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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.

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At least 469 records · Page 26
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Evidence of Antineutrinos from Distant Reactors Using Pure Water at SNO+

The SNO+ Collaboration reports the first evidence of reactor antineutrinos in a Cherenkov detector. The nearest nuclear reactors are located 240 km away in Ontario, Canada. Here, this analysis uses events with energies lower than in any previous analysis with a large water Cherenkov detector. Two analytical methods are used to distinguish reactor antineutrinos from background events in 190 days of data and yield consistent evidence for antineutrinos with a combined significance of 3.5 σ.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2022

SBN-BD: O(10 GeV) Proton Beam Dump at Fermilab’s PIP-II Linac

Proton beam dumps are prolific sources of mesons enabling a powerful technique to search for vector mediator coupling of dark matter to neutral pion and higher mass meson decays. By the end of the decade the PIP-II linac will be delivering up to 1 MW of proton power to the FNAL campus. This includes a significant increase of power to the Booster Neutrino Beamline (BNB) which delivers 8 GeV protons to the Short Baseline Neutrino (SBN) detectors. By building a new dedicated beam dump target station, and using the SBN detectors, a greater than an order of magnitude increase in search sensitivity for dark matter relative to the recent MiniBooNE beam dump search can be achieved. This modest cost upgrade to the BNB would begin testing models of the highly motivated relic density limit predictions and provide novel ways to test explanations of the anomalous excess of low energy events seen by MiniBooNE.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2022

SBN-BD: $\mathcal{O}$(10 GeV) Proton Beam Dump at Fermilab's PIP-II Linac

Proton beam dumps are prolific sources of mesons enabling a powerful technique to search for vector mediator coupling of dark matter to neutral pion and higher mass meson decays. By the end of the decade the PIP-II linac will be delivering up to 1 MW of proton power to the FNAL campus. This includes a significant increase of power to the Booster Neutrino Beamline (BNB) which delivers 8 GeV protons to the Short Baseline Neutrino (SBN) detectors. By building a new dedicated beam dump target station, and using the SBN detectors, a greater than an order of magnitude increase in search sensitivity for dark matter relative to the recent MiniBooNE beam dump search can be achieved. This modest cost upgrade to the BNB would begin testing models of the highly motivated relic density limit predictions and provide novel ways to test explanations of the anomalous excess of low energy events seen by MiniBooNE.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

ProtoDUNE-SP's Performance, Physics status, and Future Plans

The ProtoDUNE-SP detector is a single-phase liquid argon time projection chamber measuring$ 7.2 \times 6.1 \times 7.0 m^3$ in active volume. It is designed as a test bed and full-scale prototype for the elements of the first far detector module of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). Located at the CERN Neutrino Platform, the detector was exposed to a tagged and momentum-analyzed particle beam with momentum settings ranging from 0.3 GeV/c to 7 GeV/c and collected more than four million beam events. Additionally, the detector operated for approximately two years, continuously collecting cosmic ray events. We present the performance of the detector which has met or surpassed the specifications set for the DUNE far detector. The status of physics analyses including hadron-Ar cross sections and measurements of liquid argon properties will be summarized. Talk will conclude with plans for the coming Run2 with ProtoDUNE-HD (horizontal drift).

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Ultra-sensitive radon assay using an electrostatic chamber in a recirculating system

Rare event searches such as neutrinoless double beta decay and Weakly Interacting Massive Particle detection require ultra-low background detectors. Radon contamination is a significant challenge for these experiments, which employ highly sensitive radon assay techniques to identify and select low-emission materials. This work presents the development of ultra-sensitive electrostatic chamber (ESC) instruments designed to measure radon emanation in a recirculating gas loop, for future lower background experiments. Unlike traditional methods that separate emanation and detection steps, this system allows continuous radon transport and detection. This is made possible with a custom-built recirculation pump. A Python-based analysis framework, PyDAn, was developed to process and fit time-dependent radon decay data. Radon emanation rates are given for various materials measured with this instrument. A radon source of known activity provides an absolute calibration, enabling statistically-limited minimal detectable activities of 20 uBq. These devices are powerful tools for screening materials in the development of low-background particle physics experiments.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2022

Low-energy astrophysics with KamLAND

We present two results of a search for MeV-scale neutrino and anti-neutrino events correlated with gravitational wave events/candidates and large solar flares with KamLAND. The KamLAND detector is a large-volume neutrino detector using liquid scintillator, which is located at 1 km underground under the top of Mt. Ikenoyama in Kamioka, Japan. KamLAND has multiple reaction channels to detect neutrinos. Electron antineutrino can be detected via inverse-beta decay with 1.8 MeV neutrino energy threshold. All flavors of neutrinos can be detected via neutrino-electron scattering without neutrino energy threshold. KamLAND has continued the neutrino observation since 2002 March. We use the data set of 60 gravitational waves provided by the LIGO/Virgo collaboration during their second and third observing runs and search for coincident electron antineutrino events in KamLAND. We find no significant coincident signals within a ±500 s timing window from each gravitational wave and present 90% C.L. upper limits on the electron antineutrino fluence between 10 8 –10 13 cm -2 for neutrino energies of 1.8–111 MeV. For a solar-flare neutrino search at KamLAND, we determine the timing window using the solar X-ray data set provided by the GOES satellite series from 2002 to 2019 and search for the excess of coincident event rate on the all-flavor neutrinos. We find no significant event rate excess in the flare time windows and get 90% C.L. upper limits on the fluence of neutrinos of all flavors (electron anti-neutrinos) between 10 10 –10 13 cm -2 (10 8 –10 13 cm -2 ) for neutrino energies in the energy range of 0.4–35 MeV.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Towards a numu CC exclusive cross section measurement with one proton and one muon in the final state at the NOvA near detector

NOvA is a long-baseline neutrino experiment at Fermilab that studies neutrino oscillations via electron neutrino appearance and muon neutrino disappearance. The NOvA Near Detector, located 1 km from the NuMI target, records a high rate of neutrino interactions in the energy range of 1-5 GeV. One of the limitations in precise extraction of oscillations is the large systematic uncertainty on neutrino-nucleus interactions. The high rate of neutrino interactions in the NOvA Near Detector provides the opportunity to probe various neutrino interaction processes and nuclear models, via the extraction of cross sections of particular final states. Nuclear models can be improved by measuring neutrino-nucleus cross sections with respect to kinematic variables which are known to be more sensitive to nuclear effects, such as transverse kinematic imbalance (TKI) variables. Usage of TKI variables allows for more direct constraints on models of neutrino scattering, as these variables can more directly investigate, for instance, effects of Fermi motion and final state interactions. In this work, we describe progress towards a method of identifying and reconstructing protons in the NOvA near detector to enable the cross section measurement of charged current neutrino interactions with a visible muon and a proton in the final state, reported in TKI variables.

Weber, Colin [Minnesota U.] (ORCID:000000031117067↗
DOE OSTI2020

Dark matter detection capabilities of a large multipurpose Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber

Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers are planned to comprise a central role in the future of the U.S. High Energy Physics neutrino program. In particular, this detector technology will form the basis for the 40 kton Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) . Here in this paper we take as a starting point the dual phase far detector design proposed by the DUNE experiment and ask what changes are necessary to allow one of the four 10 kt modules to be sensitive to heavy Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) dark matter. We show that with control over backgrounds and the use of low radioactivity argon, which may be commercially available on that timescale, along with a significant increase in light detection, one DUNE-like module gives a competitive WIMP detection sensitivity, particularly above a dark matter mass of 100 GeV.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2025

Muon Time-of-Flight studies for cosmic background rejection in the Short Baseline Near Detector

The Short-Baseline Neutrino (SBN) program at Fermilab is a cutting-edge project in experimental neutrino physics. One of its main goals is to systematically investigate the possible existence of eV-scale sterile neutrinos. This phenomenon has been hypothesized to explain some anomalies found in short-range experiments and, if confirmed, would imply a substantial extension of the Standard Model. SBN also offers an important opportunity to deepen the understanding of neutrino-nucleus interactions in the GeV energy range, through the use of Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers (LArTPC) detectors, a fundamental technology also for the future DUNE experiment. The SBN experimental infrastructure consists of three detectors aligned along the Booster Neutrino Beamline at Fermilab. Among them, the detector located closest to the neutrino source, SBND (Short-Baseline Near Detector), positioned approximately 110 meters from the target, plays a key role in directly characterizing the initial neutrino flux. This allows for a direct comparison with the measurements from the far detector, ICARUS, located about 600 meters from the source, in order to search for potential signs of anomalous neutrino oscillations. My master's thesis focuses on the commissioning and characterization activities of the SBND detector, with particular reference to the Cosmic Ray Tagger (CRT). The CRT is a subsystem for identifying and rejecting events produced by cosmic rays, which constitute the main source of background for surface experiments like SBND. The activity began with the commissioning of the final components of the detector, as well as their validation to verify their correct functioning and signal acquisition. A central part of my work involved studying the veto efficiency of the CRT system, analyzing the rate of cosmic ray-induced events to quantify any loss of neutrino-induced events caused by cosmic background. This allowed for a more precise evaluation of the systematic impact of the CRT on the useful physics sample. A further phase of my analysis involved an in-depth study of the temporal correlation between the CRT signals and those acquired by the LArTPC's internal photodetector system, consisting of photomultiplier tubes and X-ARAPUCA devices. The objective is to explore the possibility of using combined temporal information as an additional criterion for discriminating between cosmic signals and signals genuinely due to neutrino interaction. Preliminary results indicate the presence of characteristic temporal signatures that could be exploited to improve event selection and increase the purity of the neutrino-induced sample. These methodologies will certainly contribute to the optimization of SBND analysis strategies and, more generally, to a better understanding of background mechanisms in next-generation LArTPC experiments.

Corallo, Annalea [Ferrara U.]↗
DOE OSTI2022

Searching for Exotic Signals with the NOvA Experiment

Two highly segmented NOvA scintillation detectors, separated by 810 km and located in the pathof the NuMI neutrino beam produced at Fermilab, are optimized to study the neutrino oscillationphenomenon. At the same time, the larger Far Detector with 4,000 m2 surface area is capable to search for the low-mass magnetic monopoles, and to monitor the flux of the high-multiplicitycosmic ray showers. The smaller Near Detector, located 100 m underground at Fermilab, is ableto search for the presence of possible elusive Dark Matter particles in the high-intensity NuMIneutrino beam, and to study the seasonal variations of multi-muon cosmic flux component. BothNOvA detectors serve in combination as a powerful supernova neutrino detector, and allow forthe multi-messenger signal searches in coincidence with LIGO/Virgo gravitational wave events.A survey of the most recent NOvA results on these topics is presented.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗