Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “neutrino experiments”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 199 records · Page 11
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Neutron Tagging From Neutrino Interactions in DUNE-ND 2x2 Prototype

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment that aims to measure whether CP is violated in the leptonic sector (if violated, how much) and unambiguously determine the neutrino mass ordering. DUNE consists of near and far detectors that rely on liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) technology to observe neutrino interactions. The near detector (ND) will be placed in Fermilab, near the neutrino source, while the far detector (FD) will be deployed in Sanford Lab, 1.5 km deep underground, which is 1300 km away from the source. LArTPCs provide excellent particle identification and calorimetry; however, detecting neutrons is challenging, as they do not leave direct ionization signals in LArTPCs. Neutrons can carry away up to 25% of the neutrino energy, introducing a significant uncertainty in DUNE measurements. The DUNE near detector (ND) features a novel modular LArTPC with pixelated charge readout, which enhances event recons truction. The modular design enables precise correlation between ionization signals and light signals in a high-rate environment, improving the identification of delayed energy depositions from neutrons in neutrino interactions. We introduce a neutron tagging technique using the 2x2 Demonstrator, a small-scale prototype of the DUNE ND LArTPC. The analysis utilizes Monte Carlo simulations and deep-learning techniques to identify neutron-induced energy depositions and reconstruct low-energy activity.

Kufatty, Georgette [Florida State U.]↗
DOE OSTI2024

Dark Photon Search at the Short-Baseline Near Detector

Neutrino physics has long been a key field in elementary particle physics, both enhancing our understanding of the Standard Model (SM) and raising new questions. Among these are the so-called "Short-Baseline Anomalies" observed by neutrino experiments, particularly the MiniBooNE experiment at Fermilab, which detected an excess of low-energy electron-like events. In recent years, beyond Standard Model (BSM) explanations have been proposed to address this anomaly, with a focus on neutrino beam-related processes. A novel interpretation involving a dark-sector explanation was recently suggested, introducing a vector portal that connects the SM and dark sectors through a new interaction mediated by a bosonic particle, the Dark Photon. This work investigates the production of dark-sector particles, specifically Dark Photons, in the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) at Fermilab and their potential detection at the Short-Baseline Near Detector (SBND). The BNB produces mesons which decay into Dark Photons, detectable via their decay into electron-positron pairs at SBND. By exploiting the temporal structure of the neutrino beam, we propose a method to isolate Dark Photon signals from neutrino backgrounds using time-delayed event detection. In this thesis, the sensitivity of SBND to Dark Photons is assessed using a three-year exposure, demonstrating that SBND has the potential to significantly improve current experimental constraints on Dark Photons. This analysis provides a promising avenue for future dark sector searches in neutrino experiments.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

First Measurement of Charged Current Muon Neutrino-Induced Kaon Production on Argon

The Micro Booster Neutrino Experiment (MicroBooNE) is a liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) neutrino detector with an 85-ton active volume, located on-axis to the Booster Neutrino Beamline (BNB) at Fermilab. The detector is exposed to a neutrino flux with average energy of 800 MeV and was designed to study neutrino interactions on argon, particularly in the 1 GeV energy range. Among its main goals is the investigation of neutrino-induced strange particle production at final-state, with a specific interest on charged kaons ($K^{+}$). The understanding of this neutrino interaction is crucial for refining background models in future nucleon decay searches on others LArTPCs experiments such as the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). Additionally, the techniques developed for the identification of neutrino-induced $K^{+}$ will contribute to improving particle identification methods in LArTPC-based detectors. This thesis is reporting the first-ever measurement of the flux-integrated cross section for charged-current muon neutrino-induced $K^{+}$ production on argon, determined to be $7.93 \pm 3.27(\text{stat.}) \pm 2.92(\text{syst.}) \times 10^{-42}$ cm$^2$/nucleon, based on the MicroBooNE dataset corresponding to $6.88 \times 10^{20}$ Protons on Target (POT).

Rodriguez Rondon, Jairo H. [South Dakota Sch. Mine↗
DOE OSTI2023

Prototyping the Light Detection of the DUNE Near Detector

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment with a 70kt liquid argon time projection chamber (LAr TPC) at the Far Detector complex at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) and a Near Detector (ND) complex planned for the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. The ND complex plans for three detector subsystems, including a modular LAr TPC comprised of 35 optically segregated modules. The modular detector design required the development a novel dielectric light readout, the ArCLight technology, which can be operated in a high voltage environment and has a large active surface. A demonstrator of four modular detectors, DUNE ND-LAr 2x2, will operate in 2023 in Fermilab's NuMI beam. After the construction of the modules was completed, they were successfully operated and commissioned in liquid argon using cosmic-ray muons at the University of Bern. This talk will discuss the designs of the light readout systems used in these modules with focus on the construction and commissioning of the ArCLights as well as the performance of the LRS during the tests at Bern.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Induced Magnetic Fields in LBNF Horns and DUNE-PRISM Off-Axis Neutrinos

Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a next-generation, long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment that will utilize an intense neutrino beam from Fermilab to measure neutrino oscillation parameters with unprecedented precision. The DUNE-PRISM near detector concept employs an off-axis measurement strategy to mitigate neutrino-nucleus interaction uncertainties; however, this approach relies critically on the accurate characterization of the neutrino flux. As statistical uncertainties are suppressed in the high-intensity Long Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) beam, beamline focusing uncertainties, specifically those arising from focusing horn geometry, become an important systematic uncertainty source. This work presents Geant4 LBNF beam simulations quantifying one of the most important systematic uncertainties for off-axis fluxes: the impact of manufacturing tolerances in the LBNF horns. The focusing horns consist of coaxial inner and outer conductors. Ideally, the region inside the inner conductor is field-free, while the region between the inner and outer conductors serves as the focusing region, where the magnetic field follows a nominal $1/r$ dependence. However, inner conductor deformations such as eccentricity and ellipticity introduce asymmetry, inducing unintended magnetic fields inside the field-free region. Crucially, while the on-axis neutrino flux remains largely unaffected by these induced fields, the resulting flux fractional shifts become pronounced over a particular range of off-axis positions where the DUNE-PRISM program will perform measurements. Consequently, these inner conductor deformations can impact the precision of flux predictions, which could potentially degrade the sensitivity to oscillation parameters. Possible mitigation strategies for these effects will also be presented.

Bae, Yuri [U. Minnesota, Minneapolis (main)] (ORCI↗
DOE OSTI2020

Computing for the DUNE Long-Baseline Neutrino Oscillation Experiment

This is a talk given at Computers in High Energy Physics in Adelaide, South Australia, Australia in November 2019. It is partially intended to explain the context of DUNE Computing for computing specialists. The DUNE collaboration consists of over 180 institutions from 33 countries. The experiment is in preparation now with commissioning of the first 10kT fiducial volume Liquid Argon TPC expected over the period 2025-2028 and a long data taking run with 4 modules expected from 2029 and beyond. An active prototyping program is already in place with a short test beam run with a 700T, 15,360 channel prototype of single-phase readout at the neutrino platform at CERN in late 2018 and tests of a similar sized dual-phase detector scheduled for mid-2019. The 2018 test beam run was a valuable live test of our computing model. The detector produced raw data at rates of up to ~2GB/s. These data were stored at full rate on tape at CERN and Fermilab and replicated at sites in the UK and Czech Republic. In total 1.2 PB of raw data from beam and cosmic triggers were produced and reconstructed during the six week test beam run. Baseline predictions for the full DUNE detector data, starting in the late 2020's are 30-60 PB of raw data per year. In contrast to traditional HEP computational problems, DUNE's Liquid Argon TPC data consist of simple but very large (many GB) 2D data objects which share many characteristics with astrophysical images. This presents opportunities to use advances in machine learning and pattern recognition as a frontier user of High Performance Computing facilities capable of massively parallel processing.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2021

Time Projection Chambers instrumented with resistive MicroMegas for the SAND near detector of DUNE

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a next-generation long-baseline neutrino accelerator experiment aiming for precise measurements of the neutrino oscillation parameters. DUNE will include a near detector complex regrouping three different detectors among which SAND (System for on-Axis Neutrino Detection) that will be the only one permanently on the neutrino beam axis in charge of monitoring in detail the emitted neutrino beam and its stability through time, a crucial characteristic to realize accurate oscillation measurements at the percent level. SAND will reuse the superconducting magnet and the electromagnetic calorimeter of the KLOE experiment. We will describe in the following the proposal of using, as inner tracker of SAND, a large 3D matrix of 1.5cm side scintillator cubes (3DST) surrounded by 3 gaseous Time Projection Chambers. This setup allows to realize accurate beam monitoring combining the 3DST unprecedented capability of neutron detection and energy measurement with the high precision momentum resolution for charged particles offered by the TPCs. The proposed TPC design allows to reach spatial resolutions of a few hundreds of micrometers using 1 cm pads by deploying the resistive MicroMegas technology for the charge readout.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Neutrino Flavor Model Building and the Origins of Flavor and CP Violation

The neutrino sector offers one of the most sensitive probes of new physics beyond the Standard Model of Particle Physics (SM). The mechanism of neutrino mass generation is still unknown. The observed suppression of neutrino masses hints at a large scale, conceivably of the order of the scale of a rand unified theory (GUT), which is a unique feature of neutrinos that is not shared by the charged fermions. The origin of neutrino masses and mixing is part of the outstanding puzzle of fermion masses and mixings, which is not explained ab initio in the SM. Flavor model building for both quark and lepton sectors is important in order to gain a better understanding of the origin of the structure of mass hierarchy and flavor mixing, which constitute the dominant fraction of the SM parameters. Recent activities in neutrino flavor model building based on non-Abelian discrete flavor symmetries and modular flavor symmetries have been shown to be a promising direction to explore. The emerging models provide a framework that has a significantly reduced number of undetermined parameters in the flavor sector. In addition, such a framework affords a novel origin of CP violation from group theory due to the intimate connection between physical CP transformation and group theoretical properties of non-Abelian discrete groups. Model building based on non-Abelian discrete flavor symmetries and their modular variants enables the particle physics community to interpret the current and anticipated upcoming data from neutrino experiments. Non-Abelian discrete flavor symmetries and their modular variants can result from compactification of a higher-dimensional theory. Pursuit of flavor model building based on such frameworks thus also provides the connection to possible UV completions: in particular, to string theory. We emphasize the importance of constructing models in which the uncertainties of theoretical predictions are smaller than, or at most compatible with, the error bars of measurements in neutrino experiments. While there exist proof-of-principle versions of bottom-up models in which the theoretical uncertainties are under control, it is remarkable that the key ingredients of such constructions were discovered first in top-down model building. We outline how a successful unification of bottom-up and top-down ideas and techniques may guide us towards a new era of precision flavor model building in which future experimental results can give us crucial insights into the UV completion of the SM.

Almumin, Yahya (ORCID:0000000196396772)↗
DOE OSTI2026

DUNE – Simulation Validation of Fermilab Detector Reconstruction

DUNE (Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment) is Fermilab’s flagship international experiment designed to study neutrinos by sending an intense beam from Illinois to detectors located 1,300 kilometers away at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in South Dakota. To prepare for such a large-scale experiment, physicists develop detailed simulations to produce mock data sets which are analyzed by the CAFAna framework. During my internship, I developed software using the CAFAna framework to analyze simulated detector data and generated plots to make data trends easier to interpret and identify patterns. My analysis has uncovered inconsistencies in reconstructed neutrino tracks, duplicated reconstructed tracks causing sporadic spikes in the data, and unnatural differences in energy levels between interaction types. These analyses help verify that the improvements to detector simulations do not introduce unintended resolution errors and ensure proper reconstruction performance, supporting DUNE’s goal of making precise neutrino measurements and advancing the Department of Energy’s mission of fundamental scientific discovery.

Vershaw, Andre [Unlisted, US, IL; Fermilab] (ORCID↗
DOE OSTI2023

DUNE-PRISM – A New Method to Measure Neutrino Oscillations

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a next-generation long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment designed to make precision measurements in a 1.2 2.4 MW neutrino beam, which is directed 1285 km from the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) to the Sandford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in South Dakota. Neutrinos are measured at two detector facilities: a near detector located at Fermilab close where the beam is produced and a far detector at SURF. The neutrino beam can be configured to be composed primarily of either muon or anti-muon neutrinos. DUNE measures the disappearance of muon and anti-muon neutrinos and appearance electron and anti-electron neutrinos in the neutrino beam. Measuring these neutrino flavour transitions provides DUNE with sensitivity to the neutrino mass ordering, $\delta_{CP}$, $\theta_{13}$, $\theta_{23}$ and the magnitude of $\Delta m^2_{23}$. The DUNE Precision Reaction Independent Spectrum Measurement (DUNE-PRISM) concept presents a novel way to perform a neutrino oscillation analysis, which has the potential to significantly reduce the impact of large systematic uncertainties in the neutrino interaction model. The PRISM method linearly combines measurements of off-axis neutrino interactions at the DUNE near detector to produce data-driven predictions of the oscillated neutrino event rate spectrum at the far detector. By building an oscillated far detector prediction directly from data, any unknown or poorly modelled neutrino interaction effects will be naturally incorporated into the measurement of the parameters of the neutrino oscillation model. This thesis presents the first complete neutrino oscillation analysis for DUNE using the PRISM method. Details of the methodology are fully explained and the prospects for further improvements to the techniques described are highlighted. The expected impact and relative importance of the neutrino flux, cross section and detector systematic uncertainties are described in detail. Finally, this thesis demonstrates that the PRISM method is capable of performing a measurement of the oscillation parameters that is robust against neutrino interaction modelling errors.

Hasnip, Ciaran↗
DOE OSTI2024

Search for Heavy Neutral Leptons at the MINER$\nu$A detector

Heavy Neutral Leptons (HNL) are particles hypothesised to provide a mass generation mechanism for the active (observed) neutrino species, which are known to have nonzero mass from the definitive observation of neutrino oscillations. HNL are eigenstates of mass of the order $\mathcal{O}(0.1 − 1\,\,\mathrm{GeV}/c^{2})$, which mix into the active flavour eigenstates through the extended leptonic mixing matrix. Apart from neutrino mass, they could provide a natural dark matter candidate and a mechanism for matter-antimatter asymmetry in the early Universe, giving rise to today’s matter-dominated cosmos. Searches for HNL typically attempt to either confirm the existence of HNL through an excess in data that is most compatible with an HNL hypothesis, or by setting limits on the HNL parameter space $\left(M_{N4}, \left|U_{\alpha 4}\right|^{2}\right)$ in the case of statistically insignificant excess. Such searches are intensifying as part of a global research programme at both colliders and accelerator / atmospheric neutrino experiments. One such setting is the MINER$\nu$A experiment, located in the NuMI beamline at Fermilab. MINER$\nu$A has collected a large amount of data over seven years of operation to measure the cross-sections of neutrino-nucleus interactions necessary to drive systematic uncertainties down, in order for neutrino oscillation experiments to achieve sensitivity to CP violation in the neutrino sector. With the high-energy, high-intensity NuMI beam, and with good timing, position, and angular resolution leading to sensitivity to HNL decays, MINER$\nu$A is fertile ground for an HNL search, which is performed in this thesis. Specifically, a novel, experiment-agnostic and general simulation of HNL production and decay is presented and deployed; this simulation has been incorporated in the ubiquitous GENIE neutrino event generator for use with neutrino experiments in the future. The event selection and background characterisation is discussed in detail, including the primary background coming from charged-current coherent and diffractive pion production from neutrino-nucleus interactions, and constraints on the background using control regions from MINER$\nu$A data are derived. Finally, by means of a fake-data study given a background of $\mathcal{O}(500)$ events, the discovery potential and limit-setting capacity of MINER$\nu$A is demonstrated, and ways to improve this capacity are expounded upon.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Data analysis in the ICARUS (SBN FD) Cosmic Ray Tagging system

When a cosmic ray particle collides with the upper atmosphere, it creates a shower of particles that transverse down to the Earth’s surface. These cosmogenic particles provide a challenging background in neutrino experiments. The Short Baseline Neutrino (SBN) Program is composed of three Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers (LArTPCs) that will help us understand the elusive neutrino. Together with a Cosmic Ray Tagger (CRT) system, the ICARUS detector serves as the Far Detector in the SBN Program. The CRT surrounds the detector medium and tags incoming particles allowing us to combat the high flux of comic rays we experience at ICARUS. In this poster, I will show some of the first data analyses done with the fully commissioned CRT system, including studies using CRT timing information and CRT hit reconstruction.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Industrial deposition of wavelength-shifting films for liquid argon photon detection systems

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) Phase-II Far Detector is considering an approximately 2000 m 2 photon detection system to achieve a target mean light yield of 180 PE/MeV. Meeting this requirement demands scalable, cost-effective, and high-quality wavelength-shifter (WLS) coatings capable of converting 127 nm liquid-argon scintillation light into visible photons with controlled and reproducible optical performance. We report on the successful realization of an industrial physical vapor deposition (PVD) process forp-terphenyl (pTP) coatings, adapted from vacuum deposition techniques developed for OLED display manufacturing, to produce uniform WLS layers on large-area inorganic substrates, a task traditionally challenged by adhesion and uniformity issues at organic-inorganic interfaces. Surface characterization by profilometry and spectroscopic measurements demonstrates edge-region thickness variation below 10% and emission spectra consistent with high-quality pTP reference samples. The industrial process demonstrates reproducibility, scalability, and significantly reduced production time compared to laboratory-based methods, while maintaining optical characteristics consistent with established pTP reference samples. These results establish a viable pathway for mass production of high-performance pTP coatings for DUNE FD3 and future neutrino experiments, from a coating manufacturing and process standpoint. Detector-level performance validation, including quantitative VUV conversion efficiency measurements at 127 nm, is identified as future work.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber Trigger Development with MicroBooNE

The Micro Booster Neutrino Experiment (MicroBooNE) is a Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) neutrino detector at Fermilab that has been operating since 2015. It aims to perform v-Ar cross-section measurements, explore the low-energy excess reported by the MiniBooNE experiment and perform a combined search for sterile neutrino oscillations as part of three LArTPCs that make up the Short Baseline Neutrino (SBN) Program at Fermilab. Since MicroBooNE is currently in an R&D phase, it offers a unique opportunity for the implementation and testing of TPC-based triggers as R&D towards the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). One of the technical challenges of DUNE that we aim to address with this study is that of efficient self-triggering of a LArTPC utilizing TPC signal information. This capability will enable searches for rare processes in DUNE, such as neutrino interactions from a potential galactic supernova burst. This talk will describe the MicroBooNE TPC readout system and ongoing R&D efforts to develop and demonstrate TPC-based triggering.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2025

Expanding the physics reach of DUNE in the near and far detectors

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a next-generation long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. Its primary goal is the determination of the neutrino mass hierarchy and the CP-violating phase. The DUNE physics programme also includes the detection of astrophysical neutrinos and the search for beyond the Standard Model (BSM) phenomena. DUNE will consist of a near detector (ND) complex placed at Fermilab, and a modular Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) far detector (FD) to be built in the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF), approximately 1300 km away from the neutrino production point. This thesis describes three different projects within DUNE. First, a novel strategy to improve the triggering capabilities of the DUNE FD is proposed. It uses matched filters to enhance the production of online hits across all charge collection planes. Next, the possibility of detecting neutrinos coming from dark matter (DM) annihilations in the Sun with the FD is explored. The complementarity of DUNE to this kind of DM searches is shown. Finally, the simulation and reconstruction framework of ND-GAr, the gas argon ND proposed for Phase II of DUNE, is presented. A number of additions to this are described, particularly focused on the development of the particle identification (PID) capabilities of the detector. These are then used to perform the first event selection studies with an end-to-end simulation in ND-GAr, in particular the selection of pion exclusive samples in $\nu_{\mu}$ CC interactions. All three of these projects share the common goal of enhancing the physics programme of DUNE.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2025

Results from the T2K Experiment on Neutrino Mixing Including a New Far Detector 𝜇-like Sample

We have made improved measurements of three-flavor neutrino mixing with 19.7⁢(16.3) × 10 20 protons on target in (anti-)neutrino-enhanced beam modes. A new sample of muon-neutrino events with tagged pions has been added at the far detector, as well as new proton and photon-tagged samples at the near detector. Significant improvements have been made to the flux and neutrino interaction modeling. T2K data continue to prefer the normal mass ordering and upper octant of sin 2 ⁡𝜃 23 with a near-maximal value of the charge-parity violating phase with best-fit values in the normal ordering of 𝛿 CP = −2.18$^{+1.22}_{−0.47}$, sin 2 ⁡𝜃 23 = 0.559$^{+0.018}_{−0.078}$ and Δ⁢𝑚$^{2}_{32}$ = (+2.506$^{+0.039}_{−0.052}$) × 10 −3 eV 2 .

CP violation↗