Search for active-sterile neutrino mixing using neutral-current interactions in NOvA
Date
2017-10-30Author
Meyer, Holger
Muether, Mathew
Solomey, Nickolas
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Meyer, Holger; Muether, Mathew; Solomey, Nickolas. et al. (The NOvA Collaboration). 2017. Search for active-sterile neutrino mixing using neutral-current interactions in NOvA. Physical Review D, vol. 96:no. 73
Abstract
We report results from the first search for sterile neutrinos mixing with active neutrinos through a reduction in the rate of neutral-current interactions over a baseline of 810 km between the NOvA detectors. Analyzing a 14-kton detector equivalent exposure of 6.05 x 10(20) protons-on-target in the NuMI beam at Fermilab, we observe 95 neutral-current candidates at the Far Detector compared with 83.5 +/- 9.7(stat) +/- 9.4(syst) events predicted assuming mixing only occurs between active neutrino species. No evidence for upsilon(mu) -> upsilon(mu) transitions is found. Interpreting these results within a 3 + 1 model, we place constraints on the mixing angles theta(24) < 20.8 degrees and theta(34) < 31.2 degrees at the 90% C.L. for 0.05 eV(2) <= Delta m(41)(2) <= 0.5 eV(2), the range of mass splittings that produce no significant oscillations over the Near Detector baseline.
Description
Click on the DOI link to access the article (may not be free). WSU authors: Meyer, Holger; Muether, Mathew; Solomey, Nickolas. The NOvA Collaboration includes: P. Adamson, L. Aliaga, D. Ambrose, N. Anfimov, A. Antoshkin, E. Arrieta-Diaz, K. Augsten, A. Aurisano, C. Backhouse, M. Baird, B. A. Bambah, K. Bays, B. Behera, S. Bending, R. Bernstein, V. Bhatnagar, B. Bhuyan, J. Bian, T. Blackburn, A. Bolshakova, C. Bromberg, J. Brown, G. Brunetti, N. Buchanan, A. Butkevich, V. Bychkov, M. Campbell, E. Catano-Mur, S. Childress, B. C. Choudhary, B. Chowdhury, T. E. Coan, J. A. B. Coelho, M. Colo, J. Cooper, L. Corwin, L. Cremonesi, D. Cronin-Hennessy, G. S. Davies, J. P. Davies, P. F. Derwent, R. Dharmapalan, P. Ding, Z. Djurcic, E. C. Dukes, H. Duyang, S. Edayath, R. Ehrlich, G. J. Feldman, M. J. Frank, M. Gabrielyan, H. R. Gallagher, S. Germani, T. Ghosh, A. Giri, R. A. Gomes, M. C. Goodman, V. Grichine, M. Groh, R. Group, D. Grover, B. Guo, A. Habig, J. Hartnell, R. Hatcher, A. Hatzikoutelis, K. Heller, A. Himmel, A. Holin, B. Howard, J. Hylen, F. Jediny, M. Judah, G. K. Kafka, D. Kalra, S. M. S. Kasahara, S. Kasetti, R. Keloth, L. Kolupaeva, S. Kotelnikov, I. Kourbanis, A. Kreymer, A. Kumar, S. Kurbanov, T. Lackey, K. Lang, W. M. Lee, S. Lin, M. Lokajicek, J. Lozier, S. Luchuk, K. Maan, S. Magill, W. A. Mann, M. L. Marshak, K. Matera, V. Matveev, D. P. Méndez, M. D. Messier, H. Meyer, T. Miao, W. H. Miller, S. R. Mishra, R. Mohanta, A. Moren, L. Mualem, M. Muether, S. Mufson, R. Murphy, J. Musser, J. K. Nelson, R. Nichol, E. Niner, A. Norman, T. Nosek, Y. Oksuzian, A. Olshevskiy, T. Olson, J. Paley, R. B. Patterson, G. Pawloski, D. Pershey, O. Petrova, R. Petti, S. Phan-Budd, R. K. Plunkett, R. Poling, B. Potukuchi, C. Principato, F. Psihas, A. Radovic, R. A. Rameika, B. Rebel, B. Reed, D. Rocco, P. Rojas, V. Ryabov, K. Sachdev, P. Sail, O. Samoylov, M. C. Sanchez, R. Schroeter, J. Sepulveda-Quiroz, P. Shanahan, A. Sheshukov, J. Singh, J. Singh, P. Singh, V. Singh, J. Smolik, N. Solomey, E. Song, A. Sousa, K. Soustruznik, M. Strait, L. Suter, R. L. Talaga, P. Tas, R. B. Thayyullathil, J. Thomas, X. Tian, S. C. Tognini, J. Tripathi, A. Tsaris, J. Urheim, P. Vahle, J. Vasel, L. Vinton, A. Vold, T. Vrba, B. Wang, M. Wetstein, D. Whittington, S. G. Wojcicki, J. Wolcott, N. Yadav, S. Yang, J. Zalesak, B. Zamorano, and R. Zwaska.