SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “Muon beam”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 289 records · Page 16

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

DOE OSTI2026

NOvA's Current and Future Sterile Neutrino Searches

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 its Near ($\sim$\qty1{km} baseline) and Far (\qty{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 $Δm^2_{41} \gtrsim 1~\mathrm{eV}^2$. This region of parameter space is preferred by sterile neutrino interpretations of current experimental anomalies and so improving sensitivity here is high-priority. These proceedings present our current search strategy, and discusses future plans to include data from a second beamline, the Booster Neutrino Beam, to improve our sensitivity in systematics-dominated regions of parameter space.

Lister, Adam [Wisconsin U., Madison; Virginia Tech↗

DOE OSTI2024

Physics Design of Proton/Ion SRF Accelerators

Superconducting Radio Frequency (SRF) technology has become foundation of the modern high energy particle accelerators. The technology enables a higher accelerating field with minimal power dissipation and a stronger compact magnetic field. These advancements have broadened the operational horizon of the particle accelerators making a higher duty factor and Continuous Wave (CW) beam operations both feasible and economically viable. The intensity frontier research founded on generation of intense beam of exotic particles including but not limited to neutrinos, muons, kaons and neutrons as well as practical applications involving transmutation of nuclear reactor waste, rare isotopes generation, sub-critical nuclear power generation etc. could be accomplished efficiently only by using superconducting proton/ions particle accelerators. As a result, many newly constructed or under construction high energy accelerator facilities around the world such as Proton Improvement Plan-II (PIP-II) at Fermilab, FRIB at MSU, ESS at Sweden are utilizing SRF accelerators. This talk presents the design philosophy of SRF proton/ion particle accelerator, with a focus on optimizing its performance while addressing physics and operational challenges including the fault scenarios, machine availability and preservation of crucial beam parameters.

Saini, Arun↗

DOE OSTI2020

Detector Performances Studies at Muon Collider

The Muon Collider is a possible option for the next generation of high energy collider machines. It would permit to achieve the energy frontier in lepton collisions, without occurring in significant synchrotron radiation losses as in electrons rings.Among the technological challenges in the realization of such a machine, the treatment of the beam-induced background is one of the most critical issues for the detectors.Beams with intensity of the order of $10^{12}$ muons per bunch are necessary to obtain the desired luminosity, therefore the muons decay rate is very high. Beam decay products and subsequent particles from secondary interactions with the machine elements can reach the interaction point, limiting the physical performance of the detector. A study of the beam-induced background is presented together with possible strategies for its reduction. Preliminary results on the reconstruction of a benchmark process, $\mu^+\mu^-\to H\nu\bar{\nu}\to b \bar{b}\nu\bar{\nu}$, including the beam-induced background are illustrated as demonstration of physics measurements feasibility in this harsh environment.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DOE OSTI2022

Fast cycling HTS based superconducting accelerator magnets: Feasibility study and readiness demonstration program driven by neutrino physics and muon collider needs

Development of energy-efficient fast cycling accelerator magnets is critical for the next generation of proton rapid cycling synchrotrons (RCS) for neutrino research and booster accelerators of future muon colliders. We see a unique opportunity for having such magnets to be built on base of High Temperature Superconductors (HTS). Besides being superconducting at relatively high temperatures, rare-earth HTS tapes have shown very small AC losses compared to low-temperature NbTi superconductor cables. Recent tests of the HTS-based 0.5 m long two-bore superconducting accelerator magnet have shown record high dB/dt ramping rates of about 300 T/s at 10 Hz repetition rate and 0.5 T B-field span. No temperature rise in 6 K cooling He was observed within the 0.003 K error setting the upper limit on the cryogenic power loss in the magnet conductor coil to be less than 0.2 W/m. Based on this result we outline a possible upgrade of this test magnet design to 2 T B-field in the 10 mm beam gap with the dB/dt ramping rates up to 1000 T/s. The power test results of this short sample magnet will be used to project both cryogenic and electrical power losses as a function of the magnet B-field and the dB/dt ramping rates. Then these projections will be scaled to the range of expected accelerator magnet beam gaps and B-fields for the proton and muon RCS accelerators. We invite collaborators to join these studies and call for support of the R&D program aimed at comprehensive demonstration of this approach that includes design, construction, and power tests of a long prototype of the HTS-based fast-cycling accelerator magnet by 2028.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

DOE OSTI2021

Measurement of Piplus - Argon Absorption and Charge Exchange Interactions Using Protodune-sp

ProtoDUNE-SP is a prototype detector for the upcoming Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). It is a Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) with a similar configuration to DUNE's detector, and is designed to provide a test-bed for the future experiment. In addition to serving as a prototype, its 0.3 - 7 GeV/ c charged particle beam line provided the ability to perform physics measurements of pions, protons, kaons, muons, and electrons. Importantly, the LArTPC allowed for the measurement of hadronic interactions on argon nuclei.Pions are often present in the final state of neutrino interactions in the energy range of DUNE's neutrino beam. These particles can undergo various types of interactions with argon nuclei in the detector, and this can interfere with the characterization of neutrino interactions in DUNE's far detector. The rate of these so-called secondary interactionswill be accounted for using Monte Carlo simulation of neutrino interactions. Measurements of secondary interaction rates provide necessary data which can be used to estimate and propagate uncertainties or provide tunes of the secondary interaction model used within DUNE's experimental simulation.This analysis provides a simultaneous measurement of the piplus - Ar absorption and charge exchange cross sections using 1 GeV/ c piplus data taken by ProtoDUNE-SP during its initial run period in Fall 2018. This is one of the first hadronic interaction measurements provided by ProtoDUNE-SP. It is also the first piplus - Ar absorption measurement in 20 years and the first ever piplus - Ar charge exchange measurement.Read

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗

DOE OSTI2026

Qualifying LaBr3:Ce+Sr detector performance for the Mu2e experiment at Fermilab Using the ELBE Accelerator

A LaBr3:Ce+Sr detector will be used to measure the stopped muon captures at the Mu2e experiment at Fermilab. It has been benchmarked in a test beam experiment performed at the ELBE electron accelerator located at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Germany. ELBE’s pulsed bremsstrahlung beam line was set to deliver an average γ -ray energy of between 4–5 MeV. The detector response was mapped to match Mu2e beam conditions, including rates up to 1 Mcps, energy flux, and time structure. A radioactive calibration source was used to mimic the characteristic 1808.7 keV γ -ray, emitted during the atomic muon nuclear capture in the Mu2e aluminum stopping target. The detector energy resolution was measured as a function of the average energy flux: up to 1 TeV/s for 0.34 s, the steady-operation beam-on time and up to 4 TeV/s for 5 ms to get a conservative estimate of the effect of high intensity Mu2e beam fluctuations. The PMT gain variation as a function of the beam spill length and average intensity has been parametrized and corrected for. When a PMT gain correction corresponding to the average beam-spill intensity is applied, the residual effect of beam intensity fluctuations around the average degrades the energy resolution, σ E γ /E γ , at 1808.7 keV from 0.66% to 0.83%.

Huang, Shihua [Purdue U., West Lafayette]↗

DOE OSTI2024

Search for a Long-Lived $\mu\mu$ Resonance in the NuMI Beam at ICARUS

The ICARUS detector in the Short-Baseline Neutrino program at Fermilab is sensitive to “long-lived” new physics particles that would be produced in the Neutrinos at the Main Injector (NuMI) beam and decay inside the ICARUS liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC). We show results from a new analysis in ICARUS which searched for di-muon decays from a long-lived particle produced in kaon decay in the NuMI beam. The search is sensitive to new areas of parameter space for the Higgs portal scalar and an axion-like particle model. The sensitivity is also presented in a model-independent way applicable to any new physics model predicting the process $K \to \pi+S(\to\mu\mu)$, for a long-lived particle S. This is the first search for new physics performed with the ICARUS detector at Fermilab. It paves the way for the future program of long-lived particle searches at ICARUS.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

DOE OSTI2022

Neutrino Oscillation Results from the NOvA Experiment

The NOvA experiment is a long-baseline accelerator-based neutrino oscillation experiment that uses the upgraded NuMI beam from Fermilab to measure electron-neutrino appearance and muon-neutrino disappearance between the Near Detector, located at Fermilab, and the Far Detector, located at Ash River, Minnesota. NOvA's primary physics goals include precision measurements of oscillation parameters, such as $\theta_{23}$ and the atmospheric mass-squared splitting, along with probes of the mass hierarchy and of the CP-violating phase. This talk will cover NOvA’s most recent three-flavor oscillation results, based on a neutrino beam exposure of 13.6E20 protons-on-target and an anti-neutrino beam exposure of 12.5E20 protons-on-target.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2025

Proposal from the NA61/SHINE Collaboration for update of European Strategy for Particle Physics

Building on the current program's success and driven by new physics challenges, the NA61/SHINE Collaboration proposes to continue measuring hadron production properties in reactions induced by hadron and ion beams after CERN Long Shutdown 3. These measurements are of significant interest to the heavy-ion, cosmic-ray, and neutrino physics communities and will focus on: - Investigating hadron production in the light-ion systems to explore the diagram of high-energy nuclear collisions, and to obtain new insight into the unexpected violation of isospin (flavor) symmetry recently observed by the experiment; - Measuring charm-anticharm correlations to gain unique insights into the production locality of charm and anticharm quark pairs; - Examining strangeness and multi-strangeness production to improve our understanding of the early Universe's evolution and neutron star formation; - Measuring cross sections relevant for cosmic-ray measurements, significantly boosting searches for new physics in our Galaxy; - Conducting hadron production measurements with proton, pion, and kaon beams for neutrino physics, enhancing the precision of hadron production data needed for initial neutrino flux predictions in neutrino oscillation experiments; - Measuring hadron production processes relevant for understanding the flux of atmospheric neutrinos, as well as neutrinos and muons from spallation sources. To achieve these objectives, a detector upgrade and a beam upgrade are required, with data-taking planned for the period 2029-2032 and beyond.

Adhikary, H. [Jan Kochanowski U.] (ORCID:000000025↗

DOE OSTI2025

Measurements of Pion and Muon Nuclear Capture at Rest on Argon in the LArIAT Experiment

We report the measurement of the final-state products of negative pion and muon nuclear capture at rest on argon by the LArIAT experiment at the Fermilab Test Beam Facility. We measure a population of isolated MeV-scale energy depositions, or blips, in 296 LArIAT events containing tracks from stopping low-momentum pions and muons. The average numbers of visible blips are measured to be 0.74 ± 0.19 and 1.86 ± 0.17 near muon and pion track endpoints, respectively. The 3.6⁢𝜎 statistically significant difference in blip content between muons and pions provides the first demonstration of a new method of pion-muon discrimination in neutrino liquid argon time projection chamber experiments. LArIAT Monte Carlo simulations predict substantially higher average blip counts for negative muon (1.22 ± 0.08) and pion (2.34 ± 0.09) nuclear captures. We attribute this difference to geant4’s inaccurate simulation of the nuclear capture process.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗

DOE OSTI2026

Measuring Charged Current Muon Neutrino Cross Sections on Oxygen with the Accelerator Neutrino Neutron Interaction Experiment

The Accelerator Neutrino Neutron Interaction Experiment (ANNIE) is a $26$-ton gadolinium-doped water Cherenkov detector on-axis of the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) at Fermilab. With ANNIE, this dissertation provides the first results of a high statistics muon neutrino charged current cross section on oxygen at a short baseline on axis. This thesis explains the necessity of the measurements and details how the measurements are performed. Focus is given on the physics behind the models used to predict neutrino cross sections. The measurements include the CC inclusive and CC$0\pi$ cross section channels. This thesis details the processes of event selection, reconstruction, handling systematics, and unfolding as part of cross section measurements. A data unblinding procedure is documented and acts as the first implementation of data unblinding in ANNIE. These results provide additional constraints on existing neutrino interaction models and are the necessary steps for a joint analysis with liquid Argon experiments also on the BNB line.

Minock, James [Rutgers U., Piscataway (main)]↗

DOE OSTI2024

Validation of the NOνA experiment 2023-tuning on simulated neutrino-matter interactions

NOνA is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment that utilizes a two-detector design to study the oscillations of muon neutrinos into electron neutrinos over a baseline of 810 km. The Near Detector (ND) measures the neutrino beam spectrum and composition before oscillation, which is then compared to the oscillated neutrino energy spectrum observed in the Far Detector (FD). In the ND, the neutrinos are detected through their interactions with the heavy target nuclei within the detector. NOνA employs the GENIE neutrino event generator for simulating these neutrino-nucleus interactions. However, the default GENIE prediction does not adequately reproduce the ND data. To address this, NOνA developed a tune of the neutrino interaction models within GENIE version 3:0:6 to minimize discrepancies between the simulated predictions and the observed data in the ND. This dissertation tests the NOνA’s 2023 tune of the GENIE neutrino cross-section simulations by performing a data/simulations comparison for the ND. The analysis employed datasets comprising $2.55\times10^{21}$ protons-on-target (POT) in neutrino beam mode and $1.14\times10^{21}$ POT in antineutrino beam mode. The NOνA tuning of neutrino-matter interaction simulations matches with ND data within the $1\sigma$ error band, overestimating muon neutrino and antineutrino charged current interactions by approximately 6 % and 9 %, respectively. Discrepancies were observed in the energy region dominated by Quasi-Elastic-like interactions. Systematic uncertainties associated with the modeling of the neutrino cross-section, particularly those pertaining Quasi-Elastic like interactions, contributed considerably to the overall error in the simulations. Furthermore, the reconstruction algorithm used in NOνA for particle classification demonstrated significant misidentifications between charged pions and protons, as well as a tendency to overlook additional pions or protons in multi-particle simulated events.

Cortés Parra, Camilo Andrés↗

DOE OSTI2025

Testing new physics in oscillations at a neutrino factory

A neutrino factory is a potential successor to the upcoming generation of neutrino oscillation experiments and a possible precursor to next-generation muon colliders. Such a machine would provide a well characterized beam of , , , and neutrinos with comparable statistics. Here we show the sensitivity of a neutrino factory to new oscillation physics scenarios such as vector neutrino non-standard interactions and CPT violation. We study two different potential setups for a neutrino factory with different assumptions on charge identification in the far detector. We find that a neutrino factory can improve over most of the current constraints on these scenarios and over forecasted constraints by DUNE, even when doubling DUNE's statistics. Additionally, we find that a neutrino factory can break degeneracies between the standard oscillation parameters and neutrino non-standard interaction parameters present at DUNE.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2026

Proposal for a dedicated search for millicharged and fractionally charged particles at LANL

In this paper, we propose an experiment, LANSCE-mQ, aiming to detect fractionally charged and millicharged particles (mCPs) using an 800 MeV proton beam fixed target at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) facility at Los Alamos National Laboratory. This search can shed new light on numerous fundamental questions, including charge quantization, the predictions of string theories and grand unification theories, the gauge symmetry of the Standard Model, dark sector models, and the tests of cosmic reheating. We propose to install two-layer scintillation detectors made of plastic (such as EJ-200) or CeBr 3 to search for mCPs. Dedicated geant4 detector simulations and in situ measurements have been conducted to obtain a preliminary determination of the background rate. The dominant backgrounds are beam-induced neutrons and coincident dark current signals from the photomultiplier tubes, while beam-induced high-energy photons ( γ ’s) and cosmic muons are subdominant. We determined that LANSCE-mQ, the dedicated mCP experiment, has the leading mCP sensitivity for mass between ∼ 1 and 300 MeV.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2025

𝑇-invariance violation in neutrino oscillations and matter effects

We investigate the impact of matter effects on 𝑇 (time-reversal)-odd observables, making use of the quantum-mechanical formalism of neutrino-flavor evolution. We attempt to be comprehensive and pedagogical. Matter-induced 𝑇-invariance violation (TV) is qualitatively different from, and more subtle than, matter-induced 𝐶⁢𝑃 (charge-parity)-invariance violation. If the matter distribution is symmetric relative to the neutrino production and detection points, matter effects will not introduce any new TV. However, if there is intrinsic TV, matter effects can modify the size of the 𝑇-odd observable. On the other hand, if the matter distribution is not symmetric, there is genuine matter-induced TV. For Earth-bound long-baseline oscillation experiments, these effects are small. This remains true for unrealistically-asymmetric matter potentials (for example, we investigate the effects of “hollowing out” 50% of the DUNE neutrino trajectory). More broadly, we explore consequences, or lack thereof, of asymmetric matter potentials on oscillation probabilities. While fascinating in their own right, 𝑇-odd observables are currently of limited practical use, due in no small part to a dearth of intense, well-characterized, high-energy electron-neutrino beams. Further in the future, however, intense, high-energy muon storage rings might become available and allow for realistic studies of 𝑇-invariance in neutrino oscillations.

CP violation↗

DOE OSTI2022

Neutrino interaction measurements with the MicroBooNE and ArgoNeuT liquid argon time projection chambers

Abstract Precise modeling of neutrino interactions on argon is crucial for the success of future experiments such as the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) and the Short-Baseline Neutrino (SBN) program, which will use liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) technology. Argon is a large nucleus, and nuclear effects—both on the initial and final-state particles in the interaction—are expected to be large in neutrino–argon interactions. Therefore, measurements of neutrino scattering cross sections on argon will be of particular importance to future DUNE and SBN oscillation measurements. This article presents a review of neutrino–argon interaction measurements from the MicroBooNE and ArgoNeuT collaborations, using two LArTPC detectors that have collected data in the NuMI and Booster Neutrino Beams at Fermilab. Measurements are presented of charged-current muon neutrino scattering in the inclusive channel, the ‘0 $$\pi $$ π ’ channel (in which no pions but some number of protons may be produced), and single pion production (including production of both charged and neutral pions). Measurements of electron neutrino scattering are presented in the form of $$\nu _e+\bar{\nu }_e$$ ν e + ν ¯ e inclusive scattering cross sections.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2022

Searching for Exotic Signals with the NOvA Experiment

Two highly segmented NOvA scintillation detectors, separated by 810 km and located in the pathof the NuMI neutrino beam produced at Fermilab, are optimized to study the neutrino oscillationphenomenon. At the same time, the larger Far Detector with 4,000 m2 surface area is capable to search for the low-mass magnetic monopoles, and to monitor the flux of the high-multiplicitycosmic ray showers. The smaller Near Detector, located 100 m underground at Fermilab, is ableto search for the presence of possible elusive Dark Matter particles in the high-intensity NuMIneutrino beam, and to study the seasonal variations of multi-muon cosmic flux component. BothNOvA detectors serve in combination as a powerful supernova neutrino detector, and allow forthe multi-messenger signal searches in coincidence with LIGO/Virgo gravitational wave events.A survey of the most recent NOvA results on these topics is presented.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗

DOE OSTI2021

Cross Section Results from the MicroBooNE Experiment

The MicroBooNE detector is currently the largest operating liquid argon neutrino experiment in the world. Located at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), MicroBooNE has been collecting both electron neutrino ($\nu _{e}$) and muon neutrino ($\nu _{\mu }$) interactions from both the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) and the Neutrino Main Injector (NuMI) since late 2015. During this time, MicroBooNE has measured a wide-variety of interaction topologies including $\nu _{\mu }$ charged current, $\nu _{e}$ charged current, resonant $\pi ^{0}$, and various high multiplicity interactions. To date, many of MicroBooNE’s measurements are either the first of their kind using liquid argon as a target material, or have the largest number of events collected using a liquid argon detector. All of these measurements combine to form a rich cross section programme, aiming to enhance understanding of GeV-range neutrino interaction on liquid argon for upcoming detectors such as SBND, ICARUS, and DUNE.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗