Experimental search for the “LSND anomaly” with the ICARUS detector in the CNGS neutrino beam
We report an early result from the ICARUS experiment on the search for a νμ→ νesignal due to the LSND anomaly. The search was performed with the ICARUS T600 detector located at the Gran Sasso Laboratory, receiving CNGS neutrinos from CERN at an average energy of about 20 GeV, after a flight path of ~730 km. The LSND anomaly would manifest as an excess of νeevents, characterized by a fast energy oscillation averaging approximately to sin 2 (1. 27Δ m 2 new L/E ν ) ≈ 1/2 with probability P νμ→ νe = 1/2 sin 2 (2θ new . The present analysis is based on 1091 neutrino events, which are about 50 % of the ICARUS data collected in 2010-2011. Two clear νeevents have been found, compared with the expectation of 3.7±0.6 events from conventional sources.