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DOE OSTI2015

The Intermediate Neutrino Program

The US neutrino community gathered at the Workshop on the Intermediate Neutrino Program (WINP) at Brookhaven National Laboratory February 4-6, 2015 to explore opportunities in neutrino physics over the next five to ten years. Scientists from particle, astroparticle and nuclear physics participated in the workshop. The workshop examined promising opportunities for neutrino physics in the intermediate term, including possible new small to mid-scale experiments, US contributions to large experiments, upgrades to existing experiments, R&D plans and theory. The workshop was organized into two sets of parallel working group sessions, divided by physics topics and technology. Physics working groups covered topics on Sterile Neutrinos, Neutrino Mixing, Neutrino Interactions, Neutrino Properties and Astrophysical Neutrinos. Technology sessions were organized into Theory, Short-Baseline Accelerator Neutrinos, Reactor Neutrinos, Detector R&D and Source, Cyclotron and Meson Decay at Rest sessions.This report summarizes discussion and conclusions from the workshop.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DOE OSTI2015

Light Dark Matter in the NO$\nu$A Near Detector, a First Look at the New Data

The neutrino oscillations experiment NOA is the agship of Fermi National Laboratory. The neutrino source NuMI is delivering record numbers of protons-on-target surpassing the most stringent dark matter production upper limits of current models in the under-10 GeV mass range. We take advantage of the sophisticated particle identication algorithms of the experiment to interrogate the data from the 300-ton, o-axis, low-Z, Near Detector of NOvA during the rst physics runs. We search for signatures of sub-GeV or Light Dark Matter (LDM), Axion-like-particles, and Heavy or Sterile Neutrinos that may scatter or decay in the volume of the detector.

Hatzikoutelis, Athanasios↗

DOE OSTI2015

Compact Superconducting Radio-frequency Accelerators and Innovative RF Systems

We will present several new technical and design breakthroughs that enable the creation of a new class of compact linear electron accelerators for industrial purposes. Use of Superconducting Radio-Frequency (SRF) cavities allow accelerators less than 1.5 M in length to create electron beams beyond 10 MeV and with average beam powers measured in 10’s of KW. These machines can have the capability to vary the output energy dynamically to produce brehmstrahlung x-rays of varying spectral coverage for applications such as rapid scanning of moving cargo for security purposes. Such compact accelerators will also be cost effective for many existing and new industrial applications. Examples include radiation crosslinking of plastics and rubbers, creation of pure materials with surface properties radically altered from the bulk, modification of bulk or surface optical properties of materials, sterilization of medical instruments animal solid or liquid waste, and destruction of organic compounds in industrial waste water effluents. Small enough to be located on a mobile platform, such accelerators will enable new remediation methods for chemical and biological spills and/or in-situ crosslinking of materials. We will describe one current design under development at Fermilab including plans for prototype and value-engineering to reduce costs. We will also describe development of new nano-structured field-emitter arrays as sources of electrons, new methods for fabricating and cooling superconducting RF cavities, and a new novel RF power source based on magnetrons with full phase and amplitude control.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

DOE OSTI2017

CeLAND: search for a 4th light neutrino state with a 3 PBq 144 Ce- 144 Pr electron antineutrino generator in KamLAND

The reactor neutrino and gallium anomalies can be tested with a 3-4 PBq (75-100 kCi scale) 144 Ce- 144 Pr antineutrino beta-source deployed at the center or next to a large low-background liquid scintillator detector. The antineutrino generator will be produced by the Russian reprocessing plant PA Mayak as early as 2014, transported to Japan, and deployed in the Kamioka Liquid Scintillator Anti-Neutrino Detector (KamLAND) as early as 2015. KamLAND's 13 m diameter target volume provides a suitable environment to measure the energy and position dependence of the detected neutrino flux. A characteristic oscillation pattern would be visible for a baseline of about 10 m or less, providing a very clean signal of neutrino disappearance into a yet-unknown, sterile neutrino state. This will provide a comprehensive test of the electron dissaperance neutrino anomalies and could lead to the discovery of a 4th neutrino state for Δm$2\atop{new}$ ≳ 0.1 eV 2 and sin 2 (2θ new ) > 0.05.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DOE OSTI2017

The Intermediate Neutrino Program

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2017

Overview of the Liquid Argon Cryogenics for the Short Baseline Neutrino Program (SBN) at Fermilab

The Short-Baseline Neutrino (SBN) physics program will involve three LAr-TPC detectors located along the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) at Fermilab. This new SBN Program will deliver a rich and compelling physics opportunity, including the ability to resolve a class of experimental anomalies in neutrino physics and to perform the most sensitive search to date for sterile neutrinos at the eV mass-scale through both appearance and disappearance oscillation channels. The Program will be composed of an existing and operational detector known as Micro Boone (170 ton LAr mass) plus two new experiments known as the SBN Near Detector (SBND, ~ 260 ton) and the SBN Far Detector (SBN-FD, ~ 600 tons). Fermilab is now building two new facilities to house the experiments and incorporate all cryogenic and process systems to operate these detectors beginning in the 2018-2019 time frame. The SBN cryogenics are a collaborative effort between Fermilab and CERN. The SBN cryogenic systems for both detectors are composed of several sub-systems: External/Infrastructure (or LN2), Proximity (or LAr), and internal cryogenics. For each detector the External/Infrastructure cryogenics includes the equipment used to store and the cryogenic fluids needed for the operation of the Proximity cryogenics, including the LN2 and LAr storage facilities. The Proximity cryogenics consists of all the systems that take the cryogenic fluids from the external/infrastructure cryogenics and deliver them to the internal at the required pressure, temperature, purity and mass flow rate. It includes the condensers, the LAr and GAr purification systems, the LN2 and LAr phase separators, and the interconnecting piping. The Internal cryogenics is comprised of all the cryogenic equipment located within the cryostats themselves, including the GAr and LAr distribution piping and the piping required to cool down the cryostats and the detectors. These cryogenic systems will be engineered, manufactured, commissioned, and qualified by an international engineering team. This contribution presents the performance, the functional requirements and the modes of operation of the SBN cryogenics, and details the current status of the design, present and future needs.

Norris, Barry↗

DOE OSTI2018

Integrated Decision Methodology for Final Disposal of Radioactive Sources

Radioactive sources are used throughout the world, and their beneficial uses are many. Sources are at the core of many applications in different branches of industry, medicine, agriculture and research. Sources are present in a very wide range of equipment that is used for, inter alia, cancer treatment, killing bacteria in food, sterilizing medical supplies, measuring instruments such as gauges used to measure soil moisture and soil density and many other components, irradiating seeds for enhancing food production, protecting buildings from lightning strikes, mapping underground sources of water, prospecting for oil and gas reserves, measuring density of soil for construction projects, or even detecting smoke. At their “cradle” and when in use, radioactive sources are usually properly managed and controlled. It is when a source has reached the end of its useful life when they are at a higher risk of being under inadequate control, poorly managed, or even becoming orphan. Sources that have reached the end of their useful life must be carefully and safely managed. The “grave” of disused sources needs a proper disposal process to prevent them from posing a potential threat to people or the environment. To protect the public and the environment from the potential hazards of ionizing radiation, and to prevent disused sources from becoming orphan, a “cradle-to-grave” control of radioactive sources is essential, as promoted by the Code of Conduct on the Safety and Security of Radioactive Sources. This approach requires a national policy and strategy, an adequate legal and regulatory framework, and adequate resources and infrastructure. Many IAEAMember States have expressed the need for effective solutions to this challenge. There is also a gap related to the life cycle costs of potential disposal practices. This paper proposes a multi-attribute decision making methodology to compare disposal options using both economic and non-economic criteria leading to a preferred option for disposal and a strategy for final disposal of disused radioactive sources that is specific and optimized for each IAEA Member State.

Beatty, Randy↗

DOE OSTI2018

Searching for Large Extra Dimensions with MINOS and MINOS+

Most data from neutrino oscillation experiments are consistent with the standard three-flavor paradigm. With increasing experimental precision, potential effects from high scale physics that could modify oscillations in subtle ways are searched for. One such high scale physics scenario involves large extra dimensions. Following the Large Extra Dimension model, sterile neutrinos arising as Kaluza-Klein states in an extra dimension with size $R$ can mix with the three active neutrinos in 3+1 spacetime, thereby altering the neutrino oscillation probabilities. MINOS reported the strongest constraint on $R$ from a neutrino oscillation experiment, excluding $R > 0.45\,\mu\text{m}$ at 90\% C.L. An updated result will be presented, employing a new analysis technique that exploits the full power of both MINOS detectors and including the analysis of MINOS+ beam data which significantly increases the number of events at energies above the three-flavor minimum where the LED mod el effects are bigger.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2018

Macquarie Island Cloud and Radiation Experiment (MICRE) Ice Nucleating Particle Measurements Field Campaign Report

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) user facility Macquarie Island Cloud and Radiation Experiment (MICRE) Ice Nucleating Particle Measurements campaign was aligned as a supplemental activity with the second year of the overall MICRE campaign. The purpose of the supplemental campaign was to provide a first-ever annual cycle of ice nucleating particle (INP) measurements at a Southern Ocean (SO) site, toward the investigation/characterization of sources of INPs in the marine boundary layer as being from the production or primary sea spray aerosol (SSA) emissions versus other long-range transport influences. Furthermore, measuring the variability in INPs seasonally in this region, as this may relate to meteorology and ocean biological processes, is expected to help constrain (via parameterizations) numerical model simulations of cloud phase and regional climate. In concert with other SO studies during the time frame of the campaign (March 2017 to March 2018), MICRE sought to evaluate the hypotheses that SSA INPs represent the major INP source in the SO and, due to their generally less efficient INP activation properties compared to terrestrial sources, that they may directly influence the persistence of supercooled clouds in a unique manner for this climatic region. These measurements supplemented the original deployment of primarily radiation measurements provided in the ARM MICRE request and the associated Australian Antarctic Division (AAD) Antarctic Clouds and Radiation Experiment (ACRE). Assistance and collaboration was obtained from the AAD, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM). Follow-up plans will include investigations with their additional aerosol, cloud, and radiative transfer measurements. AAD also saw to the transport to Australia and storage of filters at the end of the campaign. The added effort involved an average of twice-weekly collections (a 48-hour and a 72-hour collection) of pre-sterilized, open-faced, polycarbonate filter samples for post-processing of INP number concentrations and tests to analyze the nature of INP sources. Collections were made by AAD technician Emry Thaggard Crocker after online training from our team. Images of the filter sampler and site are shown in Figure 1. Sampling occurred from an approximate elevation of 4m MSL. Filters were returned frozen to Colorado State University (CSU) at the end of the campaign. Initial processing to obtain INP temperature spectra (0 to -28°C) of the concentrations of INPs active via the immersion freezing mechanism were conducted using the CSU ice spectrometer (IS) instrument systems (Hiranuma et al. 2015; McCluskey et al. 2018). In this method, particles are first removed from filters using ultrapure water while under mechanical agitation. Arrays of the particle suspensions from a portion of filter rinses are then cooled to obtain immersion freezing data per volume of water, and finally are related to sampling volumes to obtain numbers per volume of air following the analysis methods of Vali (1971). A total of 103 filters were collected, including blanks at selected intervals throughout the project. For archival and completion of tasks under this ARM proposal, nearly half of the filter collections (46) were processed for basic temperature spectra, and half of these (23) were also tested for microbial/proteinaceous contributions toward INPs via 95°C pre-treatment of portions of the original suspensions.

Southern Ocean, aerosols, marine clouds, MARCUS ca↗

DOE OSTI2019

Scintillation Light Triggering Efficiency in MicroBooNE

The MicroBooNE Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) has been running since 2015 as part of the Short-Baseline Neutrino (SBN) program at Fermilab and is designed to contribute to address the elusive eV sterile neutrino anomaly. MicroBooNE records both the ionisation charge and scintillation light produced inside the TPC. The latter is collected through PhotoMultiplier Tubes (PMTs) and used for accurate timing and triggering. Having an accurate knowledge of the triggering efficiency at low energies is a key element for the success of MicroBooNE analyses, and the methods developed to obtain can be used by future LArTPCs, especially in the SBN program. For this reason MicroBooNE is developing a data driven method to estimate the trigger efficiency of scintillation light. The goal of this poster is to present a preliminary analysis of calculating this efficiency in MicroBooNE using cosmic ray muons. Results of this analysis will be crucial for many analyses that aim to me asure low energy interactions, and inform triggering strategies in LArTPCs in the SBN and future DUNE program.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2019

Messengers from the Early Universe: Cosmic Neutrinos and Other Light Relics

The hot dense environment of the early universe is known to have produced large numbers of baryons, photons, and neutrinos. These extreme conditions may have also produced other long-lived species, including new light particles (such as axions or sterile neutrinos) or gravitational waves. The gravitational effects of any such light relics can be observed through their unique imprint in the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the large-scale structure, and the primordial light element abundances, and are important in determining the initial conditions of the universe. We argue that future cosmological observations, in particular improved maps of the CMB on small angular scales, can be orders of magnitude more sensitive for probing the thermal history of the early universe than current experiments. These observations offer a unique and broad discovery space for new physics in the dark sector and beyond, even when its effects would not be visible in terrestrial experiments or in astrophysical environments. A detection of an excess light relic abundance would be a clear indication of new physics and would provide the first direct information about the universe between the times of reheating and neutrino decoupling one second later.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2019

Beamline Extension for the Accelerator Applications Development and Demonstration at IARC

IARC houses an electron particle accelerator, known as A2D2, for proof-of-principle demonstrations for industrial applications. It delivers 9 MeV electrons for various applications such as water treatment, food and medical sterilization, environmental remediation, and others. At the Illinois Accelerator Research Center, A2D2 requires additional beam quality for improved and enhanced applications.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

DOE OSTI2019

Reconstruction and Selection Tools for Charged-Current Muon Neutrino Cross Sections in SBND

SBND Near detector for the Short-Baseline Neutrino program [1] searching for sterile neutrinos in the Booster Neutrino Beam. Data taking starts in 2020. Primary detector is a liquid argon time projection chamber with a central cathode and two drift regions (TPCs). Ionization caused by charged particles is drifted in a strong electric field and detected on wire planes. Readout triggered by the neutrino beam timing and the photon detector system (PDS). Equipped with a suite of cosmic ray taggers (CRTs) [2] surrounding the central detector. Cross-sections and backgrounds SBND will provide world leading neutrino-argon cross-sections with 7,000,000 neutrino events in three years. Charged-current muon neutrino interactions will be the most abundant. The detector is on the surface with a small overburden so there is a high flux of cosmic rays (mostly muons). Cosmic ray muons can be significant background because the electron drift velocity is slow. Reconstruction Charged deposited in the TPC is reconstructed into track and shower objects with calorimetry and interaction topology information [3]. Unambiguous cosmic rays are removed. Particle-CRT intersections are reconstructed as CRT hits, trajectories of through-going particles are reconstructed as CRT tracks. Cosmic background removal SBND will see 2-3 cosmic muon interactions in the TPC for every neutrino interaction after reconstruction and initial cosmic rejection. A number of selection cuts utilizing TPC, CRT and PDS information have been developed to further reduce this background. Particles in the detector before or after the trigger time will have a shifted reconstructed X-position, most rejection methods involve finding the true crossing time (t0).

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2019

A Flexible Trigger for SBND

The Short Baseline Neutrino (SBN) program at Fermilab will search for neutrino oscillations occurring over a 600m baseline with sensitivity to Δm2 of order 1eV2. The Short Baseline Near Detector (SBND) will serve as the near detector for the SBN program and will enable a sensitive test of the light sterile neutrino hypothesis, aiming either at an unambiguous discovery or a 5σ exclusion of the area of 3+1 oscillation parameter space allowed by the LSND and MiniBooNE anomalies.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2019

Particle Physics with the Cosmic Microwave Background with SPT-3G

The cosmic microwave background (CMB) encodes information about the content and evolution of the universe. The presence of light, weakly interacting particles impacts the expansion history of the early universe, which alters the temperature and polarization anisotropies of the CMB. In this way, current measurements of the CMB place interesting constraints on the neutrino energy density and mass, as well as on the abundance of other possible light relativistic particle species. We present the status of an on-going 1500 sq. deg. survey with the SPT-3G receiver, a new mm-wavelength camera on the 10-m diameter South Pole Telescope (SPT). The SPT-3G camera consists of 16,000 superconducting transition edge sensors, a 10x increase over the previous generation camera, which allows it to map the CMB with an unprecedented combination of sensitivity and angular resolution. We highlight projected constraints on the abundance of sterile neutrinos and the sum of the neutrino masses for the SPT-3G survey, which could help determine the neutrino mass hierarchy.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2019

Messengers from the Early Universe: Cosmic Neutrinos and Other Light Relics

58 GEOSCIENCES↗

DOE OSTI2015

The Physics and Nuclear Nonproliferation Goals of WATCHMAN: A WAter CHerenkov Monitor for ANtineutrinos

Herein, this article describes the physics and nonproliferation goals of WATCHMAN, the WAter Cherenkov Monitor for ANtineutrinos. The baseline WATCHMAN design is a kiloton scale gadolinium-doped (Gd) light water Cherenkov detector, placed 13 kilometers from a civil nuclear reactor in the United States. In its first deployment phase, WATCHMAN will be used to remotely detect a change in the operational status of the reactor, providing a first- ever demonstration of the potential of large Gd-doped water detectors for remote reactor monitoring for future international nuclear nonproliferation applications. During its first phase, the detector will provide a critical large-scale test of the ability to tag neutrons and thus distinguish low energy electron neutrinos and antineutrinos. This would make WATCHMAN the only detector capable of providing both direction and flavor identification of supernova neutrinos. It would also be the third largest supernova detector, and the largest underground in the western hemisphere. In a follow-on phase incorporating the IsoDAR neutrino beam, the detector would have world-class sensitivity to sterile neutrino signatures and to non-standard electroweak interactions (NSI). WATCHMAN will also be a major, U.S. based integration platform for a host of technologies relevant for the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) and other future large detectors. This white paper describes the WATCHMAN conceptual design,and presents the results of detailed simulations of sensitivity for the project's nonproliferation and physics goals. Furthermore, it describes the advanced technologies to be used in WATCHMAN, including high quantum efficiency photomultipliers, Water-Based Liquid Scintillator (WbLS), picosecond light sensors such as the Large Area Picosecond Photo Detector (LAPPD), and advanced pattern recognition and particle identification methods.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DOE OSTI2019

MEASUREMENT OF THE CHARGED-CURRENT INCLUSIVE ELECTRON NEUTRINO AND ELECTRON ANTINEUTRINO CROSS SECTION USING THE MICROBOONE DETECTOR IN THE NUMI BEAM

Detection of electron neutrino appearance is the process by which modern neutrino experiments seek to answer the open questions in neutrino physics: CP-violation in the neutrino sector, the neutrino mass ordering, and sterile neutrino oscillations. To date, only three measurements of electron neutrino cross sections have been performed. The analysis presented in this thesis describes the extraction of the first charged-current inclusive $\nu_e$ + $\bar{\nu}_e$ cross section on argon. This calculation was performed with data collected by the MicroBooNE liquid argon time projection chamber using neutrinos from the Neutrino Main Injector (NuMI) beam located at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Extraction of this cross section is enabled by the first fully-automated inclusive selection of $\nu_e$ + $\bar{\nu}_e$ charged-current interactions in a liquid argon time projection chamber, which provided the largest sample of $\nu_e$ + $\bar{\nu}_e$ charged-current interactions ever observed in liquid argon. The selection utilises the signature capabilities of liquid argon, such as distinguishing electron-like and photon-like electromagnetic showers using their charge-deposition profiles (dE/dx). The evaluation of systematic effects influencing the final cross section, including detector simulation and flux simulation uncertainties, which have been applied for the first time to a MicroBooNE analysis using neutrinos from the NuMI beam, is also presented. The total impact of all systematic and statistical effects results in a 38.44\% uncertainty on the flux integrated cross section, giving $\sigma_{\nu_{e}~+~\bar{\nu}_e} = 4.67 \pm 1.01 \textrm{(stat)} \pm 1.48 \textrm{(sys)} \times 10^{-39}$ cm$^{2}$ per nucleon as the final result, which is in agreement with theoretical predictions.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗