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Di Lodovico, F.

Publications and source records attributed to Di Lodovico, F..

Initial measurement of reactor antineutrino oscillation at SNO+

The SNO+ collaboration reports its first spectral analysis of long-baseline reactor antineutrino oscillation using 114 tonne-years of data. Fitting the neutrino oscillation probability to the observed energy spectrum yields constraints on the neutrino mass-squared difference Δ$m^2_{21}$. In the ranges allowed by previous measurements, the best-fit Δ$m^2_{21}$ is ($8.85^{+1.10}_{-1.33}$) × 10 -5 eV 2 . This measurement is continuing in the next phases of SNO+ and is expected to surpass the present global precision on Δ$m^2_{21}$ with about three years of data. In the following, we first describe the configuration of the SNO+ detector when it was partially filled with scintillator, and a characterization of the detector response using intrinsic radioactivity. Next, we detail the event selection and expectations for reactor IBDs and (α, n) reactions. Then, we present the results of an energy spectrum analysis using 114 tonne-years of data. We conclude with prospects of future results from the SNO+ detector, which has been operating fully-filled with 780 tonnes of scintillator

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Event-by-event direction reconstruction of solar neutrinos in a high light-yield liquid scintillator

The direction of individual B 8 solar neutrinos has been reconstructed using the SNO + liquid scintillator detector. Prompt, directional Cherenkov light was separated from the slower, isotropic scintillation light using time information, and a maximum likelihood method was used to reconstruct the direction of individual scattered electrons. A clear directional signal was observed, correlated with the solar angle. The observation was aided by a period of low primary fluor concentration that resulted in a slower scintillator decay time. This is the first time that event-by-event direction reconstruction in high light-yield liquid scintillator has been demonstrated in a large-scale detector. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Measurements of neutrino oscillation parameters from the T2K experiment using $$3.6\times 10^{21}$$ protons on target

Abstract The T2K experiment presents new measurements of neutrino oscillation parameters using $$19.7(16.3)\times 10^{20}$$ 19.7 ( 16.3 ) × 10 20 protons on target (POT) in (anti-)neutrino mode at the far detector (FD). Compared to the previous analysis, an additional $$4.7\times 10^{20}$$ 4.7 × 10 20 POT neutrino data was collected at the FD. Significant improvements were made to the analysis methodology, with the near-detector analysis introducing new selections and using more than double the data. Additionally, this is the first T2K oscillation analysis to use NA61/SHINE data on a replica of the T2K target to tune the neutrino flux model, and the neutrino interaction model was improved to include new nuclear effects and calculations. Frequentist and Bayesian analyses are presented, including results on $$\sin ^2\theta _{13}$$ sin 2 θ 13 and the impact of priors on the $$\delta _{\textrm{CP}}$$ δ CP measurement. Both analyses prefer the normal mass ordering and upper octant of $$\sin ^2\theta _{23}$$ sin 2 θ 23 with a nearly maximally CP-violating phase. Assuming the normal ordering and using the constraint on $$\sin ^2\theta _{13}$$ sin 2 θ 13 from reactors, $$\sin ^2\theta _{23}=0.561^{+0.021}_{-0.032}$$ sin 2 θ 23 = 0 . 561 - 0.032 + 0.021 using Feldman–Cousins corrected intervals, and $$\varDelta {}m^2_{32}=2.494_{-0.058}^{+0.041}\times 10^{-3}~\text {eV}^2$$ Δ m 32 2 = 2 . 494 - 0.058 + 0.041 × 10 - 3 eV 2 using constant $$\varDelta \chi ^{2}$$ Δ χ 2 intervals. The CP-violating phase is constrained to $$\delta _{\textrm{CP}}=-1.97_{-0.70}^{+0.97}$$ δ CP = - 1 . 97 - 0.70 + 0.97 using Feldman–Cousins corrected intervals, and $$\delta _{\textrm{CP}}=0,\pi $$ δ CP = 0 , π is excluded at more than 90% confidence level. A Jarlskog invariant of zero is excluded at more than $$2\sigma $$ 2 σ credible level using a flat prior in $$\delta _{\textrm{CP}},$$ δ CP , and just below $$2\sigma $$ 2 σ using a flat prior in $$\sin \delta _{\textrm{CP}}.$$ sin δ CP . When the external constraint on $$\sin ^2\theta _{13}$$ sin 2 θ 13 is removed, $$\sin ^2\theta _{13}=28.0^{+2.8}_{-6.5}\times 10^{-3},$$ sin 2 θ 13 = 28 . 0 - 6.5 + 2.8 × 10 - 3 , in agreement with measurements from reactor experiments. These results are consistent with previous T2K analyses.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Evidence of Antineutrinos from Distant Reactors Using Pure Water at SNO+

The SNO+ Collaboration reports the first evidence of reactor antineutrinos in a Cherenkov detector. The nearest nuclear reactors are located 240 km away in Ontario, Canada. Here, this analysis uses events with energies lower than in any previous analysis with a large water Cherenkov detector. Two analytical methods are used to distinguish reactor antineutrinos from background events in 190 days of data and yield consistent evidence for antineutrinos with a combined significance of 3.5 σ.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

Scintillator ageing of the T2K near detectors from 2010 to 2021

The T2K experiment widely uses plastic scintillator as a target for neutrino interactions and an active medium for the measurement of charged particles produced in neutrino interactions at its near detector complex. Over 10 years of operation the measured light yield recorded by the scintillator based subsystems has been observed to degrade by 0.9–2.2% per year. Extrapolation of the degradation rate through to 2040 indicates the recorded light yield should remain above the lower threshold used by the current reconstruction algorithms for all subsystems. This will allow the near detectors to continue contributing to important physics measurements during the T2K-II and Hyper-Kamiokande eras. Additionally, work to disentangle the degradation of the plastic scintillator and wavelength shifting fibres shows that the reduction in light yield can be attributed to the ageing of the plastic scintillator. The long component of the attenuation length of the wavelength shifting fibres was observed to degrade by 1.3–5.4% per year, while the short component of the attenuation length did not show any conclusive degradation.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗

Optical calibration of the SNO+ detector in the water phase with deployed sources

SNO+ is a large-scale liquid scintillator experiment with the primary goal of searching for neutrinoless double beta decay, and is located approximately 2 km underground in SNOLAB, Sudbury, Canada. The detector acquired data for two years as a pure water Cherenkov detector, starting in May 2017. During this period, the optical properties of the detector were measured in situ using a deployed light diffusing sphere, with the goal of improving the detector model and the energy response systematic uncertainties. The measured parameters included the water attenuation coefficients, effective attenuation coefficients for the acrylic vessel, and the angular response of the photomultiplier tubes and their surrounding light concentrators, all across different wavelengths. Finally, the calibrated detector model was validated using a deployed tagged gamma source, which showed a 0.6% variation in energy scale across the primary target volume.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗