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At least 739 records · Page 41
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DOE OSTI2021

Observable proton decay in flipped SU(5)

We explore proton decay in a class of realistic supersymmetric flipped SU(5) models supplemented by a U(1) R symmetry which plays an essential role in implementing hybrid inflation. Two distinct neutrino mass models, based on inverse seesaw and type I seesaw, are identified, with the latter arising from the breaking of U(1) R by nonrenormalizable superpotential terms. Depending on the neutrino mass model an appropriate set of intermediate scale color triplets from the Higgs superfields play a key role in proton decay channels that include p → (e + , μ + ) π 0 , p → (e + , μ + ) K 0 , p → $\bar v$π + , and p → $\bar v$K + . We identify regions of the parameter space that yield proton lifetime estimates which are testable at Hyper-Kamiokande and other next generation experiments. We discuss how gauge coupling unification in the presence of intermediate scale particles is realized, and a Z 4 symmetry is utilized to show how such intermediate scales can arise in flipped SU(5). Finally, we compare our predictions for proton decay with previous work based on SU(5) and flipped SU(5).

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Photo- and Electro-Induced Hadron Production from Nuclei at Jefferson Laboratory

Understanding many-body knockout processes is crucial for nuclear physics, particularly in photo- and electro-induced reactions. In turn, understanding two- and three-body forces, including higher-order forces, is vital for a complete understanding of atoms. We present photo-induced many-proton knockout processes, with multiplicities from 1 to 6, using 12C, CH2, and C4H9OH targets in the g9a FROST dataset. Our analysis covers photon energies from 600 to 4500 MeV, significantly expanding current world data. Comparing our experimental data to the state-of-the-art GiBUU model offers a new challenge in the model’s theoretical description of many-body processes. GiBUU reasonably describes the data at lower photon energies but struggles at higher energies and missing masses, likely due to missing processes, such as initial 3-pion photoproduction. Our results will inform future developments in describing proton knockout processes, indicating GiBUU’s overall reasonable description of many-proton knockout data up to around 2.2 GeV. We also assess various electro-induced reactions using 2D, 12C, and 40Ar targets in the RGM dataset. Our results, obtained at electron beam energies of 2, 4, and 6 GeV, are compared in detail to GENIE and GiBUU, two widely used theory models in neutrino oscillation experiments. Discrepancies between model predictions and experimental data underscore the need for refining the two theoretical models. Despite discrepancies, GiBUU provides a more accurate modelling of electro-induced reactions, especially for 40Ar - crucial for future neutrino oscillation facilities such as DUNE. Understanding the fundamental nuclear physics involved in neutrino-nuclei interactions is essential for reducing the systematic uncertainties in extracting neutrino oscillation parameters. Many-body processes significantly contribute to the background processes observed in neutrino-nuclei interactions, hence the results from both analyses are crucial for developing the theoretical framework for the underlying nuclear physics.

Williams, Rhidian↗
DOE OSTI2026

SBND Shower Reconstruction with SPINE

The Short-Baseline Near Detector (SBND) is a liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) neutrino detector in the Short-Baseline Neutrino (SBN) program at Fermilab. SBND is designed to investigate the Low-Energy Excess (LEE), an unexplained excess of electron-like events observed by previous short-baseline neutrino experiments that may point to physics beyond the Standard Model. In LArTPC detectors, precise shower reconstruction is essential for distinguishing electrons from photons, a key requirement for testing possible explanations of the LEE and improving $\nu_e$ event selection. In this poster, the reconstruction studies using the Scalable Particle Imaging with Neural Embeddings (SPINE), a machine learning based reconstruction framework for particle imaging detectors will be presented. SPINE combines sparse convolutional neural networks (CNN) and graph neural networks (GNN) to enable detailed reconstruction and characterization of neutrino interactions in LArTPC detectors. Shower calorimetry and kinematic reconstruction are performed in dedicated post-processing stages. Strong agreement between data and Monte Carlo simulation will be demonstrated, indicating high-precision detector calibration and reconstruction performance. The agreement between reconstructed and true electron shower energy will also be discussed, emphasizing the robustness of the shower reconstruction performance. These results demonstrate the unprecedented precision achievable with SPINE in SBND, highlighting their potential for future high-resolution neutrino measurements.

Fan, Castaly [Florida U.; Fermilab] (ORCID:0000000↗
DOE OSTI2022

Towards a neutron multiplicity measurement with the Accelerator Neutrino Neutron Interaction Experiment

The Accelerator Neutrino Neutron Interaction Experiment (ANNIE) is a 26 ton Gadolinium (Gd)-loaded water Cherenkov detector located on the Booster Neutrino Beam line at Fermilab. Its main goals are the measurement of the neutron multiplicity in neutrino-nucleus interactions as well as the cross-section of Charged Current Quasi-Elastic (CCQE) neutrino interactions on water. Besides the physics goals, the experiment also aims to be a testbed for new technologies such as Large Area Picosecond Photodetectors (LAPPDs) and Water-based Liquid Scintillators (WbLS). This thesis presents a preliminary measurement of the neutron multiplicity with {ANNIE}, using an analysis conducted on a fraction of the 2021 beam year. As preparatory measures, the efficiency of ANNIE's Front Muon Veto (FMV) was determined to be {$\bar{\varepsilon}_{\mathrm{FMV}} = (95.6 \pm 1.6)\%$} while the average efficiency for active scintillator paddles in the Muon Range Detector (MRD) was found to be {$\bar{\varepsilon}_ {\mathrm{MRD}} = (92.1 \pm 7.9)\%$}. Furthermore, the simulation framework used for ANNIE was validated and adapted to reproduce the experimental data by comparing the detector response for samples of Michel electrons, Americium Beryllium neutrons, and through-going muons. The analysis finds average neutron yields of {$\bar{n}_{\mathrm{data}} (\mathrm{beam}) = (0.272 \pm 0.010_{\mathrm{stat}})$} for an inclusive set of all identified muon neutrino candidates and {$\bar{n}_{\mathrm{data}} (\mathrm{beam,FV}) = (0.287 \pm 0.044_{\mathrm{stat}})$ for interactions which happened inside of the Fiducial Volume of ANNIE, which was optimized to increase the neutron detection acceptance. The presented neutron multiplicity values represent the number of detected neutrons after all event selection cuts and are not yet corrected for the neutron detection efficiency. An equivalent analysis on a simulated beam sample predicts neutron yields of $\bar{n}_{\mathrm{MC}}(\mathrm{beam}) = (0.515 \pm 0.0 07_{\mathrm{stat}})$ and $\bar{n}_{\mathrm{MC}}(\mathrm{beam,FV}) = (0.627 \pm 0.031_{\mathrm{stat}})$, indicating that the models tend to overpredict the number of neutrons produced in such interactions. Systematic errors have been briefly considered to contribute {$\sigma_{\mathrm{sys,FMV}} \sim 0.01\,$neutrons/$\nu$-interaction} due to the slight FMV inefficiency and {$\sigma_{\mathrm{sys,n}} \sim 0.05\,$neutrons/$\nu$-interaction} due to the neutron detection efficiency. Simulation studies further highlighted the importance of neutron detection in Diffuse Supernova Background (DSNB) searches. A combination of neutron tagging and Convolutional Neural Networks was found to reduce the most relevant Neutral Current Quasi-Elastic (NCQE) interaction background below the signal level, achieving a Signal-to-Background ratio of 4:1. In a further study, we investigated the positive impact of a deployment of a WbLS target on the energy reconstruction in ANNIE. WbLS provides a scintillation signal from hadronic recoils in addition to the charged lepton that can be included in neutrino energy reconstruction. It was found that a deployed WbLS volume in ANNIE improves the neutrino energy reconstruction from 14\% to 12\%, with the potential of going beyond this if more sophisticated reconstruction algorithms are developed in the future.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2024

White paper on light sterile neutrino searches and related phenomenology

This white paper provides a comprehensive review of our present understanding of experimental neutrino anomalies that remain unresolved, charting the progress achieved over the last decade at the experimental and phenomenological level, and sets the stage for future programmatic prospects in addressing those anomalies. It is purposed to serve as a guiding and motivational "encyclopedic" reference, with emphasis on needs and options for future exploration that may lead to the ultimate resolution of the anomalies. We see the main experimental, analysis, and theory-driven thrusts that will be essential to achieving this goal being: 1) Cover all anomaly sectors -- given the unresolved nature of all four canonical anomalies, it is imperative to support all pillars of a diverse experimental portfolio, source, reactor, decay-at-rest, decay-in-flight, and other methods/sources, to provide complementary probes of and increased precision for new physics explanations; 2) Pursue diverse signatures -- it is imperative that experiments make design and analysis choices that maximize sensitivity to as broad an array of these potential new physics signatures as possible; 3) Deepen theoretical engagement -- priority in the theory community should be placed on development of standard and beyond standard models relevant to all four short-baseline anomalies and the development of tools for efficient tests of these models with existing and future experimental datasets; 4) Openly share data -- Fluid communication between the experimental and theory communities will be required, which implies that both experimental data releases and theoretical calculations should be publicly available; and 5) Apply robust analysis techniques -- Appropriate statistical treatment is crucial to assess the compatibility of data sets within the context of any given model.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2025

NuHepMC: A standardized event record format for neutrino event generators

Simulations of neutrino interactions are playing an increasingly important role in the pursuit of high-priority measurements for the field of particle physics. A significant technical barrier for efficient development of these simulations is the lack of a standard data format for representing individual neutrino scattering events. We propose and define such a universal format, named NuHepMC, as a common standard for the output of neutrino event generators. The NuHepMC format uses data structures and concepts from the HepMC3 event record library adopted by other subfields of high-energy physics. These are supplemented with an original set of conventions for generically representing neutrino interaction physics within the HepMC3 infrastructure.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Neutrino Flavor Transformation in Neutron Star Mergers

Here, we present the first numerical relativity simulations including neutrino flavor transformations that could result from flavor instabilities, quantum many-body effects, or potential beyond standard model physics in neutron star mergers. We find that neutrino flavor transformations impact the composition and structure of the remnant, potentially leaving an imprint on the postmerger gravitational-wave signal. They also have a significant impact on the composition and nucleosynthesis yields of the ejecta.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Detection and Calibration of Low-Energy Nuclear Recoils for Dark Matter and Neutrino Scattering Experiments

Detection of low-energy nuclear recoil events plays a central role in searches for particle dark matter interactions with atomic matter and studies of coherent neutrino scatters. Precise nuclear recoil calibration data allow the responses of these dark matter and neutrino detectors to be characterized and enable in situ evaluation of an experiment's sensitivity to anticipated signals. This article reviews the common methods for detection of nuclear recoil events and the wide variety of techniques that have been developed to calibrate detector response to nuclear recoils. We summarize the main experimental factors that are critical for accurate nuclear recoil calibrations, investigate mitigation strategies for different backgrounds and biases, and discuss how the presentation of calibration results can facilitate comparison between experiments. Lastly, we discuss the challenges for future nuclear recoil calibration efforts and the physics opportunities they may enable.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Status and plans for measurements of Neutrino-Argon interactions at ICARUS

The ICARUS experiment, utilizing Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LAr TPC) technology, has been installed at Fermilab (USA), following its initial operation in Italy and subsequent refurbishment at CERN. ICARUS has successfully been taking physics data at Fermilab since June 2022. While the experiment’s primary objective is to function as the far detector of the Short Baseline Neutrino program (SBN), searching for hints of physics beyond three-flavour PMNS neutrino oscillations, ICARUS also offers other diverse physics capabilities, including searches beyond the standard model and measurements of cross-sections. In addition to being exposed to the common Booster Neutrino (BNB) beamline of the SBN experiment, ICARUS receives neutrinos from the Main Injector (NuMI) beam. Due to the off-axis angle between NuMI and ICARUS, coupled with contributions from both pion and kaon decays to neutrino fluxes, interactions of NuMI neutrinos within ICARUS can be detected over a range of several GeV in energy. Measurements of these interactions present unique opportunities to infer neutrino interaction cross sections on an argon nuclear target within an energy range that overlaps both the SBN oscillation search and a significant portion of the DUNE spectrum. This presentation will summarise the current status of ICARUS’ neutrino cross-section measurements.

Roy, Promita [Fermilab] (ORCID:0000000164958937)↗
DOE OSTI2024

Event-by-event direction reconstruction of solar neutrinos in a high light-yield liquid scintillator

The direction of individual B 8 solar neutrinos has been reconstructed using the SNO + liquid scintillator detector. Prompt, directional Cherenkov light was separated from the slower, isotropic scintillation light using time information, and a maximum likelihood method was used to reconstruct the direction of individual scattered electrons. A clear directional signal was observed, correlated with the solar angle. The observation was aided by a period of low primary fluor concentration that resulted in a slower scintillator decay time. This is the first time that event-by-event direction reconstruction in high light-yield liquid scintillator has been demonstrated in a large-scale detector. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2025

16 O Electroweak Response Functions from First Principles

We present calculations of various electroweak response functions for the 16 O nucleus obtained using coupled-cluster theory in conjunction with the Lorentz integral transform method. We employ nuclear forces derived at next-to-leading order and next-to-next-to-leading order in chiral effective field theory and perform a Bayesian analysis to assess uncertainties. Our results are in good agreement with available electron-scattering data at |𝐪|≈326 MeV/c. Additionally, we provide several predictions for the weak response functions in the quasielastic peak region at |𝐪| =300 and 400 MeV/c, which are critical for long-baseline neutrino experiments.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2025

Form-factor dependence of neutrino-nucleus cross sections using microscopic methods

To achieve its design goals, the next generation of neutrino-oscillation accelerator experiments requires percent-level predictions of neutrino-nucleus cross sections supplemented by robust estimates of the theoretical uncertainties involved. The latter arise from both approximations in solving the nuclear many-body problem and in the determination of the single- and few-nucleon quantities taken as input by many-body methods. To gauge the sensitivity of realistic nuclear many body methods to these few-nucleon quantities, we compute flux-averaged double-differential cross sections using the Green’s function Monte Carlo and spectral function methods as well as different parameterizations of the nucleon axial form factors based on either deuterium bubble-chamber data or lattice quantum chromodynamics calculations. The cross-section results are compared with available experimental data from the MiniBooNE and T2K collaborations. We also discuss the uncertainties associated with N → Δ transition form factors that enter the two-body current operator. We quantify the relations between neutrino-nucleus cross section and nucleon form factor uncertainties. These relations enable us to determine the form factor precision targets required to achieve a given cross-section precision.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Neutrinos from Stored Muons (nuSTORM)

The 2020 Update of the European Strategy for Particle Physics (ESPP) (see https://cds.cern.ch/record/2720129 ) recommended that muon beam R&D should be considered a high-priority future initiative and that a programme of experimentation be developed to determine the neutrino cross-sections required to extract the most physics from the DUNE and Hyper-K long-baseline experiments. The ENUBET and nuSTORM collaborations have begun to work within and alongside the CERN Physics Beyond Colliders study group and the international Muon Collider collaboration to carry out a joint, five-year R&D programme to deliver a detailed plan for the implementation of an infrastructure in which: (1) ENUBET and nuSTORM deliver the neutrino cross-section measurement programme identified in the ESPP and allow sensitive searches for physics beyond the Standard Model to be carried out; and in which (2) A 6D muon ionisation cooling experiment is delivered as part of the technology development programme defined by the international Muon Collider collaboration. This document summarises the status of development of the nuSTORM and 6D cooling experiments and identifies opportunities for collaboration in the development of the initiative outlined above.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2023

First Measurement of Inclusive Muon Neutrino Charged Current Triple Differential Cross Section on Argon

The field of accelerator neutrino experiments is entering an era of precision oscillation measurements where the remaining unknown neutrino measurements will be determined. The upcoming DUNE and Hyper-K experiments aim to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy and degree of Charge-Parity (CP) violation in the neutrino sector, providing potential insight on the matter-antimatter imbalance observed in the universe. However, these experiments require highly accurate measurements, and neutrino cross section modeling uncertainties may limit their capabilities. Cross section measurements at current- generation experiments can aid the development of neutrino interaction models to reduce these uncertainties. This is especially true for measurements of neutrino energy, as it drives neutrino oscillations and is of key importance to oscillation experiments. The MicroBooNE experiment uses a Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) to produce neutrino-argon cross sections as one of its physics goals. The MicroBooNE detector’s fully active volume, precision reconstruction, and calorimetry information are leveraged in the Wire-Cell analysis to produce a muon neutrino selection that is 92% pure while maintaining 68% efficiency. A reconstruction chain featuring a fully 3D charge reconstruction and a graph-based particle trajectory fit are used to produce accurate measurements of lepton kinematics as well as visible hadronic energy produced in a neutrino interaction. This thesis presents the first neutrino-argon triple-differential cross section measurement, targeting inclusive charged-current final states. Wiener SVD unfolding is used to produce a measurement over neutrino energy, muon momentum, and muon scattering angle. A series of constrained goodness of fit tests are used to demonstrate the validity of MicroBooNE’s model in describing the distribution of reconstructed kinematics seen in data to ensure the accuracy of unfolding. The validated unfolding to neutrino energy represents a step forward in the field of neutrino cross sections, and demonstrates the capabilities of the LArTPC detector.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Measuring Charged Current Muon Neutrino Cross Sections on Oxygen with the Accelerator Neutrino Neutron Interaction Experiment

The Accelerator Neutrino Neutron Interaction Experiment (ANNIE) is a $26$-ton gadolinium-doped water Cherenkov detector on-axis of the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) at Fermilab. With ANNIE, this dissertation provides the first results of a high statistics muon neutrino charged current cross section on oxygen at a short baseline on axis. This thesis explains the necessity of the measurements and details how the measurements are performed. Focus is given on the physics behind the models used to predict neutrino cross sections. The measurements include the CC inclusive and CC$0\pi$ cross section channels. This thesis details the processes of event selection, reconstruction, handling systematics, and unfolding as part of cross section measurements. A data unblinding procedure is documented and acts as the first implementation of data unblinding in ANNIE. These results provide additional constraints on existing neutrino interaction models and are the necessary steps for a joint analysis with liquid Argon experiments also on the BNB line.

Minock, James [Rutgers U., Piscataway (main)]↗
DOE OSTI2020

Scalar and tensor neutrino interactions

We constrain general Dirac neutrino interactions based on the Standard Model Effective Field Theory framework extended with right-handed neutrinos N (SMNEFT) using deep inelastic and coherent elastic neutrino scattering, nuclear beta decay, and meson decay data, and high energy electron-proton and proton-proton collider data. We compute the one-loop anomalous dimensions of the low-energy effective field theory (LEFT) below the electroweak scale and of SMNEFT above the electroweak scale. The tree-level matching between LEFT and SMNEFT is performed at the electroweak scale. Currently, the most stringent limits on scalar and tensor interactions arise from pseudoscalar meson decays and the LHC measurements at the per mille level. In the future, the upcoming High-Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) has the potential to reach the 10 -4 level and LHeC can play an important role under certain theoretical assumptions.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Measurement of $\nu_{\mu}$CC1$\pi^0$ cross-section on heavy nuclei in MINERvA

MINERvA is a neutrino-nucleus scattering experiment that investigates the effects of the nuclear medium on neutrino interactions on different targets in the energy range of the few-GeV. One of the motivations of those measurements is to provide a solid understanding of cross-sections in that energy regime that can be useful for the physics program of the current and future neutrino oscillation experiments. Because of the different interaction types in the few-GeV regime, MINERvA specializes in studying interactions with several final state production channels. Previous measurements of single-$\pi^0$ production on hydrocarbon using a neutrino beam with a mean energy of 3 GeV have shown remarkable discrepancies between the predicted and the observed cross-sections in the low-$Q^2$ regime. Such results were consistent with similar measurements from the MiniBooNE and MINOS experiments, both made of carbon-based detectors. This thesis will describe the results of the novel analysis of neu trino-induced single-$\pi^0$ production on lead and iron using a neutrino beam with a mean energy of 6 GeV. This thesis work aims to investigate similar suppression effects at low momentum transfer and offer a glance at those effects in a heavy nuclei medium.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

The DUNE Vertical Drift Photon Detection System

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a long-baseline neutrino experiment designed to mainly investigate oscillation parameters, supernova physics and proton decay. Its far detector will be composed of four liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) underground modules, in South Dakota-USA, which will detect a neutrino beam produced at Fermilab, 1300 km away, where a near detector will be in place. The second DUNE far detector module, Vertical Drift, will be a single phase LArTPC with electron drift along the vertical axis with two volumes of 13.5 m x 6.5 m x 60 m dimensions separated by a cathode plane. The charge collection will be performed by two anode planes placed at the top and bottom of the module, each composed by stacked layers of a perforated PCB technology with electrode strips. The photon detection system (PDS) will make use of large size X-Arapuca tiles distributed over three detection planes. One plane will consist of a horizontal arrangement of double sided tiles installed on the high voltage cathode plane and two vertical planes, each placed on the longest cryostat membrane walls. A light active coverage of 14.8% over the cathode and 7.4% over the laterals should allow improvements in the low energy physics range that can be probed in DUNE, especially regarding supernova neutrinos (~10 MeV). We present the initial characterization of the Vertical Drift PDS using a Monte Carlo simulation and preliminary studies on its reconstruction capabilities at the MeV scale. The information obtained with the PDS alone should allow determination of a neutrino interaction region with a precision of at least 65 cm for events with deposited energy above 5 MeV and the deposited energy can be reconstructed with precision better than 10%, both at the center of the volume.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗