New results on $\nu_\mu \to \nu_\tau$ appearance with the OPERA experiment in the CNGS beam

TLDR: The OPERA neutrino experiment is designed to perform the first observation of neutrinos oscillations in direct appearance mode in the $\nu_\mu \to \nu_ \tau$ channel, via the detection of the leptons created in charged current interactions.

Abstract: The OPERA neutrino experiment is designed to perform the first observation of neutrino oscillations in direct appearance mode in the $\nu_\mu \to \nu_\tau$ channel, via the detection of the $\tau$-leptons created in charged current $\nu_\tau$ interactions. The detector, located in the underground Gran Sasso Laboratory, consists of an emulsion/lead target with an average mass of about 1.2 kt, complemented by electronic detectors. It is exposed to the CERN Neutrinos to Gran Sasso beam, with a baseline of 730 km and a mean energy of 17 GeV. The observation of the first $\nu_\tau$ candidate event and the analysis of the 2008-2009 neutrino sample have been reported in previous publications. This work describes substantial improvements in the analysis and in the evaluation of the detection efficiencies and backgrounds using new simulation tools. The analysis is extended to a sub-sample of 2010 and 2011 data, resulting from an electronic detector-based pre-selection, in which an additional $\nu_\tau$ candidate has been observed. The significance of the two events in terms of a $\nu_\mu \to \nu_\tau$ oscillation signal is of 2.40 $\sigma$.

Full text

JHEP04(2014)014
Published for SISSA by Springer
Received: March 12, 2014
Accepted: March 12, 2014
Published: April 2, 2014
Erratum: new results on ν
µ
→ ν
τ
appearance with
the OPERA experiment in the CNGS beam
The OPERA collaboration
E-mail: andrea.longhin@lnf.infn.it, umut.kose@cern.ch
Erratum to: JHEP11(2013)036
ArXiv ePrint: 1308.2553
• Section Introduction, first line: [1-3] becomes [1-4] with new reference:
Z. Maki, M. Nakagawa and S. Sakata, Remarks on the unified model of elementary
particles, Prog. Theor. Phys. 28 (1962) 870 [INSPIRE].
• Table 4:
– 1.53 ± 0.16 becomes 1.53 ± 0.30
– 0.175 ± 0.024 becomes 0.175 ± 0.031
– 0.15 ± 0.02 becomes 0.15 ± 0.03
• Conclusions: 1.53 ± 0.16 becomes 1.53 ± 0.30 and 0.18 ± 0.02 becomes 0.18 ± 0.03.
• Section 3.6, page 14: D
T F D
=
L
R(p)
hρi
ρ
• Eq. (4.1): n
0µ
(ν
CC
τ
) =
N(ν
CC
τ
)
N(ν
CC
µ
)
n
0µ
h
0µ
(ν
CC
τ
)i
h
0µ
(ν
CC
µ
)i+αh
0µ
(ν
NC
µ
)i
Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License (CC-BY 4.0), which permits any use, distribution and reproduction in
any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.
Open Access,
c
 The Authors.
Article funded by SCOAP
3
.
doi:10.1007/JHEP04(2014)014

JHEP04(2014)014
The OPERA collaboration
N. Agafonova,
a
A. Aleksandrov,
b
A. Anokhina,
c
S. Aoki,
d
A. Ariga,
e
T. Ariga,
e
T. Asada,
x
D. Autiero,
f
A. Badertscher,
g
A. Ben Dhahbi,
e
D. Bender,
z
A. Bertolin,
h
C. Bozza,
i
R. Brugnera,
h,j
G. Brunetti,
e
B. B¨uttner,
k
S. Buontempo,
b
L. Chaussard,
f
M. Chernyavskiy,
l
V. Chiarella,
m
A. Chukanov,
n
L. Consiglio,
b
N. D’Ambrosio,
o
P. Del Amo Sanchez,
t
G. De
Lellis,
b,p
M. De Serio,
q
A. Di Crescenzo,
b,p
D. Di Ferdinando,
r
N. Di Marco,
o
S. Dmitrievski,
n
M. Dracos,
s
D. Duchesneau,
t
S. Dusini,
h
J. Ebert,
k
A. Ereditato,
e
J. Favier,
t
T. Ferber,
k,1
R. A. Fini,
q
T. Fukuda,
u
A. Garfagnini,
h,j
G. Giacomelli,
v ,r
C. Goellnitz,
k
J. Goldberg,
y
Y. Gornushkin,
n
G. Grella,
i
F. Grianti,
m,w
A. M Guler,
z
C. Gustavino,
aa
C. Hagner,
k
K. Hakamata,
x
T. Hara,
d
T. Hayakawa,
x
M. Hierholzer,
k,2
A. Hollnagel,
k
B. Hosseini,
b,p
H. Ishida,
u
K. Ishiguro,
x
M. Ishikawa,
x
K. Jakovcic,
aa
C. Jollet,
s
C. Kamiscioglu,
z,ak
M. Kamiscioglu,
z
T. Katsuragawa,
x
H. Kawahara,
x
J. Kawada,
e
J. H. Kim,
ab,ag
S. H. Kim,
ab,ag ,3
M. Kimura,
e
N. Kitagawa,
x
B. Klicek,
aa
K. Kodama,
ac
M. Komatsu,
x
U. Kose,
h
I. Kreslo,
e
A. Lauria,
b,p
J. Lenkeit,
k
A. Ljubicic,
aa
A. Longhin,
m
P. Loverre,
ad,aa
A. Malgin,
a
G. Mandrioli,
r
J. Marteau,
f
T. Matsuo,
u
V. Matveev,
a
N. Mauri,
v ,r
E. Medinaceli,
h,j
A. Meregaglia,
s
P. Migliozzi,
b
S. Mikado,
u
A. Minotti,
ad,4
M. Miyanishi,
x
E. Miyashita,
x
P. Monacelli,
ag
M. C. Montesi,
b,p
K. Morishima,
x
M. T. Muciaccia,
q ,ae
N. Naganawa,
x
T. Naka,
x
M. Nakamura,
x
T. Nakano,
x
Y. Nakatsuka,
x
K. Niwa,
x
S. Ogawa,
u
N. Okateva,
l
A. Olshevsky,
n
T. Omura,
x
K. Ozaki,
d
A. Paoloni,
m
B. D. Park,
ab,5
I. G. Park,
ab
A. Pastore,
q
L. Patrizii,
r
E. Pennacchio,
f
H. Pessard,
t
C. Pistillo,
e
D. Podgrudkov,
c
N. Polukhina,
l
M. Pozzato,
v ,r
K. Pretzl,
e
F. Pupilli,
o
R. Rescigno,
i
M. Roda,
h
T. Roganova,
c
H. Rokujo,
x
G. Rosa,
ad,aa
I. Rostovtseva,
aj
A. Rubbia,
g
A. Russo,
b
O. Ryazhskaya,
a
O. Sato,
x
Y. Sato,
ah
A. Schembri,
o
W. Schmidt-Parzefall,
k
I. Shakiryanova,
a
T. Schcedrina,
l,b
A. Sheshukov,
n
H. Shibuya,
u
T. Shiraishi,
x
G. Shoziyoev,
c
S. Simone,
q ,ae
M. Sioli,
v ,r
C. Sirignano,
h,j
G. Sirri,
r
M. Spinetti,
m
L. Stanco,
h
N. Starkov,
l
S.M. Stellacci,
i
M. Stipcevic,
aa
T. Strauss,
e
P. Strolin,
b,p
K. Suzuki,
x
S. Takahashi,
d
M. Tenti,
v ,r
F. Terranova,
m,af
V. Tioukov,
b
P. Tolun,
z,6
S. Tufanli,
e
P. Vilain,
ai
M. Vladimirov,
l
L. Votano,
m
J. L. Vuilleumier,
e
G. Wilquet,
ai
B. Wonsak,
k
C.S. Yoon,
ab
J. Yoshida,
x
M. Yoshimoto,
x
Y. Zaitsev,
aj
S. Zemskova,
n
A. Zghiche
t
a
INR Institute for Nuclear Research, Russian Academy of Sciences RUS-117312, Moscow, Russia
b
INFN Sezione di Napoli, I-80125 Napoli, Italy
c
SINP MSU-Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics, Lomonosov Moscow State University,
RUS-119992 Moscow, Russia
d
Kobe University, J-657-8501 Kobe, Japan
e
Albert Einstein Center for Fundamental Physics, Laboratory for High Energy Physics (LHEP),
University of Bern, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland
f
IPNL, Universit´e Claude Bernard Lyon 1, CNRS/IN2P3, F-69622 Villeurbanne, France
g
ETH Zurich, Institute for Particle Physics, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland
h
INFN Sezione di Padova, I-35131 Padova, Italy
i
Dip. di Fisica dell’Univ. di Salerno and “Gruppo Collegato” INFN, I-84084 Fisciano (SA) Italy
j
Dipartimento di Fisica dell’Universit`a di Padova, I-35131 Padova, Italy
k
Hamburg University, D-22761 Hamburg, Germany
l
LPI-Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991 Moscow, Russia
m
INFN-Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati dell’INFN, I-00044 Frascati (Roma), Italy
n
JINR-Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, RUS-141980 Dubna, Russia
o
INFN-Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, I-67010 Assergi (L’Aquila), Italy
p
Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche dell’Universit`a Federico II di Napoli, I-80125 Napoli, Italy
q
INFN Sezione di Bari, I-70126 Bari, Italy
– 2 –

JHEP04(2014)014
r
INFN Sezione di Bologna, I-40127 Bologna, Italy
s
IPHC, Universit´e de Strasbourg, CNRS/IN2P3, F-67037 Strasbourg, France
t
LAPP, Universit´e de Savoie, CNRS IN2P3, F-74941 Annecy-le-Vieux, France
u
Toho University, J-274-8510 Funabashi, Japan
v
Dipartimento di Fisica dell’Universit`a di Bologna, I-40127 Bologna, Italy
w
Universit`a degli Studi di Urbino ‘Carlo Bo’, I-61029 Urbino, Italy
x
Nagoya University, J-464-8602 Nagoya, Japan
y
Department of Physics, Technion, IL-32000 Haifa, Israel
z
METU Middle East Technical University, TR-06531 Ankara, Turkey
aa
IRB-Rudjer Boskovic Institute, HR-10002 Zagreb, Croatia
ab
Gyeongsang National University, ROK-900 Gazwa-dong, Jinju 660-701, Korea
ac
Aichi University of Education, J-448-8542 Kariya (Aichi-Ken), Japan
ad
Dipartimento di Fisica dell’Universit`a di Roma ‘La Sapienza’ and INFN, I-00185 Roma, Italy
ae
Dipartimento di Fisica dell’Universit`a di Bari, I-70126 Bari, Italy
af
Dipartimento di Fisica dell’Universit`a di Milano-Bicocca, I-20126 Milano, Italy
ag
Dipartimento di Fisica dell’Universit`a dell’Aquila and INFN, I-67100 L’Aquila, Italy
ah
Utsunomiya University, J-321-8505 Tochigi-Ken, Utsunomiya, Japan
ai
IIHE, Universit´e Libre de Bruxelles, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium
aj
ITEP-Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics, RUS-317259 Moscow, Russia
ak
Ankara University, TR-06100 Ankara, Turkey
al
INFN Sezione di Roma, I-00185 Roma, Italy
1
Now at Deutsches Elektronen Synchrotron (DESY), 22607 Hamburg, Germany
2
Now at LHEP, Univ. of Bern, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland
3
Now at Kyungpook National Univ., 80 Daehakro, Bukgu, Daegu, Rep. of Korea
4
Now at IPHC, Universit´e de Strasbourg, CNRS/IN2P3, F-67037 Strasbourg, France
5
Now at Samsung Changwon Hospital, Sungkyunkwan Univ., 158 Palyongro, MasanHoiwongu,
Changwon, Rep. of Korea
6
Deceased
– 3 –