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At least 1,315 records · Page 73
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DOE OSTI2026

Inclusive Search for Anomalous Single-Photon Production in MicroBooNE

The MicroBooNE experiment is an 85-ton active volume liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) neutrino detector situated in the Fermilab Booster Neutrino Beam. One of the main goals for MicroBooNE is to investigate the “low energy excess” (LEE) of electromagnetic events observed by the MiniBooNE experiment by leveraging the unique capabilities of the LArTPC technology to distinguish photons from electron electromagnetic showers. In this poster, we present an inclusive search for anomalous production of single-photon events from neutrino interactions in the MicroBooNE experiment, motivated by the MiniBooNE LEE. The analysis uses the Wire-Cell reconstruction framework to select a sample of inclusive single-photon final-state interactions and leverages simultaneous measurements of sidebands to constrain signal and background predictions and reduce uncertainties. We perform a blind analysis using a dataset collected from February 2016 to July 2018 from the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) at Fermilab. In the full signal region, we observe agreement between the data and the prediction, with a goodness-of-fit p-value of 0.11. We then isolate a sub-sample of these events containing no visible protons, and observe 93 $/pm$ 22(stat.) $\pm$ 35(syst.) data events above prediction, corresponding to just above 2$\sigma$ local significance, concentrated at shower energies below 600 MeV.

Yandel, Erin [Los Alamos] (ORCID:0000000277123709)↗
DOE OSTI2026

Search for NC Delta Radiative Decay Single Photon Events In MicroBooNE

MicroBooNE, a liquid argon time projection chamber at Fermilab, is investigating the MiniBooNE anomaly, which consists of an excess of low-energy electromagnetic showers in a neutrino beam. Recent results from MicroBooNE have ruled out a 3+1 sterile neutrino explanation of the anomaly, leaving the single photon-like explanation as the most likely possibility. In this poster, we describe results of a new expanded search for the neutral current Delta radiative decay topology, a rare type of event which is by far the largest expected source of neutrino-induced single photons. Using two different reconstruction paradigms simultaneously, we study in detail events both with and without visible hadronic activity; either category of event could explain the MiniBooNE anomaly, but the two could have very different implications for underlying physics. We find that events with visible protons are excluded as an explanation of the MiniBooNE anomaly, but events without visible protons remain a possible explanation requiring further study.

Hagaman, Lee [Nevis Labs, Columbia U.] (ORCID:0000↗
DOE OSTI2026

A Joint Search for Muon Neutrino Disappearance with the Short-Baseline Neutrino Program Using the SPINE Deep Learning-Based Reconstruction Package

We present the status of a joint search for muon neutrino disappearance in the Booster Neutrino Beam at Fermilab using the Short-Baseline Neutrino (SBN) Program's two-detector configuration, SBND and ICARUS. Charged-current interactions consistent with muon neutrinos and containing only a muon and at least one proton in the final state are reconstructed and selected using the SPINE deep learning-based particle reconstruction package. To exploit proton multiplicity information and enhance sensitivity to modeling effects, the selected sample is partitioned into exclusive channels with exactly one reconstructed proton and with more than one reconstructed proton. Comprehensive systematic uncertainties from the neutrino flux, interaction, and detector response are incorporated into the analysis, and the coverage of these systematic uncertainty models is validated using data from both detectors, including checks of near-far consistency in key kinematic and topology-sensitive observables. This analysis is intended for inclusion in SBN's first oscillation result.

Mueller, Justin [Fermilab]↗
DOE OSTI2026

First Search for Dark Sector e+e- Explanations of the MiniBooNE Anomaly at MicroBooNE

The MiniBooNE anomaly has puzzled the neutrino physics community for over two decades. MicroBooNE has previously searched for anomalous electron and photon excesses as potential explanations but the mystery persists. In this poster, we present the first direct test of dark sector models in which dark neutrinos scatter, then decay into e+e− pairs and missing energy, mimicking the MiniBooNE signal. These models have recently emerged as compelling candidates that evade existing constraints. Using 6.87×1020 protons-on-target in the Booster Neutrino Beam, we select forward-going, coherently produced e+e− events in the MicroBooNE detector. We observe 95 events against a constrained background prediction of 69.7±17.3. We set the world's first direct limits on this class of dark sector models, excluding at 95% CL the majority of parameter space viable as a solution to the MiniBooNE anomaly.

Basque, Vincent Marc [Edinburgh U.] (ORCID:0000000↗
DOE OSTI2026

Electron Neutrino Selection for Neutrino Oscillation Searches in the SBN Program

The Short- Baseline Neutrino (SBN) Pprogram at Fermilab employs a near detector, SBND, and a far detector, ICARUS, to search for baseline-dependent changes to the measure muon neutrino disappearance and electron neutrino appearance and disappearance from the muon neutrino-dominated Booster Neutrino Beam flux. The use of the same liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) technology in both detectors and the same neutrino beam enables a systematically well-constrained oscillation measurement, by leveraging the high statistics of O(10 million) neutrino interactions expected at SBND through 2027 to constrain flux and cross-section systematics. In this poster, we present high-statistics, high-purity electron neutrino selections in SBND and ICARUS and related electron shower energy calibration measurements in SBND enabled by the SPINE deep learning-based particle reconstruction framework. Furthermore, we discuss how these samples can enable high sensitivity to '3+1' sterile neutrino oscillations in a combined fit accounting for systematic uncertainties and correlations.

Oza, Nupur [Nevis Labs, Columbia U.; Columbia U.]↗
DOE OSTI2026

Pandora-based muon neutrino disappearance search in the SBN program with 1muonNp quasi-elastic like channel

The Short-Baseline Neutrino (SBN) program at Fermilab aims to perform a definitive search for light sterile neutrinos using multiple liquid argon time projection chamber detectors. We present the status of an analysis of muon neutrino charged-current interactions in two SBN detectors (SBND and ICARUS), selecting fully contained events with one muon and at least one proton in the final state, inspired by the recent ICARUS standalone results. This topology-driven selection reduces dependence on neutrino interaction cross-section modeling while preserving high statistics and good neutrino energy resolution, enabled by robust reconstruction and particle identification. Fully contained events enable precise kinematic reconstruction and support relative measurements between detectors, directly addressing the core goals of the SBN program. A detailed evaluation of systematic uncertainties is currently underway, with the objective of reducing the dominant systematics to the percent level. The current status of this analysis, with a particular focus on the event selection performance, will be presented in this poster.

Artero Pons, Maria [Padua U.; INFN, Padua]↗
DOE OSTI2026

Future Sterile Neutrino Searches in NOvA using the Booster Neutrino Beam

The NOvA experiment’s most recent search for eV-scale sterile neutrinos under a 3+1 model simultaneously analyses muon neutrino and neutral current datasets from the NuMI beam at it's Near ($\sim$1 km baseline) and Far (810 km baseline) detectors to look for oscillations consistent with a sterile neutrino. The analysis is systematically limited in the region of parameter space where $\Delta m^{2}_{41} $>~1 eV^2$. This region of parameter space is preferred by sterile neutrino interpretations of current experimental anomalies and so improving sensitivity here is high-priority. The Near Detector’s position on-site at Fermilab means that it is also able to observe neutrinos from a second neutrino beam, the BNB, 160 mrad off-axis. This data probes a similar L/E to the NuMI data, but using a different neutrino energy, and being subject to different beam-related uncertainties. Jointly analysing these datasets can help us to constrain our systematic uncertainties, improving our sensitivity. NOvA has been taking BNB data since 2015, but has not yet analysed these data. This poster will present first sensitivities from the combined analysis of the BNB and NuMI datasets.

Lister, Adam [U. Wisconsin, Madison (main)]↗
DOE OSTI2026

Neutron-Antineutron Transition Search at DUNE

Neutron-antineutron transition is a baryon number violating process with ΔB=2, providing a unique insight into potential explanations of the baryon asymmetry in our universe, especially in the context of post-sphaleron baryogenesis. Studies have been conducted across various neutron-rich environments, including free neutron sources, neutron stars, and bound neutrons in large underground neutrino detectors, among which large neutrino experiments have historically obtained the most stringent constraints. The forthcoming Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) will offer especially strong prospects for this search, enabled by the high spatial resolution of its liquid argon time projection chamber. This poster presents a recent study on neutron-antineutron transition at DUNE using machine-learning based event classification.

Yu, Kaiwen [UC, Irvine (main)]↗
DOE OSTI2026

Search for Dark Showers from Higgs Boson Decays Through the Photon Portal

One of the primary goals of the CMS detector is to find particles beyond the standard model. We present a search for dark showers produced from decays of the Higgs boson using collision data from the CMS experiment at the LHC. These dark showers then decay into jets made entirely of photons, which we can observe in the detector. Thus, our analysis focuses on reconstructing and analyzing these jets and maximizing signal selection efficiency for data from the Monte Carlo simulation. The photon signature of dark jets can then be confirmed via an invariant-mass distribution of these two photon jets. If found, these particles would provide evidence of physics theories beyond the Standard Model.

MacMullin, Alexandra [Skidmore Coll.]↗
DOE OSTI2026

Search for HH → bbτ⁺τ⁻ Using Run 3 Scouting Data Analyze b-tagging and tau-tagging Performance with Unified Particle Transformer

B-tagging and tau-tagging performances play an important role in the search for the rare event HH → bbτ⁺τ⁻. A transformer-based neural network, Unified Particle Transformer, is applied for both tagging tasks, and Run 3 proton–proton collision scouting data at center-of-mass energy of 13.6 TeV is used. The scouting data stream accepts events at a much higher rate compared to traditional triggers, but stores only the objects reconstructed in the trigger, no low-level detector information. Therefore, existing taggers trained for the offline event reconstruction cannot be used. Analysis of the SoftMax plots, ROC/AUC curves, confusion matrix, accuracy and losses are used to evaluate model performance. Specifically, the tagging efficiency of the signal and misidentification probability across multiple background processes are compared for varying working points. Different training samples with distinct distributions of jet flavors are utilized and related model performances are analyzed. Interpretability methods, such as Integrated Gradients, may further be applied to study the input features’ influence on the model’s decisions, providing insights into potential improvements.

Chen, Blair [Purdue U., West Lafayette; Fermilab]↗
DOE OSTI2026

Recent highlights of dark matter searches from CMS

Determination of the nature of dark matter is one of the most fundamental problems of particle physics and cosmology. This talk presents recent searches for dark matter particles from the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider.

Safdari, Murtaza [Fermilab] (ORCID:000000018323731↗
DOE OSTI2026

Recent highlights of dark matter searches from CMS

Determination of the nature of dark matter is one of the most fundamental problems of particle physics and cosmology. This talk presents recent searches for dark matter particles from the CMS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider.

Safdari, Murtaza [Fermilab] (ORCID:000000018323731↗
DOE OSTI2026

First Results from the Search for Muon-Neutrino Disappearance with the ICARUS Detector

After successful operation at LNGS and a major upgrade at CERN, the 760-ton ICARUS T600 detector has been running at Fermilab since 2020, collecting neutrino interactions from the BNB and NuMI beams. In late 2025, ICARUS reached five years of continuous data taking, demonstrating the maturity of large-scale LAr-TPC technology and its relevance for future experiments such as DUNE. This contribution presents the first ICARUS search for muon-neutrino disappearance in the BNB. Charged-current 1$\mu$Np events selected from 2022–2023 data are compared to simulations and interpreted, for the first time, within a two-neutrino approximation of the 3+1 sterile-neutrino model, including systematic uncertainties from flux, interaction, and detector effects. Although currently limited by systematic uncertainties, this first oscillation analysis probes the parameter space suggested by existing $\nu_\mu$ disappearance results and lays the groundwork for future SBN combined analyses with SBND, which will significantly improve sensitivity to sterile-neutrino scenarios.

Steklain, Andre [Parana Tech. Fed. U., Toledo] (OR↗
DOE OSTI2021

Muon to electron conversion search in the presence of Al nuclei at the Fermilab Mu2e experiment: Motivation, Design and Progress

The Mu2e experiment aims to find charged lepton flavor violation(CLFV) by measuring the monochromatic electrons from $\mu^- N\rightarrow e^- N$ conversion with an unprecedented single event sensitivity of $3 \times 10^{-17}$. When completed the experiment will improve the current limit by four orders of magnitude and make a previously unexplored phase space available for the search for beyond the standard model physics. Physics motivation for the experiment is discussed and design choices for the detectors and various sub systems are explained in this document. The construction of the Mu2e experiment is well underway and commissioning will begin in late 2022 with first data taking in late 2025 and 4-5 years of data taking thereafter to reach our goal.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Sub-GeV dark matter and neutrino searches with Skipper-CCDs: status and prospects

Thick fully-depleted charge-coupled devices (CCDs) with high-resistivity silicon are used in a wide range of scientific applications, from particle detection to astronomical imaging. Their low noise and high charge collection efficiency allow us to reach unprecedented sensitivity to physical processes with low-energy transfers. The newly-developed Skipper-CCD enhances this sensitivity by reducing the read-out noise reaching a sub-electron resolution. In this work, we summarize the fundamentals of the skipper-CCD operation and the prospects for both sub-GeV dark-matter searches and the detection of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering. A brief discussion of the challenges associated with the construction of the foreseen detectors with multi-kilogram target mass is also presented.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2021

Searching for millicharged particles produced in cosmic-ray air showers

Particles with small electric charges can be produced abundantly in extensive air-showers, generated from the collisions of cosmic rays with the earth's atmosphere. These millicharged particles can leave their imprints at underground experiments via scattering-off electrons. In this report, we present updated constraints using low energy data from Super-Kamiokande, and the XENON1T experiment. Moreover, we provide new sensitivity projections for millicharged particles in the future JUNO neutrino observatory, and discuss different search strategies including both, single-scattering events, and multiple-energy-deposition traces.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

A search for spectral hardening in HAWC sources above 56 TeV

The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory is a wide-field-of-view gamma-ray observatory that is optimized to detect gamma rays between 300 GeV and several hundred TeV. The HAWC Collaboration recently released their third source catalog (3HWC), which contains 65 sources. One of these sources, the ultra-high-energy gamma-ray source 3HWC J1908+063, may exhibit a hardening of the spectral index at the highest energies (above 56 TeV). At least two populations of particles are needed to satisfactorily explain the highest energy emission. This second component could be leptonic or hadronic in origin. If it is hadronic in origin, it would imply the presence of protons with energies up to ~1 PeV near the source. We have searched other 3HWC sources for the presence of this spectral hardening feature. If observed, this would imply that the sources could make good PeVatron candidates.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗