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C. A. Moura

Publications and source records attributed to C. A. Moura.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2025

Constraining the isotropic CPT-odd coefficients of the Standard Model Extension by a combined DUNE and ESSnuSB analysis

Based on an analysis that considers the isotropic CPT-odd Standard Model Extension (SME) coefficients, we find new constraints for them coming from a combined DUNE and ESSnuSB fit. Furthermore, we investigate the correlations of the standard oscillation parameters, the leptonic CP-violating phase, $δ_{CP}$, and the atmospheric mixing angle, $\sin^2 θ_{23}$, with respect to the SME coefficients $(a_L)^T$. The combination of DUNE and ESSnuSB may establish the strongest limit on the diagonal coefficient $(a_L)_{μμ}^T$ compared to the existing limits in the literature. We also consider the possible effect of the SME coefficient $(a_L)^Z$ on neutrino propagation and discuss how this can affect DUNE limits on the coefficient $(a_L)^T$ found elsewhere.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2025

First Observation of Antiproton Annihilation At Rest on Argon in the LArIAT Experiment

We report the first observation and measurement of antiproton annihilation at rest on argon using the LArIAT experiment. Antiprotons from a charged particle test beam that come to rest inside LArIAT's liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) are identified through beamline instrumentation and LArTPC track reconstruction algorithms. The multiplicity of charged particle tracks originating from the annihilation vertex is manually assessed through hand-scanning, resulting in a distribution with a mean of 3.2 $\pm$ 0.4 tracks and a standard deviation of 1.3 tracks. This is consistent with an automated track reconstruction, which produces a mean of 2.8 $\pm$ 0.4 tracks and a standard deviation of 1.2 tracks. Good agreement is found between data and Monte Carlo simulations for both methods. Additionally, we report the shower multiplicity and particle identification of outgoing tracks, both of which align closely with theoretical predictions. These findings will contribute to modeling of intranuclear annihilation interactions on argon, including scenarios such as neutron-antineutron oscillations.

hep-ex↗
arXiv2025

Neutrino Lorentz invariance violation from the CPT-even SME coefficients through a tensor interaction with cosmological scalar fields

Numerous non-standard interactions between neutrinos and scalar fields have been suggested in the literature. In this work, we have outlined the case of tensorial neutrino non-standard interactions with scalar fields, which can be related to the effective CPT-even dimension-4 operators of the Standard Model Extension (SME). Moreover, in this paper, we have mostly analyzed the projected sensitivities to the CPT-even isotropic $c_{αβ}$ and $Z-$spatial $c_{αβ}^{ZZ}$ SME coefficients, in the context of a long-baseline experimental configuration. We study the particular case of DUNE and show its sensitivity to this type of new physics. The current IceCube experiment and upcoming neutrino experiments such as KM3NeT, IceCube-Gen2, and GRAND proposals may clarify these classes of neutrino non-standard interactions.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2024

Collisional Approach for Open Neutrino Systems

We develop a collisional framework for neutrino propagation within open quantum systems, termed the \emph{Collisional Approach for Open Neutrino Systems} (CAONS). A Born-Markov equation is derived, linking decoherence, dissipation, decay rates, and scattering cross sections. Perturbation theory is not required and the resultant master equation is applied to visible and invisible neutrino decays and propagation through a stationary medium. Comparing with previous studies on neutrino decoherence, we show that current bounds on decoherence parameters can significantly tighten constraints on neutrino couplings with dark-matter. Lastly, we establish connections between CAONS and non-Hermitian Hamiltonian approaches.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2024

Measurements of Pion and Muon Nuclear Capture at Rest on Argon in the LArIAT Experiment

We report the measurement of the final-state products of negative pion and muon nuclear capture at rest on argon by the LArIAT experiment at the Fermilab Test Beam Facility. We measure a population of isolated MeV-scale energy depositions, or blips, in 296 LArIAT events containing tracks from stopping low-momentum pions and muons. The average numbers of visible blips are measured to be 0.74 $\pm$ 0.19 and 1.86 $\pm$ 0.17 near muon and pion track endpoints, respectively. The 3.6$σ$ statistically significant difference in blip content between muons and pions provides the first demonstration of a new method of pion-muon discrimination in neutrino liquid argon time projection chamber experiments. LArIAT Monte Carlo simulations predict substantially higher average blip counts for negative muon (1.22 $\pm$ 0.08) and pion (2.34 $\pm$ 0.09) nuclear captures. We attribute this difference to Geant4's inaccurate simulation of the nuclear capture process.

hep-ex↗
arXiv2023

Analyzing the time spectrum of supernova neutrinos to constrain their effective mass or Lorentz Invariance Violation

We analyze the expected arrival time spectrum of supernova neutrinos using simulated luminosity and compute the expected number of events in future detectors such as the DUNE Far Detector and Hyper-Kamiokande. We develop a general method using minimum square statistics that can compute the sensitivity to any variable affecting neutrino time of flight. We apply this method in two different situations: First, we compare the time spectrum changes due to different neutrino mass values to put limits on electron (anti)neutrino effective mass. Second, we constrain Lorentz invariance violation through the mass scale, $M_{QG}$, at which it would occur. We consider two main neutrino detection techniques: 1. DUNE-like liquid argon TPC, for which the main detection channel is $ν_e +\, ^{40}\mbox{Ar} \rightarrow e^- +\, ^{40}\mbox{K}^*$, related to the supernova neutronization burst; and 2. HyperK-like water Cherenkov detector, for which $\bar ν_e + p \rightarrow e^+ + n$ is the main detection channel. We consider a fixed supernova distance of 10~kpc and two different masses of the progenitor star: (i) 15~$M_\odot$ with neutrino emission time up to 0.3~s and (ii) 11.2~$M_\odot$ with neutrino emission time up to 10~s. The best mass limits at 3$σ$ are for $\mathcal{O}(1)$~eV. For $ν_e$, the best limit comes from a DUNE-like detector if the mass ordering happens to be inverted. For $\bar ν_e$, the best limit comes from a HyperK-like detector. The best limit for the Lorentz invariance violation mass scale at the 3$σ$ level considering a superluminal or subluminal effect is $M_{QG} \gtrsim 10^{13}$~GeV ($M_{QG} \gtrsim 5 \times 10^{5}$~GeV) for linear (quadratic) energy dependence.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2022

Measurement of the ($π^-$, Ar) total hadronic cross section at the LArIAT experiment

We present the first measurement of the negative pion total hadronic cross section on argon, which we performed at the Liquid Argon In A Testbeam (LArIAT) experiment. All hadronic reaction channels, as well as hadronic elastic interactions with scattering angle greater than 5~degrees are included. The pions have a kinetic energies in the range 100-700~MeV and are produced by a beam of charged particles impinging on a solid target at the Fermilab Test Beam Facility. LArIAT employs a 0.24~ton active mass Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) to measure the pion hadronic interactions. For this measurement, LArIAT has developed the ``thin slice method", a new technique to measure cross sections with LArTPCs. While generally higher than the prediction, our measurement of the ($π^-$,Ar) total hadronic cross section is in agreement with the prediction of the Geant4 model when considering a model uncertainty of $\sim$5.1\%.

hep-ex↗
arXiv2021

Cosmic Background Removal with Deep Neural Networks in SBND

In liquid argon time projection chambers exposed to neutrino beams and running on or near surface levels, cosmic muons and other cosmic particles are incident on the detectors while a single neutrino-induced event is being recorded. In practice, this means that data from surface liquid argon time projection chambers will be dominated by cosmic particles, both as a source of event triggers and as the majority of the particle count in true neutrino-triggered events. In this work, we demonstrate a novel application of deep learning techniques to remove these background particles by applying semantic segmentation on full detector images from the SBND detector, the near detector in the Fermilab Short-Baseline Neutrino Program. We use this technique to identify, at single image-pixel level, whether recorded activity originated from cosmic particles or neutrino interactions.

physics.data-an↗
arXiv2020

Design and performance of a 35-ton liquid argon time projection chamber as a prototype for future very large detectors

Liquid argon time projection chamber technology is an attractive choice for large neutrino detectors, as it provides a high-resolution active target and it is expected to be scalable to very large masses. Consequently, it has been chosen as the technology for the first module of the DUNE far detector. However, the fiducial mass required for "far detectors" of the next generation of neutrino oscillation experiments far exceeds what has been demonstrated so far. Scaling to this larger mass, as well as the requirement for underground construction places a number of additional constraints on the design. A prototype 35-ton cryostat was built at Fermi National Acccelerator Laboratory to test the functionality of the components foreseen to be used in a very large far detector. The Phase I run, completed in early 2014, demonstrated that liquid argon could be maintained at sufficient purity in a membrane cryostat. A time projection chamber was installed for the Phase II run, which collected data in February and March of 2016. The Phase II run was a test of the modular anode plane assemblies with wrapped wires, cold readout electronics, and integrated photon detection systems. While the details of the design do not match exactly those chosen for the DUNE far detector, the 35-ton TPC prototype is a demonstration of the functionality of the basic components. Measurements are performed using the Phase II data to extract signal and noise characteristics and to align the detector components. A measurement of the electron lifetime is presented, and a novel technique for measuring a track's position based on pulse properties is described.

physics.ins-det↗
arXiv2020

The Liquid Argon In A Testbeam (LArIAT) Experiment

The LArIAT liquid argon time projection chamber, placed in a tertiary beam of charged particles at the Fermilab Test Beam Facility, has collected large samples of pions, muons, electrons, protons, and kaons in the momentum range 300-1400 MeV/c. This paper describes the main aspects of the detector and beamline, and also reports on calibrations performed for the detector and beamline components.

physics.ins-det↗
arXiv2020

Calorimetry for low-energy electrons using charge and light in liquid argon

Precise calorimetric reconstruction of 5-50 MeV electrons in liquid argon time projection chambers (LArTPCs) will enable the study of astrophysical neutrinos in DUNE and could enhance the physics reach of oscillation analyses. Liquid argon scintillation light has the potential to improve energy reconstruction for low-energy electrons over charge-based measurements alone. Here we demonstrate light-augmented calorimetry for low-energy electrons in a single-phase LArTPC using a sample of Michel electrons from decays of stopping cosmic muons in the LArIAT experiment at Fermilab. Michel electron energy spectra are reconstructed using both a traditional charge-based approach as well as a more holistic approach that incorporates both charge and light. A maximum-likelihood fitter, using LArIAT's well-tuned simulation, is developed for combining these quantities to achieve optimal energy resolution. A sample of isolated electrons is simulated to better determine the energy resolution expected for astrophysical electron-neutrino charged-current interaction final states. In LArIAT, which has very low wire noise and an average light yield of 18 pe/MeV, an energy resolution of $σ/E \simeq 9.3\%/\sqrt{E} \oplus 1.3\%$ is achieved. Samples are then generated with varying wire noise levels and light yields to gauge the impact of light-augmented calorimetry in larger LArTPCs. At a charge-readout signal-to-noise of S/N $\simeq$ 30, for example, the energy resolution for electrons below 40 MeV is improved by $\approx$ 10%, $\approx$ 20%, and $\approx$ 40% over charge-only calorimetry for average light yields of 10 pe/MeV, 20 pe/MeV, and 100 pe/MeV, respectively.

physics.ins-det↗
arXiv2018

Photon detector system timing performance in the DUNE 35-ton prototype liquid argon time projection chamber

The 35-ton prototype for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment far detector was a single-phase liquid argon time projection chamber with an integrated photon detector system, all situated inside a membrane cryostat. The detector took cosmic-ray data for six weeks during the period of February 1, 2016 to March 12, 2016. The performance of the photon detection system was checked with these data. An installed photon detector was demonstrated to measure the arrival times of cosmic-ray muons with a resolution better than 32 ns, limited by the timing of the trigger system. A measurement of the timing resolution using closely-spaced calibration pulses yielded a resolution of 15 ns for pulses at a level of 6 photo-electrons. Scintillation light from cosmic-ray muons was observed to be attenuated with increasing distance with a characteristic length of $155 \pm 28$ cm.

physics.ins-det↗
arXiv2015

Scalar Dark Matter in light of LEP and ILC Experiments

In this work we study a scalar field dark matter model with mass of the order of 100 MeV. We assume dark matter is produced in the process $e^-+e^+\to ϕ+ϕ^*+γ$, that, in fact, could be a background for the standard process $e^-+e^+\to ν+\barν+γ$ extensively studied at LEP. We constrain the chiral couplings, $C_L$ and $C_R$, of the dark matter with electrons through an intermediate fermion of mass $m_F=100$ GeV and obtain $C_L=0.1(0.25)$ and $C_R=0.25(0.1)$ for the best fit point of our $χ^2$ analysis. We also analyze the potential of ILC to detect this scalar dark matter for two configurations: (i) center of mass energy $\sqrt{s}=500$ GeV and luminosity $\mathcal{L}=250$ fb$^{-1}$, and (ii) center of mass energy $\sqrt{s}=1$ TeV and luminosity $\mathcal{L}=500$ fb$^{-1}$. The differences of polarized beams are also explored to better study the chiral couplings.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2015

Sterile neutrinos, dark matter, and resonant effects in ultra high energy regimes

Interest in light dark matter candidates has recently increased in the literature; some of these works consider the role of additional neutrinos, either active or sterile. Furthermore, extragalactic neutrinos have been detected with energies higher than have ever been reported before. This opens a new window of opportunities to the study of neutrino properties that were unreachable up to now. We investigate how an interaction potential between neutrinos and dark matter might induce a resonant enhancement in the oscillation probability, an effect that may be tested with future neutrino data.

hep-ph↗
arXiv2012

A reduction in the UHE neutrino flux due to neutrino spin precession

Motivated by the stringent flux limits for UHE neutrinos coming from gamma ray burst or active galactic nuclei, we explore the possibility that the active neutrinos generated in such astrophysical objects could oscillate to sterile right handed states due to a neutrino magnetic moment mu_nu. We find that a value as small as mu_nu ~1E-15 mu_B could produce such a transition thanks to the intense magnetic fields that are expected in these objects.

astro-ph.HE↗
arXiv2011

Confusing the extragalactic neutrino flux limit with a neutrino propagation limit

We study the possible suppression of the extragalactic neutrino flux due to a nonstandard interaction during its propagation. In particular, we study neutrino interaction with an ultra-light scalar field dark matter. It is shown that the extragalactic neutrino flux may be suppressed by such an interaction, leading to a new mechanism to reduce the ultra-high energy neutrino flux. We study both the cases of non-self-conjugate as well as self-conjugate dark matter. In the first case, the suppression is independent of the neutrino and dark matter masses. We conclude that care must be taken when explaining limits on the neutrino flux through source acceleration mechanisms only, since there could be other mechanisms for the reduction of the neutrino flux.

astro-ph.CO↗
arXiv2009

Neutrino phenomenology and unparticle physics

We show how neutrino data can be used in order to constrain the free parameters of possible extensions to the standard model of elementary particles (SM). For definiteness, we focus in the recently proposed unparticle scenario. We show that neutrino data, in particular the MUNU experiment, can set stronger bounds than previous reported limits in the scale dimension parameter for certain region (d > 1.5). We compute the sensitivity of future neutrino experiments to unparticle physics such as future neutrino-electron scattering detectors, coherent neutrino-nuclei scattering as well as the ILC . In particular, we show that the measurement of coherent reactor neutrino scattering off nuclei provide a good sensitivity to the couplings of unparticle interaction with neutrinos and quarks.Finally our results are compared with the current astrophysical limits.

hep-ph↗