effects in muon-neutrino scattering on hydrocarbon with a measurement of final-state kinematics and correlations in charged-current pionless interactions at T2K

This paper reports measurements of final-state proton multiplicity, muon and proton kinematics, and their correlations in charged-current pionless neutrino interactions, measured by the T2K ND280 near detector in its plastic scintillator (C8H8) target. The data were taken between years 2010 and 2013, corresponding to approximately 6 × 1020 protons on target. Thanks to their exploration of the proton kinematics and of imbalances between the proton and muon kinematics, the results offer a novel probe of the nuclear-medium effects most pertinent to the (sub-)GeV neutrino-nucleus interactions that are used in accelerator-based long-baseline neutrino oscillation measurements. These results are compared to many neutrino-nucleus interaction models which all fail to describe at least part of the observed phase space. In case of events without a proton above a detection threshold in the final state, a fully consistent implementation of the local Fermi gas model with multinucleon interactions gives the best description of the data. In the case of at least one proton in the final state, the spectral function model agrees well with the data, most notably when measuring the kinematic imbalance between the muon and the proton in the plane transverse to the incoming neutrino. Within the models considered, only the existence of multinucleon interactions are able to describe the extracted cross section within regions of high transverse kinematic imbalance. The effect of final-state interactions is also discussed

Separation of track- and shower-like energy deposits in ProtoDUNE-SP using a convolutional neural network

Liquid argon time projection chamber detector technology provides high spatial and calorimetric resolutions on the charged particles traversing liquid argon. As a result, the technology has been used in a number of recent neutrino experiments, and is the technology of choice for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). In order to perform high precision measurements of neutrinos in the detector, final state particles need to be effectively identified, and their energy accurately reconstructed. This article proposes an algorithm based on a convolutional neural network to perform the classification of energy deposits and reconstructed particles as track-like or arising from electromagnetic cascades. Results from testing the algorithm on experimental data from ProtoDUNE-SP, a prototype of the DUNE far detector, are presented. The network identifies track- and shower-like particles, as well as Michel electrons, with high efficiency. The performance of the algorithm is consistent between experimental data and simulation

Low exposure long-baseline neutrino oscillation sensitivity of the DUNE experiment

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) will produce world-leading neutrino oscillation measurements over the lifetime of the experiment. In this work, we explore DUNE's sensitivity to observe charge-parity violation (CPV) in the neutrino sector, and to resolve the mass ordering, for exposures of up to 100 kiloton-megawatt-years (kt-MW-yr). The analysis includes detailed uncertainties on the flux prediction, the neutrino interaction model, and detector effects. We demonstrate that DUNE will be able to unambiguously resolve the neutrino mass ordering at a 3σ (5σ) level, with a 66 (100) kt-MW-yr far detector exposure, and has the ability to make strong statements at significantly shorter exposures depending on the true value of other oscillation parameters. We also show that DUNE has the potential to make a robust measurement of CPV at a 3σ level with a 100 kt-MW-yr exposure for the maximally CP-violating values \delta_{\rm CP}} = \pm\pi/2. Additionally, the dependence of DUNE's sensitivity on the exposure taken in neutrino-enhanced and antineutrino-enhanced running is discussed. An equal fraction of exposure taken in each beam mode is found to be close to optimal when considered over the entire space of interest