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All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2025

Searching for Sterile Neutrinos In the NOvA Experiment and Measurements of Hadronic Energy Response with NOvA Test Beam Data

The NOvA (NuMI Off-Axis electron neutrino Appearance) experiment is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment composed of two functionally identical detectors: a 300-ton Near Detector and a 14-kton Far Detector, separated by 809 km and placed 14 mrad off the axis of the NuMI neutrino beam created at Fermilab. This configuration enables NOvA’s rich neutrino physics program, which includes measuring neutrino mixing parameters, determining the neutrino mass hierarchy, probing CP violation in the leptonic sector, studying neutrino cross sections, searching for sterile neutrinos, and more.\\ In this thesis I will present two independent analyses developed within the NOvA experiment. The first is a search for light sterile neutrino oscillations in the 3+1 framework using $\nu_\mu$-CC and NC samples from the NOvA Near and Far Detectors. Light sterile neutrinos are hypothetical neutral leptons that do not participate in the weak interactions but can mix with the three known active neutrinos: $\nu_e$, $\nu_\mu$, and $\nu_\tau$. Anomalous results, such as $\nu_e$/$\bar{\nu}e$ appearance in a $\nu_\mu$ ($\bar{\nu}_\mu$) beam observed by the MiniBooNE and LSND experiments, can be explained by the existence of sterile neutrinos. Thus, proving the existence of this type of neutrino is essential. The latest results of these searches in the NOvA experiment, along with contributions to this effort, will be presented.\\ The second is the first measurement of the pion energy response using data from the NOvA Test Beam experiment. The NOvA Test Beam experiment, deployed at Fermilab, uses a scaled-down 30-ton NOvA detector to analyze tagged beamline particles. The beamline can select and identify electrons, muons, pions, kaons, and protons with momenta ranging from 0.4 to 1.4 GeV/c. Pions are an important component of the hadronic system in neutrino interactions, and understanding how the detector responds to these particles is crucial for the validation of the simulation and the reduction of detector calibration uncertainties, which remain one of the largest systematic uncertainties in NOvA analyses.

Dueñas Tonguino, David Francisco [Cincinnati U.] (↗
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 OSTI2015

Neutron detection using a crystal ball calorimeter

The program of experiments of the A2 Collaboration performed on a beam of tagged photons of the MAMI electron microtron in Mainz (Germany) includes precision measurements of the total and differential cross sections of the pion photoproduction on neutrons of a deuterium target. The determination of the detector ability to detect neutrons is undoubtedly one of the important problems of the experiment. The calorimetric system of the detector contains a segmented NaI Crystal Ball detector, which gives information about the position, energy, and detection time of neutral and charged particles in a wide angular range. In this work, we describe the measurement of the neutron detection efficiency in the energy range from 20 to 400MeV. The results are compared with BNL data obtained on a pion beam and proton target.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2015

STAR results on central exclusive production in proton-proton collisions

We present a preliminary measurement of the Central Exclusive Production of the two oppositely charged pions produced in the process pp → ppπ{sup +} π{sup −}, obtained with the STAR detector at RHIC at √(s)=200 GeV. Silicon strip detectors placed in Roman Pots were used for tagging forward protons while pion pair tracks were reconstructed in the STAR Time Projection Chamber. Predictions of models based on Regge phenomenology are compared to the spectra of the kinematical variables corrected for detector acceptance and efficiency.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2015

Simulation of atmospheric temperature effects on cosmic ray muon flux

The collision between a cosmic ray and an atmosphere nucleus produces a set of secondary particles, which will decay or interact with other atmosphere elements. This set of events produced a primary particle is known as an extensive air shower (EAS) and is composed by a muonic, a hadronic and an electromagnetic component. The muonic flux, produced mainly by pions and kaons decays, has a dependency with the atmosphere’s effective temperature: an increase in the effective temperature results in a lower density profile, which decreases the probability of pions and kaons to interact with the atmosphere and, consequently, resulting in a major number of meson decays. Such correlation between the muon flux and the atmosphere’s effective temperature was measured by a set of experiments, such as AMANDA, Borexino, MACRO and MINOS. This phenomena can be investigated by simulating the final muon flux produced by two different parameterizations of the isothermal atmospheric model in CORSIKA, where each parameterization is described by a depth function which can be related to the muon flux in the same way that the muon flux is related to the temperature. This research checks the agreement among different high energy hadronic interactions models and the physical expected behavior of the atmosphere temperature effect by analyzing a set of variables, such as the height of the primary interaction and the difference in the muon flux.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2013

Collective properties of the final state in processes involving the production of hadron jets

Experimental results obtained by studying soft hadron jets in pion-proton and pion-nucleus reactions at intermediate energies with the aid of traditional collective variables are presented. Analytic approximations that describe, at a qualitative level, the dependences of collective parameters on the energy and multiplicity are proposed. Estimates obtained for strong coupling constant by studying collective variables are in reasonable agreement with its world-average value and with the results extracted by using different methods. The behavior of traditional collective variables as functions of the multiplicity in various interactions makes it possible to obtain a universal estimate for the lower boundary of the region of experimental manifestations of jets in multiparticle-production processes.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2016

FERMI LAT DISCOVERY OF EXTENDED GAMMA-RAY EMISSIONS IN THE VICINITY OF THE HB 3 SUPERNOVA REMNANT

We report the discovery of extended gamma-ray emission measured by the Large Area Telescope (LAT) onboard the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope in the region of the supernova remnant (SNR) HB 3 (G132.7+1.3) and the W3 II complex adjacent to the southeast of the remnant. W3 is spatially associated with bright {sup 12}CO (J = 1–0) emission. The gamma-ray emission is spatially correlated with this gas and the SNR. We discuss the possibility that gamma rays originate in interactions between particles accelerated in the SNR and interstellar gas or radiation fields. The decay of neutral pions produced in nucleon–nucleon interactions between accelerated hadrons and interstellar gas provides a reasonable explanation for the gamma-ray emission. The emission from W3 is consistent with irradiation of the CO clouds by the cosmic rays accelerated in HB 3.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Coherent π{sup 0}-photoproduction on the deuteron near the η-production threshold including polarization observables

Coherent π{sup 0}-photoproduction on the deuteron including polarization observables is studied in the energy region near the η-production threshold at backward center-of-mass angles of the outgoing pion. This work is motivated by the measurements of the CLAS Collaboration at Jefferson Lab, where a cusp-like structure in the energy dependence of the differential cross section has been observed at extremely backward pion angles. The present approach is based on the impulse approximation and first-order rescattering diagrams with intermediate production of both π- and η-mesons. Numerical results for unpolarized cross sections, the linear photon asymmetry (Σ), the vector (T{sub 11}) and tensor (T{sub 2M}, M=0, 1, 2) deuteron target asymmetries, and the double polarization E-asymmetry are predicted and compared with available experimental data and other theoretical models. The effect of first-order rescattering is found to be much larger in spin asymmetries than in the unpolarized cross sections. It reaches on average about 40% in the tensor target and E asymmetries. Compared to the experimental data from CLAS Collaboration, sizable discrepancies are found. This is not the case for the linear photon asymmetry, for which a better comparison with the data from YerPhI Collaboration is obtained.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Detector for measuring the π + → e + v branching fraction

The PIENU experiment at TRIUMF is aimed at a measurement of the branching ratio R e/u = Γ((π + → e + v e ) + (π + → e + v e γ))/Γ((π + → μ + v μ ) + (π + → μ + v μ γ)) with precision < 0.1%. Incident pions, delivered at the rate of 60 kHz with momentum 75 MeV/c, were degraded and stopped in a plastic scintillator target. Pions and their decay product positrons were detected with plastic scintillators and tracked with multiwire proportional chambers and silicon strip detectors. The energies of the positrons were measured in a spectrometer consisting of a large NaI(Tℓ) crystal surrounded by an array of pure CsI crystals. This paper provides a description of the PIENU experimental apparatus and its performance in pursuit of R e/u

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Balance functions of (un)identified hadrons in Pb–Pb, p–Pb, and pp collisions at the LHC

In ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions, correlations of particles with opposite quantum numbers provide insight into quark production mechanisms and time scales, collective motion, and re-scattering in the hadronic phase. The longitudinal and azimuthal widths of balance functions for charged kaons and charged pions are used to examine the two-wave quark production model proposed to explain quark-antiquark production within the QGP, which predicts a large increase in up and down quark pairs relative to strange quark pairs around the time of hadronization. Balance functions are also analyzed in small collision systems such as p–Pb and pp to study fragmentation effects and possible collective effects in high-multiplicity events. A comprehensive set of balance functions has been measured using the ALICE detector, including results for unidentified hadrons in Pb–Pb and p–Pb collisions at √ s NN = 5.02 TeV, for charged pions in Pb–Pb collisions at √ s NN = 2.76 TeV, p–Pb collisions at √ s NN = 5.02 TeV and pp collisions at √ s NN = 7 TeV, and for charged kaons in Pb–Pb collisions at √ s NN = 2.76 TeV. The first balance function yield results are also presented.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

Single photon production {nu}{sub l}N{yields}{nu}{sub l}N{gamma} in neutrino-nucleon scattering

The quasielastic charged current (CCQE) {nu}{sub e}n{yields}e{sup -}p scattering is the dominant mechanism to detect appearance of a {nu}{sub e} in an almost {nu}{sub {mu}} flux at the 1 GeV scale. Actual experiments show a precision below 1% and between less known background contributions, but necessary to constraint the event excess, we have the radiative corrections. A consistent model recently developed for the simultaneous description of elastic and radiative {pi}N scattering, pion-photoproduction and single pion production processes, both for charged and neutral current neutrino-nucleon scattering, is extended for the evaluation of the radiative {nu}{sub l}N{yields}{nu}{sub l}N{gamma} cross section. Our results are similar to a previous (but inconsistent) theoretical evaluation in the low energy region, and show an increment in the upper region where the {Delta} resonance becomes relevant.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2014

Segmented scintillation detectors with silicon photomultiplier readout for measuring antiproton annihilations

The Atomic Spectroscopy and Collisions Using Slow Antiprotons experiment at the Antiproton Decelerator (AD) facility of CERN constructed segmented scintillators to detect and track the charged pions which emerge from antiproton annihilations in a future superconducting radiofrequency Paul trap for antiprotons. A system of 541 cast and extruded scintillator bars were arranged in 11 detector modules which provided a spatial resolution of 17 mm. Green wavelength-shifting fibers were embedded in the scintillators, and read out by silicon photomultipliers which had a sensitive area of 1 × 1 mm{sup 2}. The photoelectron yields of various scintillator configurations were measured using a negative pion beam of momentum p ≈ 1 GeV/c. Various fibers and silicon photomultipliers, fiber end terminations, and couplings between the fibers and scintillators were compared. The detectors were also tested using the antiproton beam of the AD. Nonlinear effects due to the saturation of the silicon photomultiplier were seen at high annihilation rates of the antiprotons.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2015

Neutrino-nucleus interactions at the LBNF near detector

The reaction mechanisms for neutrino interactions with an {sup 40}Ar nucleus with the LBNF flux are calculated with the Giessen-Boltzmann-Uehling-Uhlenbeck (GiBUU) transport-theoretical implementation of these interactions. Quasielastic scattering, many-body effects, pion production and absorption and Deep Inelastic Scattering are discussed; they all play a role at the LBNF energies and are experimentally entangled with each other. Quasielastic scattering makes up for only about 1/3 of the total cross section whereas pion production channels make up about 2/3 of the total. This underlines the need for a consistent description of the neutrino-nucleus reaction that treats all channels on an equal, consistent footing. The results discussed here can also serve as useful guideposts for the Intermediate Neutrino Program.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Aspects of neutrino interactions (scatterings at the low Q{sup 2}-region)

The article begins with a description of chiral symmetry and its application to neutrino induced reactions. For small Q{sup 2} (forward direction) the process is dominated by the amplitute with helicity zero where the pion pole disappears when multiplied with the polarization vector. The remaining part of the amplitude is determined by PCAC. For E{sub ν} > 2 GeV the computed cross sections are in good agreement with data. In coherent pion production we expect equal yields for neutrinos and antineutrinos a relation which for E{sub ν} > 2 GeV is fulfilled. We discuss specific features of the data and suggest methods for improving them by presenting new estimates for the incoherent background.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2015

Electroweak meson production reaction in the nucleon resonance region

We report on our recent study of the the neutrino-nucleon reaction in the nucleon resonance region. The dynamical reaction model of meson production reaction on the nucleon for the pion and photon induced reaction has been developed in order to investigate the spectrum of nucleon excited state. We have extended this model in order to describe the weak meson production reactions with the πN, ηN, KΛ, KΣ and ππN final states. We also studied the role of the final state interaction in the photon and the neutrino induced pion production reaction on the deuteron around the Δ(1232) resonance region.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Chiral-symmetry breaking and confinement in Minkowski space

We present a model for the quark-antiquark interaction formulated in Minkowski space using the Covariant Spectator Theory. The quark propagators are dressed with the same kernel that describes the interaction between different quarks. By applying the axial-vector Ward-Takahashi identity we show that our model satisfies the Adler-zero constraint imposed by chiral symmetry. For this model, our Minkowski-space results of the dressed quark mass function are compared to lattice QCD data obtained in Euclidean space. The mass function is then used in the calculation of the electromagnetic pion form factor in relativistic impulse approximation, and the results are presented and compared with the experimental data from JLab.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2016

Minding the MeV gap: The indirect detection of low mass dark matter

We consider the prospects for the indirect detection of low mass dark matter which couples dominantly to quarks. If the center of mass energy is below about 280 MeV, the kinematically allowed final states will be dominated by photons and neutral pions, producing striking signatures at gamma ray telescopes. In fact, an array of new instruments have been proposed, which would greatly improve sensitivity to photons in this energy range. We find that planned instruments can improve on current sensitivity to dark matter models of this type by up to a few orders of magnitude.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2016

Monoenergetic neutrinos from dark matter annihilation: Issues of exposure

We consider searches for dark matter annihilation in the Sun resulting in monoenergetic neutrinos, produced either directly or through the decay of stopped pions and kaons. We find that this strategy is very successful at increasing the signal-to-background ratio, but that current experiments may be signal limited. We discuss the exposures need to fully exploit this search strategy.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗