Search for active neutrino disappearance using neutral-current interactions in the MINOS long-baseline experiment

• Published in: Physical review letters 2008-11, Vol.101 (22), p.221804-221804, Article 221804
• Main Authors: Adamson, P, Andreopoulos, C, Arms, K E, Armstrong, R, Auty, D J, Ayres, D S, Backhouse, C, Baller, B, Barr, G, Barrett, W L, Becker, B R, Belias, A, Bernstein, R H, Bhattacharya, D, Bishai, M, Blake, A, Bock, G J, Boehm, J, Boehnlein, D J, Bogert, D, Bower, C, Buckley-Geer, E, Cavanaugh, S, Chapman, J D, Cherdack, D, Childress, S, Choudhary, B C, Cobb, J H, Coleman, S J, Culling, A J, de Jong, J K, Dierckxsens, M, Diwan, M V, Dorman, M, Dytman, S A, Escobar, C O, Evans, J J, Harris, E Falk, Feldman, G J, Frohne, M V, Gallagher, H R, Godley, A, Goodman, M C, Gouffon, P, Gran, R, Grashorn, E W, Grossman, N, Grzelak, K, Habig, A, Harris, D, Harris, P G, Hartnell, J, Hatcher, R, Heller, K, Himmel, A, Holin, A, Hsu, L, Hylen, J, Irwin, G M, Ishitsuka, M, Jaffe, D E, James, C, Jensen, D, Kafka, T, Kasahara, S M S, Kim, J J, Kim, M S, Koizumi, G, Kopp, S, Kordosky, M, Koskinen, D J, Kotelnikov, S K, Kreymer, A, Kumaratunga, S, Lang, K, Ling, J, Litchfield, P J, Litchfield, R P, Loiacono, L, Lucas, P, Ma, J, Mann, W A, Marchionni, A, Marshak, M L, Marshall, J S, Mayer, N, McGowan, A M, Meier, J R, Messier, M D, Metelko, C J, Michael, D G, Miller, W H, Mishra, S R, Moore, C D, Morfín, J, Mualem, L, Mufson, S, Murgia, S, Musser, J, Naples, D
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Astrophysics; CHARGED CURRENTS; ELECTRON NEUTRINOS; ENERGY SPECTRA; High Energy Physics - Experiment; Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysic; MASS; MUON NEUTRINOS; NEUTRAL CURRENTS; NEUTRAL-CURRENT INTERACTIONS; Physics; PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS; Sciences of the Universe
• ISSN: 0031-9007; 1079-7114
• DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.101.221804

We report the first detailed comparisons of the rates and spectra of neutral-current neutrino interactions at two widely separated locations. A depletion in the rate at the far site would indicate mixing between nu(mu) and a sterile particle. No anomalous depletion in the reconstructed energy spectrum is observed. Assuming oscillations occur at a single mass-squared splitting, a fit to the neutral- and charged-current energy spectra limits the fraction of nu(mu) oscillating to a sterile neutrino to be below 0.68 at 90% confidence level. A less stringent limit due to a possible contribution to the measured neutral-current event rate at the far site from nu(e) appearance at the current experimental limit is also presented.