Search

The gamma-ray sky has been observed with unprecedented accuracy in the last decade by the Fermi -large area telescope (LAT), allowing us to resolve and understand the high-energy Universe. The nature of the remaining unresolved emission [unresolved gamma-ray background (UGRB)] below the LAT source detection threshold can be uncovered by characterizing the amplitude and angular scale of the UGRB fluctuation field. This Letter presents a measurement of the UGRB autocorrelation angular power spectrum based on eight years of Fermi-LAT Pass 8 data products. The analysis is designed to be robust against contamination from resolved sources and noise systematics. The sensitivity to subthreshold sources is greatly enhanced with respect to previous measurements. We find evidence (with $\sim 3.7\sigma$ significance) that the scenario in which two classes of sources contribute to the UGRB signal is favored over a single class. A double power law with exponential cutoff can explain the anisotropy energy spectrum well, with photon indices of the two populations being $2.55\pm 0.23$ and $1.86\pm 0.15$.

The T2K Collaboration presents the first measurement of electron neutrino-induced charged-current pion production on a predominantly carbon target in a restricted kinematical phase space. This is performed using data from the 2.5° off-axis near detector, ND280. The differential cross sections with respect to the outgoing electron and pion kinematics, in addition to the total flux-integrated cross section, are obtained. Comparisons between the measured and predicted cross-section results using the neut, genie, and nuwro Monte Carlo event generators are presented. The measured total flux-integrated cross section is $[2.52\pm 0.52(\mathrm{stat})\pm 0.30(\mathrm{syst})]\times {10}^{-39}{\mathrm{cm}}^2{\text{nucleon}}^{-1}$, which is lower than the event generator predictions.

This paper reports the first differential measurement of the charged-current ${\overline{\nu }}_{\mu }$ interaction cross section on water with no pions in the final state. The unfolded flux-averaged measurement using the T2K off-axis near detector is given in double-differential bins of ${\mu }^{+}$ momentum and angle. The integrated cross section in a restricted phase space is $\sigma =(1.11\pm 0.18)\times {10}^{-38}{\mathrm{cm}}^2$ per water molecule. Comparisons with several nuclear models are also presented.

We report a flux-integrated cross section measurement of muon neutrino interactions on water and hydrocarbon via charged current reactions without charged pions in the final state with the WAGASCI-BabyMIND detector, which was installed in the T2K near detector hall in 2018. The detector is located 1.5° off-axis and is exposed to a more energetic neutrino flux than ND280, another T2K near detector, which is located at a different off-axis position. The total flux-integrated cross section is measured to be $1.26\pm 0.18(\text{stat}+\text{syst})\times {10}^{-39}{\mathrm{cm}}^2/\mathrm{nucleon}$ on CH and $1.44\pm 0.21(\text{stat}+\text{syst})\times {10}^{-39}{\mathrm{cm}}^2/\mathrm{nucleon}$ on ${\mathrm{H}}_2\mathrm{O}$. These results are compared to model predictions provided by the neut v5.3.2 and genie v2.8.0 Monte Carlo generators and the measurements are compatible with these models. Differential cross sections in muon momentum and cosine of the muon scattering angle are also reported. This is the first such measurement reported with the WAGASCI-BabyMIND detector and utilizes the 2020 and 2021 datasets.

We present the measurement of ${\pi }^{+}$-argon inelastic cross sections using the ProtoDUNE single-phase liquid argon time projection chamber in the incident ${\pi }^{+}$ kinetic energy range of 500–800 MeV in multiple exclusive channels (absorption, charge exchange, and the remaining inelastic interactions). The results of this analysis are important inputs to simulations of liquid argon neutrino experiments such as the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment and the Short Baseline Neutrino program at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. They will be employed to improve the modeling of final state interactions within neutrino event generators used by these experiments, as well as the modeling of ${\pi }^{+}$-argon secondary interactions within the liquid argon. This is the first measurement of ${\pi }^{+}$-argon absorption at this kinetic energy range as well as the first ever measurement of ${\pi }^{+}$-argon charge exchange.

We present a method of calculating the band structure of layer compounds that combines the transmission and reflection matrices from individual atomic layers. The computing time increases linearly with the number $p$ of layers in the repeat unit, compared with $p^3$ for other methods, thus rendering the method suitable for layer compounds with complicated stacking sequences. Results for Mo${\mathrm{S}}_2$ are described.

Neutrino- and antineutrino-oxygen neutral-current quasielasticlike interactions are measured at Super-Kamiokande using nuclear deexcitation $\gamma$ rays to identify signal-like interactions in data from a $14.94(16.35)\times {10}^{20}$ protons-on-target exposure of the T2K neutrino (antineutrino) beam. The measured flux-averaged cross sections on oxygen nuclei are $⟨{\sigma }_{\nu \text{−}\mathrm{NCQE}}⟩=1.70\pm 0.17(\mathrm{stat}.{)}_{-0.38}^{+0.51}(\mathrm{syst}.)\times {10}^{-38}{\mathrm{cm}}^2/\text{oxygen}$ with a flux-averaged energy of 0.82 GeV and $⟨{\sigma }_{\overline{\nu }\text{−}\mathrm{NCQE}}⟩=0.98\pm 0.16(\mathrm{stat}.{)}_{-0.19}^{+0.26}(\mathrm{syst}.)\times {10}^{-38}{\mathrm{cm}}^2/\text{oxygen}$ with a flux-averaged energy of 0.68 GeV, for neutrinos and antineutrinos, respectively. These results are the most precise to date, and the antineutrino result is the first cross section measurement of this channel. They are compared with various theoretical predictions. The impact on evaluation of backgrounds to searches for supernova relic neutrinos at present and future water Cherenkov detectors is also discussed.

We report measurements by the T2K experiment of the parameters ${\theta }_{23}$ and $\mathrm{\Delta }{m}_{32}^2$, which govern the disappearance of muon neutrinos and antineutrinos in the three-flavor PMNS neutrino oscillation model at T2K’s neutrino energy and propagation distance. Utilizing the ability of the experiment to run with either a mainly neutrino or a mainly antineutrino beam, muon-like events from each beam mode are used to measure these parameters separately for neutrino and antineutrino oscillations. Data taken from $1.49\times {10}^{21}$ protons on target (POT) in neutrino mode and $1.64\times {10}^{21}$ POT in antineutrino mode are used. The best-fit values obtained by T2K were ${\sin }^2({\theta }_{23})={0.51}_{-0.07}^{+0.06}({0.43}_{-0.05}^{+0.21})$ and $\mathrm{\Delta }{m}_{32}^2={2.47}_{-0.09}^{+0.08}({2.50}_{-0.13}^{+0.18})\times {10}^{-3}{\mathrm{eV}}^2/c^4$ for neutrinos (antineutrinos). No significant differences between the values of the parameters describing the disappearance of muon neutrinos and antineutrinos were observed. An analysis using an effective two-flavor neutrino oscillation model where the sine of the mixing angle is allowed to take nonphysical values larger than 1 is also performed to check the consistency of our data with the three-flavor model. Our data were found to be consistent with a physical value for the mixing angle.

The determination of the direction of a stellar core collapse via its neutrino emission is crucial for the identification of the progenitor for a multimessenger follow-up. A highly effective method of reconstructing supernova directions within the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is introduced. The supernova neutrino pointing resolution is studied by simulating and reconstructing electron-neutrino charged-current absorption on ${}^{40}\mathrm{Ar}$ and elastic scattering of neutrinos on electrons. Procedures to reconstruct individual interactions, including a newly developed technique called “brems flipping,” as well as the burst direction from an ensemble of interactions are described. Performance of the burst direction reconstruction is evaluated for supernovae happening at a distance of 10 kpc for a specific supernova burst flux model. The pointing resolution is found to be 3.4 degrees at 68% coverage for a perfect interaction-channel classification and a fiducial mass of 40 kton, and 6.6 degrees for a 10 kton fiducial mass respectively. Assuming a 4% rate of charged-current interactions being misidentified as elastic scattering, DUNE’s burst pointing resolution is found to be 4.3 degrees (8.7 degrees) at 68% coverage.

Measurements of electrons from ${\nu }_e$ interactions are crucial for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) neutrino oscillation program, as well as searches for physics beyond the standard model, supernova neutrino detection, and solar neutrino measurements. This article describes the selection and reconstruction of low-energy (Michel) electrons in the ProtoDUNE-SP detector. ProtoDUNE-SP is one of the prototypes for the DUNE far detector, built and operated at CERN as a charged particle test beam experiment. A sample of low-energy electrons produced by the decay of cosmic muons is selected with a purity of 95%. This sample is used to calibrate the low-energy electron energy scale with two techniques. An electron energy calibration based on a cosmic ray muon sample uses calibration constants derived from measured and simulated cosmic ray muon events. Another calibration technique makes use of the theoretically well-understood Michel electron energy spectrum to convert reconstructed charge to electron energy. In addition, the effects of detector response to low-energy electron energy scale and its resolution including readout electronics threshold effects are quantified. Finally, the relation between the theoretical and reconstructed low-energy electron energy spectra is derived, and the energy resolution is characterized. The low-energy electron selection presented here accounts for about 75% of the total electron deposited energy. After the addition of lost energy using a Monte Carlo simulation, the energy resolution improves from about 40% to 25% at 50 MeV. These results are used to validate the expected capabilities of the DUNE far detector to reconstruct low-energy electrons.

This paper reports the first measurement using the NOvA detectors of ${\nu }_{\mu }$ disappearance in a ${\nu }_{\mu }$ beam. The analysis uses a 14 kton-equivalent exposure of $2.74\times {10}^{20}$ protons-on-target from the Fermilab NuMI beam. Assuming the normal neutrino mass hierarchy, we measure $\mathrm{\Delta }{m}_{32}^2=({2.52}_{-0.18}^{+0.20})\times {10}^{-3}{\mathrm{eV}}^2$ and ${\sin }^2{\theta }_{23}$ in the range 0.38–0.65, both at the 68% confidence level, with two statistically degenerate best-fit points at ${\sin }^2{\theta }_{23}=0.43$ and 0.60. Results for the inverted mass hierarchy are also presented.

We report results from the first search for ${\nu }_{\mu }\to {\nu }_e$ transitions by the NOvA experiment. In an exposure equivalent to $2.74\times {10}^{20}$ protons on target in the upgraded NuMI beam at Fermilab, we observe 6 events in the Far Detector, compared to a background expectation of $0.99\pm 0.11(\text{syst})$ events based on the Near Detector measurement. A secondary analysis observes 11 events with a background of $1.07\pm 0.14(\text{syst})$. The $3.3\sigma$ excess of events observed in the primary analysis disfavors $0.1\pi <{\delta }_{CP}<0.5\pi$ in the inverted mass hierarchy at the 90% C.L.

Muon neutrino and antineutrino disappearance probabilities are identical in the standard three-flavor neutrino oscillation framework, but $CPT$ violation and nonstandard interactions can violate this symmetry. In this work we report the measurements of ${\sin }^2{\theta }_{23}$ and $\mathrm{\Delta }{m}_{32}^2$ independently for neutrinos and antineutrinos. The aforementioned symmetry violation would manifest as an inconsistency in the neutrino and antineutrino oscillation parameters. The analysis discussed here uses a total of $1.97\times {10}^{21}$ and $1.63\times {10}^{21}$ protons on target taken with a neutrino and antineutrino beam respectively, and benefits from improved flux and cross section models, new near-detector samples and more than double the data reducing the overall uncertainty of the result. No significant deviation is observed, consistent with the standard neutrino oscillation picture.

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) will produce world-leading neutrino oscillation measurements over the lifetime of the experiment. In this work, we explore DUNE’s sensitivity to observe charge-parity violation (CPV) in the neutrino sector, and to resolve the mass ordering, for exposures of up to 100 kiloton-megawatt-calendar years (kt-MW-CY), where calendar years include an assumption of 57% accelerator uptime based on past accelerator performance at Fermilab. The analysis includes detailed uncertainties on the flux prediction, the neutrino interaction model, and detector effects. We demonstrate that DUNE will be able to unambiguously resolve the neutrino mass ordering at a $4\sigma$ ($5\sigma$) level with a 66 (100) kt-MW-CY far detector exposure, and has the ability to make strong statements at significantly shorter exposures depending on the true value of other oscillation parameters, with a median sensitivity of $3\sigma$ for almost all true ${\delta }_{\mathrm{CP}}$ values after only 24 kt-MW-CY. We also show that DUNE has the potential to make a robust measurement of CPV at a $3\sigma$ level with a 100 kt-MW-CY exposure for the maximally CP-violating values ${\delta }_{\mathrm{CP}}=\pm \pi /2$. Additionally, the dependence of DUNE’s sensitivity on the exposure taken in neutrino-enhanced and antineutrino-enhanced running is discussed. An equal fraction of exposure taken in each beam mode is found to be close to optimal when considered over the entire space of interest.

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment is a next-generation neutrino oscillation experiment that aims to measure $CP$-violation in the neutrino sector as part of a wider physics program. A deep learning approach based on a convolutional neural network has been developed to provide highly efficient and pure selections of electron neutrino and muon neutrino charged-current interactions. The electron neutrino (antineutrino) selection efficiency peaks at 90% (94%) and exceeds 85% (90%) for reconstructed neutrino energies between 2–5 GeV. The muon neutrino (antineutrino) event selection is found to have a maximum efficiency of 96% (97%) and exceeds 90% (95%) efficiency for reconstructed neutrino energies above 2 GeV. When considering all electron neutrino and antineutrino interactions as signal, a selection purity of 90% is achieved. These event selections are critical to maximize the sensitivity of the experiment to $CP$-violating effects.

We report the measurements of the single and double differential cross section of muon neutrino charged-current interactions on carbon with a single positively charged pion in the final state at the T2K off-axis near detector using $5.56\times {10}^{20}$ protons on target. The analysis uses data control samples for the background subtraction and the cross section signal, defined as a single negatively charged muon and a single positively charged pion exiting from the target nucleus, is extracted using an unfolding method. The model-dependent cross section, integrated over the T2K off-axis neutrino beam spectrum peaking at 0.6 GeV, is measured to be $\sigma =(11.76\pm 0.44(\mathrm{stat})\pm 2.39(\mathrm{syst}))\times {10}^{-40}{\mathrm{cm}}^2{\text{nucleon}}^{-1}$. Various differential cross sections are measured, including the first measurement of the Adler angles for single charged pion production in neutrino interactions with heavy nuclei target.

This paper presents the first combined measurement of the double-differential muon neutrino and antineutrino charged-current cross sections with no pions in the final state on hydrocarbon at the off-axis near detector of the T2K experiment. The data analyzed in this work comprise $5.8\times {10}^{20}$ and $6.3\times {10}^{20}$ protons on target in neutrino and antineutrino mode respectively, at a beam energy peak of 0.6 GeV. Using the two measured cross sections, the sum, difference, and asymmetry were calculated with the aim of better understanding the nuclear effects involved in such interactions. The extracted measurements have been compared with the prediction from different Monte Carlo generators and theoretical models showing that the difference between the two cross sections have interesting sensitivity to nuclear effects.

We report an updated measurement of the ${\nu }_{\mu }$-induced, and the first measurement of the ${\overline{\nu }}_{\mu }$-induced coherent charged pion production cross section on ${}^{12}\mathrm{C}$ nuclei in the Tokai-to-Kamioka experiment. This is measured in a restricted region of the final-state phase space for which $p_{\mu ,\pi }>0.2\mathrm{GeV}$, $\cos ({\theta }_{\mu })>0.8$ and $\cos ({\theta }_{\pi })>0.6$, and at a mean (anti)neutrino energy of 0.85 GeV using the T2K near detector. The measured ${\nu }_{\mu }$ charged current coherent pion production flux-averaged cross section on ${}^{12}\mathrm{C}$ is $(2.98\pm 0.37(\mathrm{stat})\pm 0.31(\mathrm{syst}{)}_{-0.00}^{+0.49}({\mathrm{Q}}^2\text{model}))\times {10}^{-40}{\mathrm{cm}}^2$. The new measurement of the ${\overline{\nu }}_{\mu }$-induced cross section on ${}^{12}\mathrm{C}$ is $(3.05\pm 0.71(\mathrm{stat})\pm 0.39(\mathrm{syst}{)}_{-0.00}^{+0.74}({\mathrm{Q}}^2\text{model}))\times {10}^{-40}{\mathrm{cm}}^2$. The results are compatible with both the NEUT 5.4.0 Berger-Sehgal (2009) and GENIE 2.8.0 Rein-Sehgal (2007) model predictions.

This paper reports the first simultaneous measurement of the double differential muon neutrino charged-current cross section on oxygen and carbon without pions in the final state as a function of the outgoing muon kinematics, made at the ND280 off-axis near detector of the T2K experiment. The ratio of the oxygen and carbon cross sections is also provided to help validate various models’ ability to extrapolate between carbon and oxygen nuclear targets, as is required in T2K oscillation analyses. The data are taken using a neutrino beam with an energy spectrum peaked at 0.6 GeV. The extracted measurement is compared with the prediction from different Monte Carlo neutrino-nucleus interaction event generators, showing particular model separation for very forward-going muons. Overall, of the models tested, the result is best described using local Fermi gas descriptions of the nuclear ground state with RPA suppression.

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a next-generation neutrino experiment with a rich physics program that includes searches for the hypothetical phenomenon of proton decay. Utilizing liquid-argon time-projection chamber technology, DUNE is expected to achieve world-leading sensitivity in the proton decay channels that involve charged kaons in their final states. The first DUNE demonstrator, ProtoDUNE Single-Phase, was a 0.77 kt detector that operated from 2018 to 2020 at the CERN Neutrino Platform, exposed to a mixed hadron and electron test-beam with momenta ranging from 0.3 to $7\mathrm{GeV}/\mathrm{c}$. We present a selection of low-energy kaons among the secondary particles produced in hadronic reactions, using data from the 6 and $7\mathrm{GeV}/\mathrm{c}$ beam runs. The selection efficiency is 1% and the sample purity 92%. The initial energies of the selected kaon candidates encompass the expected energy range of kaons originating from proton decay events in DUNE (below $\sim 200\mathrm{MeV}$). In addition, we demonstrate the capability of this detector technology to discriminate between kaons and other particles such as protons and muons, and provide a comprehensive description of their energy loss in liquid argon, which shows good agreement with the simulation. These results pave the way for future proton decay searches at DUNE.