Copyright
by
Rustem Ospanov
2008
The Dissertation Committee for Rustem Ospanov
certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation:
A measurement of muon neutrino disappearance with
the MINOS detectors and NuMI beam
Committee:
Karol Lang, Supervisor
Duane Dicus
Karl Gebhardt
Sacha Kopp
Jack Ritchie
A measurement of muon neutrino disappearance with
the MINOS detectors and NuMI beam
by
Rustem Ospanov, B.S., M.A.
DISSERTATION
Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of
The University of Texas at Austin
in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements
for the Degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
December 2008
Dedicated to my family.
A measurement of muon neutrino disappearance with
the MINOS detectors and NuMI beam
Publication No.
Rustem Ospanov, Ph.D.
The University of Texas at Austin, 2008
Supervisor: Karol Lang
MINOS is a long-baseline two-detector neutrino oscillation experiment
that uses a high intensity muon neutrino beam to investigate the phenomena
of neutrino oscillations. The neutrino beam is produced by the NuMI facility
at Fermilab, Batavia, Illinois, and is observed at near and far detectors placed
734 km apart. The neutrino interactions in the near detector are used to
measure the initial muon neutrino flux. The vast majority of neutrinos travel
through the near detector and Earth matter without interactions. A fraction
of muon neutrinos oscillate into other flavors resulting in the disappearance of
muon neutrinos at the far detector. This thesis presents a measurement of the
muon neutrino oscillation parameters in the framework of the two-neutrino
oscillation hypothesis.
v