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DOE OSTI2026

Near Detector Selection for Neutral Current Disappearance Search at the Short-Baseline Neutrino Program

Various short baseline neutrino experiments observe anomalies that challenge the three-flavor neutrino oscillation model, consistent with a hypothetical “sterile” neutrino that does not interact via the weak force. This poster presents a near detector event selection at the Short-Baseline Near Detector (SBND), developed for the first search for neutral current (NC) disappearance at short-baseline experiments. NC disappearance provides ``smoking gun” insight into the sterile neutrino question because NC interactions are equally sensitive to all three active neutrinos, meaning any change in the NC interaction rate between near and far detectors cannot be explained by oscillations among known flavor states. This analysis focuses on the NC1p topology, the most common NC interaction type at the Short-Baseline Neutrino (SBN) Program. NC topologies are inherently challenging due to their low light yield and the absence of an outgoing charged lepton, which complicates identification and leads to poor energy reconstruction as the outgoing neutrino carries away a large portion of the neutrino’s initial energy. This work presents an NC1p event selection at the near detector, highlighting SBND’s impressive detector capabilities, including trigger efficiency studies. Combined with a novel kinematic energy reconstruction technique leveraging the detector’s outstanding hadronic detail, this analysis establishes a robust near detector foundation to target an NC disappearance measurement consistent with the 3$+$1 sterile neutrino model. This SBND selection will soon be combined with the far detector to conduct an NC disappearance search, providing unique insight and complementary information to traditional charged current searches and advancing the SBN Program’s goal to resolve the sterile neutrino question, including 3$+$1 searches and beyond.

Nicole Pallat, Nicole Pallat [Minnesota U.] (ORCID↗

DOE OSTI2025

Testing new physics in oscillations at a neutrino factory

A neutrino factory is a potential successor to the upcoming generation of neutrino oscillation experiments and a possible precursor to next-generation muon colliders. Such a machine would provide a well characterized beam of , , , and neutrinos with comparable statistics. Here we show the sensitivity of a neutrino factory to new oscillation physics scenarios such as vector neutrino non-standard interactions and CPT violation. We study two different potential setups for a neutrino factory with different assumptions on charge identification in the far detector. We find that a neutrino factory can improve over most of the current constraints on these scenarios and over forecasted constraints by DUNE, even when doubling DUNE's statistics. Additionally, we find that a neutrino factory can break degeneracies between the standard oscillation parameters and neutrino non-standard interaction parameters present at DUNE.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2024

Concepts for Neutrino Applications

Will neutrinos find uses outside basic science? It may be too early to say, but neutrino physicists have already imagined a variety of possibilities from the relatively modest to the more blue-sky. In this review, we survey the range of proposed applications, most involving nuclear reactors and other fission sources. We give special attention to the most recent proposals, including verifying submarine reactor integrity, safeguarding advanced nuclear power plants, and monitoring spent nuclear fuel. All of these concepts take advantage of the fact that neutrinos pass through barriers other signals cannot penetrate. That same fact creates the central challenge for neutrino applications: the size and complexity of detectors needed to collect a signal. Although the weakly interacting nature of neutrinos makes them fundamentally difficult to use, developments in detector technology are making some ideas more feasible.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2020

Constraints on neutrino emission from nearby galaxies using the 2MASS redshift survey and IceCube

The distribution of galaxies within the local universe is characterized by anisotropic features. Observatories searching for the production sites of astrophysical neutrinos can take advantage of these features to establish directional correlations between a neutrino dataset and overdensities in the galaxy distribution in the sky. The results of two correlation searches between a seven-year time-integrated neutrino dataset from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, and the 2MASS Redshift Survey (2MRS) catalog are presented here. The first analysis searches for neutrinos produced via interactions between diffuse intergalactic Ultra-High Energy Cosmic Rays (UHECRs) and the matter contained within galaxies. The second analysis searches for low-luminosity sources within the local universe, which would produce subthreshold multiplets in the IceCube dataset that directionally correlate with galaxy distribution. No significant correlations were observed in either analyses. Herein, constraints are presented on the flux of neutrinos originating within the local universe through diffuse intergalactic UHECR interactions, as well as on the density of standard candle sources of neutrinos at low luminosities.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2022

Many-Body Collective Neutrino Oscillations: Recent Developments

Neutrino flavor transformations in core-collapse supernovae and binary neutron star mergers represent a complex and unsolved problem that is integral to our understanding of the dynamics and nucleosynthesis in these environments. The high number densities of neutrinos present in these environments can engender various collective effects in neutrino flavor transformations, driven either by neutrino-neutrino coherent scattering, or in some cases, through collisional (incoherent) interactions. An ensemble of neutrinos undergoing coherent scattering among themselves is an interacting quantum many-body system -- as such, there is a tantalising prospect of quantum entanglement developing between the neutrinos, which can leave imprints on their flavor evolution histories. Here, in this study, we seek to summarize recent progress that has been made towards understanding this phenomenon.

Hypernuclei↗

DOE OSTI2023

Understanding hadronic interactions using advanced reconstruction techniques

ProtoDUNE-SP served as the prototype of the future Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). With a total liquid argon mass of 0.77 kt, it stood as the most extensive monolithic single-phase Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) ever constructed. Strategically located and operated at CERN, ProtoDUNE-SP benefited from a specialized charged-particle test beam, offering a momentum range of 0.3 - 7 GeV/c. This setup provided a unique opportunity to conduct in-depth studies on hadronic interactions within argon. Hadronic interactions play a fundamental role in neutrino physics, particularly in the intricacies of neutrino detection. We depend on analyzing the outcomes of these interactions to accurately determine both the flavor and energy of the interacting neutrinos. Pions, as one of the primary byproducts of neutrino interactions, are crucial for understanding the overall dynamics and kinematics of these processes. Accurately characterizing and understanding the interaction of pions with argon can significantly enhance the precision of neutrino simulations and measurements.Being a Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC), ProtoDUNE-SP is distinguished by its ability to produce high-definition images of charged particles as they traverse through the detector's active volume. Yet, accurately reconstructing these particle interactions and determining their kinematic attributes remains a challenging task. The successes of deep learning in diverse domains, especially in image recognition, provide a promising approach for addressing this challenge in ProtoDUNE. This thesis discusses a measurement of the Piplus - argon inelastic cross section in the energy range of 2400 to 3000 MeV, using data taken by protoDUNE during the fall of 2018. Additionally, panoptic segmentation, a machine learning technique, is introduced and validated through its application in the reconstruction of the neutral pion rest mass. The aim is to showcase how these advanced methods can enhance the quality of event reconstruction.

Sarasty Segura, Carlos Eduardo↗

DOE OSTI2024

Dark Population Transfer Mechanism for Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter

We present a mechanism for producing a cosmologically significant relic density of one or more sterile neutrinos. This scheme invokes two steps: First, a population of “heavy” sterile neutrinos is created by scattering-induced decoherence of active neutrinos. Second, this population is transferred, via sterile neutrino self-interaction-mediated scatterings and decays, to one or more lighter mass (∼10 keV to ∼1 GeV) sterile neutrinos that are far more weakly (or not at all) mixed with active species and could constitute dark matter. Dark matter produced this way can evade current electromagnetic and structure-based bounds, but may nevertheless be probed by future observations.

Dark matter↗

NASA NTRS1991

Astrophysics and cosmology confront the 17 keV neutrino

A host of astrophysical and cosmological arguments severely constrain the properties of a 17 keV Dirac neutrino. Such a neutrino must have interactions beyond those of the standard electroweak theory to reduce its cosmic abundance (through decay or annihilation) by a factor of two hundred. A predicament arises because the additional helicity states of the neutrino necessary to construct a Dirac mass must have interactions strong enough to evade the astrophysical bound from SN 1987A, but weak enough to avoid violating the bound from primordial nucleosynthesis.

Kolb, Edward W.↗

NASA NTRS1991

Astrophysics and cosmology confront the 17-keV neutrino

Kolb, Edward W.↗

DOE OSTI2025

Analysis and Validation of PMT s Waveforms in ICARUS LArTPC Using Monte Carlo Simulations

ICARUS (Imaging Cosmic and Rare Underground Signals) serves as the Far Detector in the Short Baseline Neutrino (SBN) program at Fermilab, playing a central role in investigating the potential existence of sterile neutrinos in the eV squared mass range. The detector consists of two large Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers (LArTPCs) with a total capacity of 760 tons of liquid Argon. A key component of the system is its array of 360 Photo-Multiplier Tubes (PMTs), which detect the scintillation light produced by charged particles in liquid Argon; the fast scintillation signal enables accurate event timing, triggering, and reconstruction. Together with the TPC and CRT systems, the PMTs ensure precise interaction time measurements, which are crucial for distinguishing neutrino interactions from cosmic-ray backgrounds. ICARUS uses Hamamatsu R5912-MOD PMTs, optimized for cryogenic temperatures, with high quantum efficiency, excellent timing resolution, low dark current (around 10 nA at 1500 V), and broad spectral sensitivity (300–650 nm). These characteristics are crucial for the efficient detection of scintillation light. Analyzing the waveforms of PMT signals allows for a detailed comparison between experimental data and Monte Carlo simulations. This analysis is fundamental for improving the accuracy of neutrino event reconstruction, enhancing detector calibration, and optimizing the detector's performance for current and future operations.

Brio, V. [Catania U.] (ORCID:0009000088807391)↗

DOE OSTI2020

Inference offers a metric to constrain dynamical models of neutrino flavor transformation

The multimessenger astrophysics of compact objects presents a vast range of environments where neutrino flavor transformation may occur and may be important for nucleosynthesis, dynamics, and a detected neutrino signal. Development of efficient techniques for surveying flavor evolution solution spaces in these diverse environments, which augment and complement existing sophisticated computational tools, could leverage progress in this field. To this end we continue our exploration of statistical data assimilation (SDA) to identify solutions to a small-scale model of neutrino flavor transformation. SDA is a machine learning formula wherein a dynamical model is assumed to generate any measured quantities. Specifically, we use an optimization formulation of SDA wherein a cost function is extremized via the variational method. Regions of state space in which the extremization identifies the global minimum of the cost function will correspond to parameter regimes in which a model solution can exist. Our example study seeks to infer the flavor transformation histories of two monoenergetic neutrino beams coherently interacting with each other and with a matter background. We require that the solution be consistent with measured neutrino flavor fluxes at the point of detection, and with constraints placed upon the flavor content at various locations along their trajectories, such as the point of emission, and the locations of the Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein resonances. We show how the procedure efficiently identifies solution regimes and rules out regimes where solutions are infeasible. Overall, results in this work intimate the promise of this “variational annealing” methodology to efficiently probe an array of fundamental questions that traditional numerical simulation codes render difficult to access.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2024

First Search for Dark-Trident Processes Using the MicroBooNE Detector

We present a first search for dark-trident scattering in a neutrino beam using a dataset corresponding to 7.2 × 10 20 protons on target taken with the MicroBooNE detector at Fermilab. Proton interactions in the neutrino target at the main injector produce π 0 and η mesons, which could decay into dark-matter (DM) particles mediated via a dark photon A ′ . A convolutional neural network is trained to identify interactions of the DM particles in the liquid-argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) exploiting its imagelike reconstruction capability. In the absence of a DM signal, we provide limits at the 90% confidence level on the squared kinematic mixing parameter ϵ 2 as a function of the dark-photon mass in the range 10 ≤ M A ′ ≤ 400 MeV . The limits cover previously unconstrained parameter space for the production of fermion or scalar DM particles χ for two benchmark models with mass ratios M χ / M A ′ = 0.6 and 2 and for dark fine-structure constants 0.1 ≤ α D ≤ 1 . Published by the American Physical Society 2024

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2025

Improved Joint FHC+RHC Sterile Analysis with Nu-on-E Sample

The NOvA experiment measures neutrino oscillations in a nearly pure muon neutrino beam. The neutral current (NC) and the muon neutrino charged current (CC) interaction disappearance are studied to search for active-to-sterile neutrino oscillations. NOvA consists of two functionally identical detectors placed 14 mrad off-axis of Fermilab's NuMI beamline. The Near Detector (ND) is located 100 m underground on-site at Fermilab, while the Far Detector (FD) sits on the surface 810 km away at Ash River, Minnesota. The NuMI beam is capable of running in forward or reverse horn current modes, creating a predominantly neutrino or antineutrino beam, respectively. For this analysis, a simultaneous near and far detector joint fit approach was utilized. Systematic uncertainties constrain the ND while the statistical uncertainties constrain the FD. For the upcoming analysis, we plan on including a dedicated neutrino-on-electron elastic scattering sample. This interaction is advantageous as it is subject to minimal cross-section uncertainties, which will help reduce degeneracies between other uncertainty categories. This thesis presents the sterile neutrino oscillation sensitivity results using 27.2e+20 POT in FHC mode, 12.6e+20 in RHC mode.

Haejun, Stella Oh [Cincinnati U.]↗

DOE OSTI2024

First Search for Dark-Trident Processes Using the MicroBooNE Detector

This thesis presents a first search for dark-trident scattering in a neutrino beam using a data set corresponding to $7.2 \times 10^{20}$ protons on target taken with the MicroBooNE detector at Fermilab. Proton interactions in the neutrino target at the Main Injector produce $\pi^0$ and $\eta$ mesons, which could decay into dark matter (DM) particles via a dark photon $A^{\prime}$. A convolutional neural network is trained to identify interactions of the DM particles in the liquid-argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) exploiting its image-like reconstruction capability. In the absence of a DM signal, limits at the $90\%$ confidence level on the squared kinematic mixing parameter $\varepsilon^2$ as a function of the dark-photon mass in the range $10\le M_{A^\prime}\le 400$~MeV are provided. The limits cover previously unconstrained parameter space for the production of fermion or scalar DM particles $\chi$ for two benchmark models with mass ratios $M_{\chi}/M_{A^\prime}=0.6$ and $2$ and for dark fine-structure constants $0.1\le\alpha_D\le 1$.Date of Award1 Aug 2024Original languageEnglishAwarding InstitutionThe University of ManchesterSupervisorStefan Soldner-Rembold (Supervisor) & Justin Evans (Supervisor)

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2021

Electron-beam energy reconstruction for neutrino oscillation measurements

Neutrinos exist in one of three types or ‘flavours’—electron, muon and tau neutrinos—and oscillate from one flavour to another when propagating through space. This phenomena is one of the few that cannot be described using the standard model of particle physics (reviewed in ref. 1), and so its experimental study can provide new insight into the nature of our Universe (reviewed in ref. 2). Neutrinos oscillate as a function of their propagation distance (L) divided by their energy (E). Therefore, experiments extract oscillation parameters by measuring their energy distribution at different locations. As accelerator-based oscillation experiments cannot directly measure E, the interpretation of these experiments relies heavily on phenomenological models of neutrino–nucleus interactions to infer E. Here we exploit the similarity of electron–nucleus and neutrino–nucleus interactions, and use electron scattering data with known beam energies to test energy reconstruction methods and interaction models. We find that even in simple interactions where no pions are detected, only a small fraction of events reconstruct to the correct incident energy. More importantly, widely used interaction models reproduce the reconstructed energy distribution only qualitatively and the quality of the reproduction varies strongly with beam energy. This shows both the need and the pathway to improve current models to meet the requirements of next-generation, high-precision experiments such as Hyper-Kamiokande (Japan) and DUNE (USA).

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

NASA NTRS1991

E sub 6 leptoquarks and the solar neutrino problem

The possibility that non-conventional neutrino oscillations take place in the superstring inspired E sub 6 models is considered. In this context, the influence of leptoquark mediated interactions of the neutrinos with nucleons in the resonant flavor conversion is discussed. It is shown that this effect can be significant for v sub e - v sub tau oscillations if these neutrinos have masses required in the ordinary Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein (MSW) effect, and may lead to a solution of the solar neutrino problem even in the absence of vacuum mixings. On the other hand, this model cannot lead to a resonant behavior in the sun if the neutrinos are massless.

Roulet, Esteban↗

DOE OSTI2025

NOvA Sterile Neutrino Search with Additional Systematic Constraints

The NOvA experiment measures neutrino oscillations in a nearly pure muon neutrino beam. The neutral current (NC) and the muon neutrino charged current (CC) interaction disappearance are studied to search for active-to-sterile neutrino oscillations. NOvA consists of two functionally identical detectors placed 14 mrad off-axis of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory's NuMI beamline. The Near Detector (ND) is located 100 meters underground on-site at Fermilab, while the Far Detector (FD) is situated on the surface 810 kilometers away at Ash River, Minnesota. The NuMI beam is capable of operating in either forward or reverse horn current modes, producing predominantly neutrino or antineutrino beams, respectively. For this analysis, a simultaneous near and far detector joint fit approach was utilized. Systematic uncertainties constrain the ND while the statistical uncertainties constrain the FD. In addition to the dual baseline approach, the neutrino-on-electron elastic scattering sample was included. This interaction is advantageous as it is subject to minimal cross-section uncertainties, which will help reduce degeneracies between other uncertainty categories. This thesis presents the sterile neutrino oscillation sensitivity results using 27.2e+20 POT in FHC mode, 12.6e+20 in RHC mode, with the nu-on-e sample of 13.6e+20 POT in FHC.

Oh, Haejun [Cincinnati U.]↗

DOE OSTI2025

Measurement of three-dimensional inclusive muon-neutrino charged-current cross sections on argon with the MicroBooNE detector

We report the measurement of the triple-differential cross section d 3 σ/dE vis d cos(θ μ )dP μ for inclusive muon-neutrino charged-current scattering on argon. This measurement utilizes data from 6.4 x 10 20 protons on target of exposure collected using the MicroBooNE liquid argon time projection chamber located along the Fermilab Booster Neutrino Beam with a mean neutrino energy of approximately 0.8 GeV. The mapping from reconstructed kinematics to truth quantities is validated within uncertainties by comparing the distribution of reconstructed hadronic energy in data to that of the model prediction in different muon scattering angle bins after applying a conditional constraint from the muon momentum distribution in data. The success of this validation provides confidence that the energy transfer in the MicroBooNE detector is well-modeled within simulation uncertainties, enabling a reliable unfolding to a triple-differential cross section defined at the nominal neutrino flux over muon momentum, muon scattering angle, and visible neutrino energy. This validation not only supports accurate cross-section extraction, but also establishes a critical foundation for tuning interaction models used in future neutrino oscillation measurements. The unfolded measurement covers an extensive phase space, providing a wealth of information useful for future liquid argon time projection chamber experiments measuring neutrino oscillations. Comparisons against a number of commonly used model predictions are included and their performance in different parts of the available phase-space is discussed.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗