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DOE OSTI2025

Latest Results from the ICARUS Experiment at the Short-Baseline Neutrino Program

The ICARUS Collaboration is now entering its fifth year of continuing operations of the 760-ton liquid argon T600 detector. The T600 was overhauled at CERN after operations at the LNGS underground laboratory in Italy and moved to its present location at FNAL - as part of the Short-Baseline Neutrino (SBN) program - where it successfully completed its commissioning phase in June 2022. At FNAL ICARUS collects neutrino interactions from both the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) and off-axis from the Main Injector Neutrino beam (NuMI). To date, ICARUS has accumulated approximately 5.2\times 10^{20} protons on target (POT) with the BNB and about 6.2\times 10^{20} POT with NuMI. Within the SBN program ICARUS will search for evidence of short-baseline oscillations, potentially explained by eV-scale sterile neutrinos, jointly with the Short-Baseline Near Detector (SBND). In addition, ICARUS is performing stand-along oscillation searches in disappearance mode and measuring neutrino cross sections on argon with both the BNB and NuMI beams. It is also performing searches for additional Beyond the Standard Model signatures. Preliminary results from the ICARUS experiment, using data from the BNB and NuMI neutrino beams, will be presented.

Hausner, Harry [Fermilab]↗
DOE OSTI2025

Latest Results from the ICARUS experiment at the Short-Baseline Neutrino Program

The ICARUS Collaboration is now entering its fifth year of continuing operations of the 760-ton liquid argon T600 detector. The T600 was overhauled at CERN after operations at the LNGS underground laboratory in Italy and moved to its present location at FNAL - as part of the Short-Baseline Neutrino (SBN) program - where it successfully completed its commissioning phase in June 2022. At FNAL ICARUS collects neutrino interactions from both the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) and off-axis from the Main Injector Neutrino beam (NuMI). Within the SBN program ICARUS will search for evidence of short-baseline oscillations, potentially explained by eV-scale sterile neutrinos, jointly with the Short-Baseline Near Detector (SBND). In addition, ICARUS is performing stand-along oscillation searches in disappearance mode and measuring neutrino cross sections on argon with both the BNB and NuMI beams. It is also performing searches for additional Beyond the Standard Model signatures. Preliminary results from the ICARUS experiment, using data from the BNB and NuMI neutrino beams, will be presented.

Farnese, Christian [Fermilab]↗
DOE OSTI2025

Latest Results from the ICARUS Experiment at the SBN Program

The ICARUS Collaboration is now entering its fifth year of continuing operations of the 760-ton liquid argon T600 detector. The T600 was overhauled at CERN after operations at the LNGS underground laboratory in Italy and moved to its present location at FNAL - as part of the Short-Baseline Neutrino (SBN) program - where it successfully completed its commissioning phase in June 2022. At FNAL ICARUS collects neutrino interactions from both the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) and off-axis from the Main Injector Neutrino beam (NuMI). To date, ICARUS has accumulated approximately $7.5\cdot 10^20$ protons on target (POT) with the BNB and about $6.2\cdot 10^20$ POT with NuMI. Within the SBN program ICARUS will search for evidence of short-baseline oscillations, potentially explained by eV-scale sterile neutrinos, jointly with the Short-Baseline Near Detector (SBND). In addition, ICARUS is performing stand-along oscillation searches in disappearance mode and measuring neutrino cross sections on argon with both the BNB and NuMI beams. It is also performing searches for additional Beyond the Standard Model signatures. Preliminary results from the ICARUS experiment, using data from the BNB and NuMI neutrino beams, will be presented.

Ricci, Alessandro Maria [U. Pisa (main); INFN, Pis↗
DOE OSTI2020

Solar neutrino detection in liquid xenon detectors via charged-current scattering to excited states

We investigate the prospects for real-time detection of solar neutrinos via the charged-current neutrino-nucleus scattering process in liquid xenon time projection chambers. We use a nuclear shell model, benchmarked with experimental data, to calculate the cross sections for populating specific excited states of the cesium nuclei produced by neutrino capture on Xe 131 and Xe 136 . The shell model is further used to compute the decay schemes of the low-lying 1 + excited states of Cs 136 , for which there is sparse experimental data. We explore the possibility of tagging the characteristic deexcitation γ rays/conversion electrons using two techniques: spatial separation of their energy deposits using event topology and their time separation using delayed coincidence. The efficiencies in each case are evaluated within a range of realistic detector parameters. We find that the topological signatures are likely to be dominated by radon backgrounds, but that a delayed-coincidence signature from long-lived states predicted in Cs 136 may enable background-free detection of CNO neutrino interactions in next-generation experiments with smaller uncertainty than current measurements. We also estimate the sensitivity as a function of exposure for detecting the solar-temperature-induced line shift in Be 7 neutrino emission, which may provide a new test of solar models.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2026

MicroBooNE Electron Neutrino Cross Sections without Visible Pions

MicroBooNE is an 85-tonne liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) at Fermilab. It collected data from two different beam lines between 2015 and 2020 and has since released a large number of neutrino cross section results on argon. These inform neutrino interaction modelling in view of next generation LArTPCs such as the upcoming DUNE experiment. We present new measurements of the electron neutrino charged current pionless cross section on argon in the MicroBooNE detector. These measurements are essential to DUNE’s oscillation analysis as they impact the predicted interaction rate of the main flavor appearance signal. Two measurements are presented, one that leverages the full on-axis MicroBooNE Booster Neutrino Beam dataset while the other uses about 30% of the 8° off-axis Neutrino at the Main Injector beam dataset. Two channels can be considered: with or without a visible pion in the final state. Both measurements consider events with visible protons and the BNB measurement also measures electron neutrinos across the proton visibility threshold. Differential cross sections are extracted in proton and electron kinematics. The relationship between the hadronic and leptonic systems is explored through the angle between the proton and electron directions. The resulting cross sections are compared to a variety of generator predictions using different models of neutrino interactions. We find overall good agreement with most models, especially in lepton kinematics.

Mellet, Lucile [Michigan State U.]↗
DOE OSTI2021

Neutron Cross Section Measurement In The Protodune-SP Experiment

Understanding the detector response to neutrons will be critical for performing neutrino oscillation analyses in the next-generation Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). The DUNE physics program is centered around measuring the neutrino flavor composition as a function of their energy both at the near and the far detector. Neutrinos in the DUNE beam will have energies ranging between 100~MeV and 10~GeV, which is significant, because individual neutrino energies will not be known beforehand and will have to be reconstructed. Neutrino interactions in DUNE will produce leptons and hadrons -- including protons, pions, and neutrons. Neutrons can transport energy away from their origin and sometimes go undetected. In addition to the primary neutrons produced by the neutrino, subsequent interactions of the charged hadrons can result in secondary neutrons. Neutrons are a source of missing energy and will bias the neutrino energy measurement. Currently, there is also a 20\% energy scale uncertainty and a 40\% uncertainty on the energy resolution for neutrons in DUNE, which must be addressed. ProtoDUNE Single-Phase (ProtoDUNE-SP) is a 770-ton prototype for the DUNE far detector and was designed to both validate the technology that will be employed in DUNE and to measure cross sections for the charged hadrons (pions, protons, and kaons) at the relevant energies for DUNE. The ProtoDUNE-SP experiment, therefore, is in a unique position to characterize the secondary neutron component for DUNE. This is achieved by searching for candidate neutron interactions in ProtoDUNE-SP events and using these to facilitate a measurement of the neutron inelastic cross section as well as an estimate of the neutron energy and number. The cross section measurement presented here is based on neutrons produced in 1~GeV, $\pi^+$ events captured in 2018 by ProtoDUNE-SP in accordance with the production and cross section models in the GEANT4 simulation toolkit, version 4.1 0.6p1. T he best-fit neutron inelastic cross section, in the kinetic energy range of 114 to 314~MeV, is $1.24_{-0.08}^{+0.10}$~(stat.~$\oplus$~syst.)~barns.

Rivera, David Orlando↗
DOE OSTI2025

Solar neutrinos and the strongest oscillation constraints on scalar NSI

Scalar non-standard neutrino interactions (sNSI) is a scenario where neutrinos can develop a medium dependent contribution to their mass due to a new scalar mediator. This scenario differs from the commonly discussed vector mediator case in that the oscillation effect scales with density rather than density and neutrino energy. Thus the strongest oscillation constraint comes from solar neutrinos which experience the largest density in a neutrino oscillation experiment. We derive constraints on all the sNSI parameters as well as the absolute neutrino mass scale by combining solar and reactor data and find solar neutrinos to be > 1 order of magnitude more sensitive to sNSI than terrestrial probes such as long-baseline experiments.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Use of Neutrino Scattering Events with Low Hadronic Recoil to Inform Neutrino Flux and Detector Energy Scale

Charged-current neutrino interactions with low hadronic recoil ("low-nu") have a cross-section that is approximately constant versus neutrino energy. These interactions have been used to measure the shape of neutrino fluxes as a function of neutrino energy at accelerator-based neutrino experiments such as CCFR, NuTeV, MINOS and MINERvA. In this paper, we demonstrate that low-nu events can be used to measure parameters of neutrino flux and detector models and that utilization of event distributions over the upstream detector face can discriminate among parameters that affect the neutrino flux model. From fitting a large sample of low-nu events obtained by exposing MINERvA to the NuMI medium-energy beam, we find that the best-fit flux parameters are within their a priori uncertainties, but the energy scale of muons reconstructed in the MINOS detector is shifted by 3.6% (or 1.8 times the a priori uncertainty on that parameter). These fit results are now used in all MINERvA cross-section measurements, and this technique can be applied by other experiments operating at MINERvA energies, such as DUNE.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Neutron detector response modeling in NOvA

Neutrons can present a significant challenge for neutrino experiments in which energy reconstruction is critical. With the ability to escape detection completely and with a weak correlation between their kinetic energy and any eventual energy deposition, it is difficult to fully account for neutrons produced in neutrino interactions. This in turn leads to significant model dependence when evaluating neutron-related systematic uncertainties. The NOvA experiment is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment with a high-statistics sample of antineutrino data collected by its near detector. We report an excess relative to data of simulated neutron candidates with low energy depositions when using standard Geant4 physics lists. The simulation excess is traced to an overabundance of secondary photons produced from interactions of neutrons with kinetic energy greater than \SI{20}{\mega\eV}. Improved agreement with data is obtained by applying the data-driven neutron-on-carbon \menate model for neutrons between \SI{20}{\mega\eV} and ${\sim}$\SI{100}{\mega\eV}. With \menate, the residual oversimulation is more uniform across the calorimetric neutron energy spectrum, suggesting possible overproduction of primary neutrons by the GENIE neutrino interaction generator. These results motivate the adoption of \menate-supplemented Geant4 simulation as the nominal simulation in the production of future \nova simulation.

Abubakar, S.↗
DOE OSTI2020

Selection of charged-current neutrino-induced $K^+$ production interactions in MicroBooNE

MicroBooNE is an 85-ton active mass liquid-argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) neutrino detector exposed to the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) at Fermilab. MicroBooNE’s physics goals is the precision measurement of neutrino interactions on argon in the 1 GeV energy regime. The study of neutrino interactions producing a $K^+$ in the final-state can improve the background estimates for future proton-decay experiments looking for the $p → K^+$$_ν$ channel on argon such as DUNE. In this document we present a simulation study for a selection of events with a $K^+$ that is produced in a charged-current neutrino interaction and decays into a $µ^+$ and a $ν_µ$ in the MicroBooNE detector. It will focus on how we use the particle identification techniques developed by MicroBooNE to achieve a sample with a 7% efficiency and 66.7% purity. This is the first step toward a charged-current kaon production cross section measurement in argon.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Comparisons of triple-differential cross sections for quasielastic-like $ν_μ$-hydrocarbon interactions using $\langle E_ν\rangle \sim$ 3~GeV versus $\sim$ 6~GeV beams in MINERvA

Neutrino charged-current quasielastic-like scattering, a reaction category extensively used in neutrino oscillation measurements, receives contributions from single nucleon knockout processes, multinucleon processes, and inelastic scattering with subsequent rescattering or absorption in the nucleus to produce only nucleons in the final state. In this article, comparisons are presented of the same measurement in two different wideband neutrino beams: one beam peaks near 3 GeV with few neutrinos above 6 GeV; the other peaks near 6 GeV with few neutrinos above 10 GeV. Comparisons of differential cross sections in muon and proton kinematics for these two exposures probe deviations from free-neutron scattering that arise from the processes involving the nuclear medium, and provide a test of neutrino interaction models used to infer neutrino energies in oscillation experiments. Discrepancies are observed between the data and predictions that point to overestimates of the final state interactions of both protons and charged pions in quasielastic-like events.

Ruterbories, D. [Rochester U.]↗
DOE OSTI2026

Measurement of 𝜋 0 production in $\bar{v}_μ$ charged-current interactions in the NOvA near detector

We present a high-statistics measurement of muon antineutrino-induced charged-current neutral pion production on a hydrocarbon target using the NOvA near detector. The differential cross sections as functions of the momenta and angles of the outgoing pion and muon, the squared four-momentum transfer, and the invariant mass of the hadronic system at an average neutrino energy of 2 GeV are measured and compared with predictions from various neutrino interaction models. The results agree with the GENIE prediction but suggest that other models underestimate the cross section in the Δ⁡(1232) resonance region. These results represent the most precise measurement of antineutrino-induced neutral pion production to date.

neutrino detection↗
DOE OSTI2026

Nucleon axial form factor from elementary target data

Precise neutrino-nucleon amplitudes are essential ingredients for predicting neutrino event rates in current and upcoming long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments. A common neutrino interaction with a low reaction threshold and with most of the energy carried by two final state particles is quasielastic scattering, for which the nucleon axial form factor, 𝐹 𝐴⁡ (𝑄 2 ), is a dominant source of uncertainty. Improvements to the nucleon axial form factor rely on neutrino scattering data with elementary targets to reduce or eliminate the need for nuclear modeling systematics. This work examines constraints on the nucleon axial form factor that can be achieved from datasets of neutrino scattering on deuterium targets, Lattice QCD predictions, and from the recent hydrogen target data from the MINERvA Collaboration. Significant tension is found between hydrogen and deuterium target data, suggesting that extractions from deuterium underestimate both the central value and uncertainty of the form factor. Parametrizations for and uncertainties of the nucleon axial form factor using the 𝑧 expansion are provided.

FOS: Physical sciences↗
DOE OSTI2021

Astrophysical neutrino self-interactions in the high-statistics era

Do neutrinos have sizable self-interactions? They might. Laboratory constraints are weak, so strong effects are possible in astrophysical environments and the early universe. Observations with neutrino telescopes can provide an independent probe of neutrino self (“secret”) interactions, as the sources are distant and the cosmic neutrino background intervenes. We define a roadmap for making decisive progress on testing these interactions. This progress will be enabled by IceCube-Gen2 observations of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos. Critical to this is our comprehensive treatment of the theory, taking into account previously neglected or overly approximated effects, as well as including realistic detection physics. We show that IceCube-Gen2 can realize the full potential of neutrino astronomy for testing neutrino self-interactions, being sensitive to cosmologically relevant interaction models.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Comparison of optical potential for nucleons and $\varDelta $ resonances

Precise modeling of neutrino interactions on nuclear targets is essential for neutrino oscillations experiments. The modeling of the energy of final state particles in quasielastic (QE) scattering and resonance production on bound nucleons requires knowledge of both the removal energy of the initial state bound nucleon as well as the average Coulomb and nuclear optical potentials for final state leptons and hadrons. We extract the average values of the real part of the nuclear optical potential for final state nucleons ( $U_{opt}^{QE}$ U opt QE ) as a function of the nucleon kinetic energy from inclusive electron scattering data on nuclear targets ( $_\mathbf{6 }^\mathbf{12 }{} \mathbf{C} $ 6 12 C + $_\mathbf{8 }^\mathbf{16 }{} \mathbf{O} $ 8 16 O , $_\mathbf{20 }^\mathbf{40 }{} \mathbf{Ca} $ 20 40 Ca + $_\mathbf{18 }^\mathbf{40 }{} \mathbf{Ar} $ 18 40 Ar , $_\mathbf{3 }^\mathbf{6 }{} \mathbf{Li} $ 3 6 Li , $_\mathbf{18 }^\mathbf{27 }{} \mathbf{Al} $ 18 27 Al , $_\mathbf{26 }^\mathbf{56 }{} \mathbf{Fe} $ 26 56 Fe , $_\mathbf{82 }^\mathbf{208 }{} \mathbf{Pb} $ 82 208 Pb ) in the QE region and compare to calculations. We also extract values of the average of the real part of the nuclear optical potential for a $\varDelta (1232)$ Δ ( 1232 ) resonance in the final state ( $U^\varDelta _{opt}$ U opt Δ ) within the impulse approximation. We find that $U^\varDelta _{opt}$ U opt Δ is more negative than $U_{opt}^{QE}$ U opt QE with $U^\varDelta _{opt}\approx $ U opt Δ ≈ 1.5 $U_{opt}^{QE}$ U opt QE for $_\mathbf{6 }^\mathbf{12 }{} \mathbf{C} $ 6 12 C .

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Reconstruction of atmospheric neutrinos in DUNE’s horizontal-drift far-detector module

This paper reports on the capabilities in reconstructing and identifying atmospheric neutrino interactions in one of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment’s (DUNE) far detector modules, a liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) with horizontal drift (FD-HD) of ionization electrons. The reconstruction is based upon the workflow developed for DUNE’s long-baseline oscillation analysis, with some necessary machine-learning models’ retraining and the addition of features relevant only to atmospheric neutrinos such as the neutrino direction reconstruction. Where relevant, the impact of the detection of the charged particles of the hadronic system is emphasized, and comparisons are carried out between the case when lepton-only information is considered in the reconstruction (as is the case for many neutrino oscillation experiments), versus when all particles identified in the LArTPC were included. Three neutrino direction reconstruction methods have been developed and studied for the atmospheric analyses: using lepton-only information, using all reconstructed particles, and using only correlations from reconstructed hits. The results indicate that incorporating more than just lepton information significantly improves the resolution of both neutrino direction and energy reconstruction. The angle reconstruction algorithms developed in this work result in no strong dependence on particle direction for reconstruction efficiencies or neutrino flavor identification. This comprehensive review of the reconstruction of atmospheric neutrinos in DUNE’s FD-HD LArTPC is the first step towards developing a first neutrino oscillation sensitivity analysis, which will ready DUNE for its first measurements.

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Neutron Reconstruction via Blips in Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers

Neutrons are important in the separation of neutrino and antineutrino in atmospheric neutrino oscillation and in reducing atmospheric-neutrino backgrounds in beyond-standard model searches, but they are not explicitly accounted for in most current LArTPC reconstruction. We present a phenomenological study of neutron activities in liquid argon time projection chamber using detector-response constraints from existing detectors. Leveraging energy deposits from neutron scattering, primarily low-energy localized ,blips, we demonstrate the capability to identify neutrons and to reconstruct neutron multiplicity in neutrino interactions. Including neutron information significantly improves neutrino-antineutrino separation and the identification of rare events against atmospheric-neutrino backgrounds, motivating neutron-aware reconstruction for future high-precision LArTPC analyses.

Hernandez Morquecho, Miguel Angel [Minnesota U.] (↗