arXiv subjects

A. Blondel

Publications and source records attributed to A. Blondel.

At least 181 records · Page 10Linked to original sources

arXiv2013

Characterisation of the muon beams for the Muon Ionisation Cooling Experiment

A novel single-particle technique to measure emittance has been developed and used to characterise seventeen different muon beams for the Muon Ionisation Cooling Experiment (MICE). The muon beams, whose mean momenta vary from 171 to 281 MeV/c, have emittances of approximately 1.5--2.3 πmm-rad horizontally and 0.6--1.0 πmm-rad vertically, a horizontal dispersion of 90--190 mm and momentum spreads of about 25 MeV/c. There is reasonable agreement between the measured parameters of the beams and the results of simulations. The beams are found to meet the requirements of MICE.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2013

Measurement of the Inclusive NuMu Charged Current Cross Section on Carbon in the Near Detector of the T2K Experiment

T2K has performed the first measurement of νμ inclusive charged current interactions on carbon at neutrino energies of ~1 GeV where the measurement is reported as a flux-averaged double differential cross section in muon momentum and angle. The flux is predicted by the beam Monte Carlo and external data, including the results from the NA61/SHINE experiment. The data used for this measurement were taken in 2010 and 2011, with a total of 10.8 x 10^{19} protons-on-target. The analysis is performed on 4485 inclusive charged current interaction candidates selected in the most upstream fine-grained scintillator detector of the near detector. The flux-averaged total cross section is <σ_CC>_ϕ=(6.91 +/- 0.13 (stat) +/- 0.84 (syst)) x10^{-39} cm^2/nucleon for a mean neutrino energy of 0.85 GeV.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2013

Measurements of Production Properties of K0S mesons and Lambda hyperons in Proton-Carbon Interactions at 31 GeV/c

Spectra of K0S mesons and Lambda hyperons were measured in p+C interactions at 31 GeV/c with the large acceptance NA61/SHINE spectrometer at the CERN SPS. The data were collected with an isotropic graphite target with a thickness of 4% of a nuclear interaction length. Interaction cross sections, charged pion spectra, and charged kaon spectra were previously measured using the same data set. Results on K0S and Lambda production in p+C interactions serve as reference for the understanding of the enhancement of strangeness production in nucleus-nucleus collisions. Moreover, they provide important input for the improvement of neutrino flux predictions for the T2K long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment in Japan. Inclusive production cross sections for K0S and Lambda are presented as a function of laboratory momentum in intervals of the laboratory polar angle covering the range from 0 up to 240 mrad. The results are compared with predictions of several hadron production models. The K0S mean multiplicity in production processes and the inclusive cross section for K0S production were measured and amount to 0.127 +- 0.005 (stat) +- 0.022 (sys) and 29.0 +- 1.6 (stat) +- 5.0 (sys) mb, respectively.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2013

Comments on "Wall-plug (AC) power consumption of a very high energy e+/e- storage ring collider" by Marc Ross

The paper arXiv:1308.0735 questions some of the technical assumptions made by the TLEP Steering Group when estimating in arXiv:1305.6498 the power requirement for the very high energy e+e- storage ring collider TLEP. We show that our assumptions are based solidly on CERN experience with LEP and the LHC, as well accelerators elsewhere, and confirm our earlier baseline estimate of the TLEP power consumption.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2013

nuSTORM - Neutrinos from STORed Muons: Proposal to the Fermilab PAC

The nuSTORM facility has been designed to deliver beams of electron neutrinos and muon neutrinos (and their anti-particles) from the decay of a stored muon beam with a central momentum of 3.8 GeV/c and a momentum acceptance of 10%. The facility is unique in that it will: 1. Allow searches for sterile neutrinos of exquisite sensitivity to be carried out; 2. Serve future long- and short-baseline neutrino-oscillation programs by providing definitive measurements of electron neutrino and muon neutrino scattering cross sections off nuclei with percent-level precision; and 3. Constitutes the crucial first step in the development of muon accelerators as a powerful new technique for particle physics. The document describes the facility in detail and demonstrates its physics capabilities. This document was submitted to the Fermilab Physics Advisory Committee in consideration for Stage I approval.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2013

MICE: the Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment. Step I: First Measurement of Emittance with Particle Physics Detectors

The Muon Ionization Cooling Experiment (MICE) is a strategic R&D project intended to demonstrate the only practical solution to providing high brilliance beams necessary for a neutrino factory or muon collider. MICE is under development at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) in the United Kingdom. It comprises a dedicated beamline to generate a range of input muon emittances and momenta, with time-of-flight and Cherenkov detectors to ensure a pure muon beam. The emittance of the incoming beam will be measured in the upstream magnetic spectrometer with a scintillating fiber tracker. A cooling cell will then follow, alternating energy loss in Liquid Hydrogen (LH2) absorbers to RF cavity acceleration. A second spectrometer, identical to the first, and a second muon identification system will measure the outgoing emittance. In the 2010 run at RAL the muon beamline and most detectors were fully commissioned and a first measurement of the emittance of the muon beam with particle physics (time-of-flight) detectors was performed. The analysis of these data was recently completed and is discussed in this paper. Future steps for MICE, where beam emittance and emittance reduction (cooling) are to be measured with greater accuracy, are also presented.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2013

Evidence of Electron Neutrino Appearance in a Muon Neutrino Beam

The T2K collaboration: reports evidence for electron neutrino appearance at the atmospheric mass splitting, |Δm_{32}^2|=2.4x10^{-3} eV^2. An excess of electron neutrino interactions over background is observed from a muon neutrino beam with a peak energy of 0.6 GeV at the Super-Kamiokande (SK) detector 295 km from the beam's origin. Signal and background predictions are constrained by data from near detectors located 280 m from the neutrino production target. We observe 11 electron neutrino candidate events at the SK detector when a background of 3.3\pm0.4(syst.) events is expected. The background-only hypothesis is rejected with a p-value of 0.0009 (3.1σ), and a fit assuming ν_μ->ν_e oscillations with sin^2(2θ_{23})=1, δ_{CP}=0 and |Δm_{32}^2|=2.4x10^{-3} eV^2 yields sin^2(2θ_{13})=0.088^{+0.049}_{-0.039}(stat.+syst.).

hep-ex↗

arXiv2013

Neutrinos from Stored Muons nuSTORM: Expression of Interest

The nuSTORM facility has been designed to deliver beams of electron and muon neutrinos from the decay of a stored muon beam with a central momentum of 3.8 GeV/c and a momentum spread of 10%. The facility is unique in that it will: serve the future long- and short-baseline neutrino-oscillation programmes by providing definitive measurements of electron-neutrino- and muon-neutrino-nucleus cross sections with percent-level precision; allow searches for sterile neutrinos of exquisite sensitivity to be carried out; and constitute the essential first step in the incremental development of muon accelerators as a powerful new technique for particle physics. Of the world's proton-accelerator laboratories, only CERN and FNAL have the infrastructure required to mount nuSTORM. Since no siting decision has yet been taken, the purpose of this Expression of Interest (EoI) is to request the resources required to: investigate in detail how nuSTORM could be implemented at CERN; and develop options for decisive European contributions to the nuSTORM facility and experimental programme wherever the facility is sited. The EoI defines a two-year programme culminating in the delivery of a Technical Design Report.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2013

A High Luminosity e+e- Collider to study the Higgs Boson

A strong candidate for the Standard Model Scalar boson, H(126), has been discovered by the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) experiments. In order to study this fundamental particle with unprecedented precision, and to perform precision tests of the closure of the Standard Model, we investigate the possibilities offered by An e+e- storage ring collider. We use a design inspired by the B-factories, taking into account the performance achieved at LEP2, and imposing a synchrotron radiation power limit of 100 MW. At the most relevant centre-of-mass energy of 240 GeV, near-constant luminosities of 10^34 cm^{-2}s^{-1} are possible in up to four collision points for a ring of 27km circumference. The achievable luminosity increases with the bending radius, and for 80km circumference, a luminosity of 5 10^34 cm^{-2}s^{-1} in four collision points appears feasible. Beamstrahlung becomes relevant at these high luminosities, leading to a design requirement of large momentum acceptance both in the accelerating system and in the optics. The larger machine could reach the top quark threshold, would yield luminosities per interaction point of 10^36 cm^{-2}s^{-1} at the Z pole (91 GeV) and 2 10^35 cm^{-2}s^{-1} at the W pair production threshold (80 GeV per beam). The energy spread is reduced in the larger ring with respect to what is was at LEP, giving confidence that beam polarization for energy calibration purposes should be available up to the W pair threshold. The capabilities in term of physics performance are outlined.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2013

Research Proposal for an Experiment to Search for the Decay μ -> eee

We propose an experiment (Mu3e) to search for the lepton flavour violating decay mu+ -> e+e-e+. We aim for an ultimate sensitivity of one in 10^16 mu-decays, four orders of magnitude better than previous searches. This sensitivity is made possible by exploiting modern silicon pixel detectors providing high spatial resolution and hodoscopes using scintillating fibres and tiles providing precise timing information at high particle rates.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2013

The T2K Neutrino Flux Prediction

The Tokai-to-Kamioka (T2K) experiment studies neutrino oscillations using an off-axis muon neutrino beam with a peak energy of about 0.6 GeV that originates at the J-PARC accelerator facility. Interactions of the neutrinos are observed at near detectors placed at 280 m from the production target and at the far detector -- Super-Kamiokande (SK) -- located 295 km away. The flux prediction is an essential part of the successful prediction of neutrino interaction rates at the T2K detectors and is an important input to T2K neutrino oscillation and cross section measurements. A FLUKA and GEANT3 based simulation models the physical processes involved in the neutrino production, from the interaction of primary beam protons in the T2K target, to the decay of hadrons and muons that produce neutrinos. The simulation uses proton beam monitor measurements as inputs. The modeling of hadronic interactions is re-weighted using thin target hadron production data, including recent charged pion and kaon measurements from the NA61/SHINE experiment. For the first T2K analyses the uncertainties on the flux prediction are evaluated to be below 15% near the flux peak. The uncertainty on the ratio of the flux predictions at the far and near detectors is less than 2% near the flux peak.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2012

Pion emission from the T2K replica target: method, results and application

The T2K long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment in Japan needs precise predictions of the initial neutrino flux. The highest precision can be reached based on detailed measurements of hadron emission from the same target as used by T2K exposed to a proton beam of the same kinetic energy of 30 GeV. The corresponding data were recorded in 2007-2010 by the NA61/SHINE experiment at the CERN SPS using a replica of the T2K graphite target. In this paper details of the experiment, data taking, data analysis method and results from the 2007 pilot run are presented. Furthermore, the application of the NA61/SHINE measurements to the predictions of the T2K initial neutrino flux is described and discussed.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2012

nuSTORM: Neutrinos from STORed Muons

The results of LSND and MiniBooNE, along with the recent papers on a possible reactor neutrino flux anomaly give tantalizing hints of new physics. Models beyond the neutrino-SM have been developed to explain these results and involve one or more additional neutrinos that are non-interacting or "sterile." Neutrino beams produced from the decay of muons in a racetrack-like decay ring provide a powerful way to study this potential new physics. In this Letter of Intent, we describe a facility, nuSTORM, "Neutrinos from STORed Muons," and an appropriate far detector for neutrino oscillation searches at short baseline. We present sensitivity plots that indicated that this experimental approach can provide over 10 sigma confirmation or rejection of the LSND/MinBooNE results. In addition we indicate how the facility can be used to make precision neutrino interaction cross section measurements important to the next generation of long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2012

Hadron calorimeter with MAPD readout in the NA61/SHINE experiment

The modular hadron calorimeter with micro-pixel avalanche photodiodes readout for the NA61/SHINE experiment at the CERN SPS is presented. The calorimeter consists of 44 independent modules with lead-scintillator sandwich structure. The light from the scintillator tiles is captured by and transported with WLS-fibers embedded in scintillator grooves. The construction provides a longitudinal segmentation of the module in 10 sections with independent MAPD readout. MAPDs with pixel density of $~10^{4}$/mm$^2$ ensure good linearity of calorimeter response in a wide dynamical range. The performance of the calorimeter prototype in a beam test is reported.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2012

Fundamental Physics at the Intensity Frontier

The Proceedings of the 2011 workshop on Fundamental Physics at the Intensity Frontier. Science opportunities at the intensity frontier are identified and described in the areas of heavy quarks, charged leptons, neutrinos, proton decay, new light weakly-coupled particles, and nucleons, nuclei, and atoms.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2012

First Muon-Neutrino Disappearance Study with an Off-Axis Beam

We report a measurement of muon-neutrino disappearance in the T2K experiment. The 295-km muon-neutrino beam from Tokai to Kamioka is the first implementation of the off-axis technique in a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. With data corresponding to 1.43 10**20 protons on target, we observe 31 fully-contained single muon-like ring events in Super-Kamiokande, compared with an expectation of 104 +- 14 (syst) events without neutrino oscillations. The best-fit point for two-flavor nu_mu -> nu_tau oscillations is sin**2(2 theta_23) = 0.98 and |Δm**2_32| = 2.65 10**-3 eV**2. The boundary of the 90 % confidence region includes the points (sin**2(2 theta_23),|Δm**2_32|) = (1.0, 3.1 10**-3 eV**2), (0.84, 2.65 10**-3 eV**2) and (1.0, 2.2 10**-3 eV**2).

hep-ex↗

arXiv2011

Interim Design Report

The International Design Study for the Neutrino Factory (the IDS-NF) was established by the community at the ninth "International Workshop on Neutrino Factories, super-beams, and beta- beams" which was held in Okayama in August 2007. The IDS-NF mandate is to deliver the Reference Design Report (RDR) for the facility on the timescale of 2012/13. In addition, the mandate for the study [3] requires an Interim Design Report to be delivered midway through the project as a step on the way to the RDR. This document, the IDR, has two functions: it marks the point in the IDS-NF at which the emphasis turns to the engineering studies required to deliver the RDR and it documents baseline concepts for the accelerator complex, the neutrino detectors, and the instrumentation systems. The IDS-NF is, in essence, a site-independent study. Example sites, CERN, FNAL, and RAL, have been identified to allow site-specific issues to be addressed in the cost analysis that will be presented in the RDR. The choice of example sites should not be interpreted as implying a preferred choice of site for the facility.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2011

Measurement of Production Properties of Positively Charged Kaons in Proton-Carbon Interactions at 31 GeV/c

Spectra of positively charged kaons in p+C interactions at 31 GeV/c were measured with the NA61/SHINE spectrometer at the CERN SPS. The analysis is based on the full set of data collected in 2007 with a graphite target with a thickness of 4% of a nuclear interaction length. Interaction cross sections and charged pion spectra were already measured using the same set of data. These new measurements in combination with the published ones are required to improve predictions of the neutrino flux for the T2K long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment in Japan. In particular, the knowledge of kaon production is crucial for precisely predicting the intrinsic electron neutrino component and the high energy tail of the T2K beam. The results are presented as a function of laboratory momentum in 2 intervals of the laboratory polar angle covering the range from 20 up to 240 mrad. The kaon spectra are compared with predictions of several hadron production models. Using the published pion results and the new kaon data, the K+/π+ ratios are computed.

hep-ex↗