209842301
SEARCHES FOR HIGH-FREQUENCY VARIATIONS IN THE 8B SOLAR NEUTRINO FLUX AT THE SUDBURY NEUTRINO OBSERVATORY
We have performed three searches for high-frequency signals in the solar neutrino flux measured by the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, motivated by the possibility that solar g-mode oscillations could affect the production or propagation of solar 8B neutrinos. The first search looked for any significant peak in the frequency range 1-144 day–1, with a sensitivity to sinusoidal signals with amplitudes of 12% or greater. The second search focused on regions in which g-mode signals have been claimed by experiments aboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory satellite, and was sensitive to signals with amplitudes of 10% or greater. The third search looked for extra power across the entire frequency band. No statistically significant signal was detected in any of the three searches.
121047477
Letter of Intent: A new investigation of $\nu_\mu\rightarrow\nu_e$ oscillations with improved sensitivity in an enhanced MiniBooNE experiment
122697839
A Combined Three-Phase Signal Extraction of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory Data Using Markov Chain Monte Carlo Technique
Neutrino physics has entered an era of precision, after proving that the Standard Solar Model is a viable theory and going beyond the current Standard Model of particle physics by proving that neutrinos possess nonzero masses. The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) experiment, along with other experiments, has restricted neutrino mixing angle (θ12) and the mass square difference (∆m21) to lie within the large mixing solution area. SNO, located 2 km underground in Sudbury, Canada, was an ultraclean heavy-water (D2O) imaging detector for observing neutrinos produced by fusion reactions in the Sun. Neutrino interactions with heavy water resulted in flashes of light called C̆erenkov radiation which was detected by an array of photomultiplier tubes. SNO took data from November 1999 to November 2006, totalling 1082 days of data taking. This work describes an improved measurement of the mixing parameters from a combined fit of all the data. For the signal extraction fit on the data consisting of 4 observable of an event – radial position, recoil electron energy, direction relative to the Sun and event isotropy – Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method based on Metropolis algorithm was employed. The nuisance parameters (systematics), weighted by external constraints, were allowed to vary in the fit. The goal of the thesis was to extract the survival probabilities of electron neutrinos and determine the total flux of active-flavour neutrinos from B decay in the Sun measured through the neutral current interactions of neutrinos on deuterium. The B flux from the fit is (5.24 ± 0.02) × 10 cm−2 s−1; uncertainty from statistics and systematics is 3.56%. Along with B flux, the fit extracted energy spectra of charged current interactions of neutrinos on deuterium and elastic scattering interactions of neutrinos on electrons. The fit described the energy-dependent day survival probability of solar neutrinos as a quadratic equation and asymmetry on the day survival probability as a linear equation. Four polynomial coefficients of the survival probability were extracted from the fit: constant coefficient as 0.3206± 0.0197, linear coefficient as 0.005± 0.008 and quadratic coefficient as −0.0014± 0.0033. There are two coefficients on the day-night asymmetry: constant coefficient as 0.0496 ± 0.0347 and the linear coefficient as −0.018 ± 0.028. The day-night asymmetry (0.0496) observed is 1.4σ away from zero. Using these findings, the oscillation space in terms of ∆m21 and θ12 will be further constrained. Compared to the previous published SNO results, the uncertainty on B went down from 3.83% to 3.56% and average B νe survival probability (p0) went down from 6.57% to 6.14%. If the data were analysed with the same assumptions, the decrease in uncertainties would have been approximately twice as big; however, more conservative systematic uncertainties were assigned in some cases.
39360572
A new investigation of electron neutrino appearance oscillations with improved sensitivity in the MiniBooNE+ experiment
Submitted as whitepaper for Snowmass'13 proceedings - 8 pages, 3 figures; version 2: Minor change to title and author list
3282231
First test of Lorentz violation with a reactor-based antineutrino experiment
We present a search for Lorentz violation with 8249 candidate electron antineutrino events taken by the Double Chooz experiment in 227.9 live days of running. This analysis, featuring a search for a sidereal time dependence of the events, is the first test of Lorentz invariance using a reactor-based antineutrino source. No sidereal variation is present in the data and the disappearance results are consistent with sidereal time independent oscillations. Under the Standard-Model Extension (SME), we set the first limits on fourteen Lorentz violating coefficients associated with transitions between electron and tau flavor, and set two competitive limits associated with transitions between electron and muon flavor.
7687818
A search for astrophysical burst signals at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory
The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) has confirmed the standard solar model and neutrino oscillations through the observation of neutrinos from the solar core. In this paper we present a search for neutrinos associated with sources other than the solar core, such as gamma-ray bursts and solar flares. We present a new method for looking for temporal coincidences between neutrino events and astrophysical bursts of widely varying intensity. No correlations were found between neutrinos detected in SNO and such astrophysical sources.
118644038
Search for new physics in events with photons, jets, and missing transverse energy in pp collisions at $ \sqrt{s}=7 $ TeV
A bstractA search for physics beyond the standard model involving events with one or more photons, jets, and missing transverse energy has been performed by the CMS experiment. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.93 fb−1 of proton-proton collisions at $ \sqrt{s}=7 $ TeV, produced at the Large Hadron Collider. No excess of events with large missing transverse energy is observed beyond expectations from standard model processes, and upper limits on the signal production cross sections for new physics processes are set at the 95% confidence level. The results of this search are interpreted in the context of three models of new physics: a general model of gauge-mediated supersymmetry breaking, Simplified Models, and a theory involving universal extra dimensions. In the absence of evidence for new physics, exclusion regions are derived in the parameter spaces of the respective models.
17709141
A search for excited neutrinos in e- p collisions at HERA
A search for first generation excited neutrinos is performed using the full e(-) p data sample collected by the HI experiment at HERA at a centre-of-mass energy of 319 GeV, corresponding to a total luminosity of 184 pb(-1). The electroweak decays of excited neutrinos nu* -> nu gamma, v* -> nu Z and nu* -> eW with subsequent hadronic or leptonic decays of the W and Z bosons are considered. No evidence for excited neutrino production is found. Mass dependent exclusion limits on nu* production cross sections and on the ratio of the coupling to the compositeness scale f/boolean AND are derived within gauge mediated models. A limit on f/boolean AND A, independent of the relative couplings to the SU(2) and U(1) gauge bosons, is also determined. These limits extend the excluded region to higher masses than has been possible in previous excited neutrino searches. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
124665265
Measurement of diffractive scattering of photons with large momentum transfer at HERA
The first measurement of diffractive scattering of quasi-real photons with large momentum transfer gamma p -> gamma Y, where Y is the proton dissociative system, is made using the H1 detector at HERA. The measurement is performed for initial photon virtualities Q(2) < 0.01 GeV2. Single differential cross sections are Measured as a function of W, the incident photon-proton centre of mass energy, and t, the square of the four-momentum transferred at the proton vertex, in the range 175 < W < 247 GeV and 4 < |t| < 36 GeV2. The W dependence is well described by a model based on perturbative QCD using a leading logarithmic approximation of the BFKL evolution. The measured |t| dependence is harder than that predicted by the model and those observed in exclusive vector meson production. (C) 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V.
119176650
Nonparametric Reconstruction of the Dark Energy Equation of State
A basic aim of ongoing and upcoming cosmological surveys is to unravel the mystery of dark energy. In the absence of a compelling theory to test, a natural approach is to better characterize the properties of dark energy in search of clues that can lead to a more fundamental understanding. One way to view this characterization is the improved determination of the redshift-dependence of the dark energy equation of state parameter, w(z). To do this requires a robust and bias-free method for reconstructing w(z) from data that does not rely on restrictive expansion schemes or assumed functional forms for w(z). We present a new nonparametric reconstruction method that solves for w(z) as a statistical inverse problem, based on a Gaussian process representation. This method reliably captures nontrivial behavior of w(z) and provides controlled error bounds. We demonstrate the power of the method on different sets of simulated supernova data; the approach can be easily extended to include diverse cosmological probes.
119113295
Measurement of isolated photon production in deep-inelastic scattering at HERA
The production of isolated photons in deep-inelastic scattering ep→eγX is measured with the H1 detector at HERA. The measurement is performed in the kinematic range of negative four-momentum transfer squared 4<Q2<150 GeV2 and a mass of the hadronic system WX>50 GeV. The analysis is based on a total integrated luminosity of 227 pb-1. The production cross section of isolated photons with a transverse energy in the range 3<ETγ<10 GeV and pseudorapidity range -1.2<ηγ<1.8 is measured as a function of ETγ, ηγ and Q2. Isolated photon cross sections are also measured for events with no jets or at least one hadronic jet. The measurements are compared with predictions from Monte Carlo generators modelling the photon radiation from the quark and the electron lines, as well as with calculations at leading and next to leading order in the strong coupling. The predictions significantly underestimate the measured cross sections.