arXiv subjects

Michael H. Shaevitz

Publications and source records attributed to Michael H. Shaevitz.

10 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

The $\nu$EYE Neutrino Telescope: Conceptual Design Report

The $\bf\nu EYE$ neutrino project leverages the existing large pit at Yemilab located in South Korea, to reveal the existence of sterile neutrino, the up-turn of the neutrinos from the Sun, and the first minimum of the neutrino oscillation over distances on the order of tens of kilometers for the first time. This initiative is expected to facilitate a wide range of significant scientific and technological advancements within both South Korean and international communities engaged in neutrino science and technology. The $\bf\nu EYE$ aims to investigate the largely unexplored sector of almost-massless lepton in the elementary particle physics in detail. The emphasis will be placed on the study of real time nuclear processes and reactions involving possible sterile neutrinos on timescales down to nanoseconds in ultra-high intense or radioactive neutrino beams for the first time in the world; the $\bf\nu EYE$ looks at to-be universal oscillation (``up-turn'' in the electron neutrino survival probability) of neutrinos predicted by the three neutrino oscillation paradigm. This will confirm or deny our current understanding on the particle interactions of the lepton sector; and measurement of the first oscillation minimum between the first and second neutrinos in mass.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2025

IsoDAR@Yemilab: Preliminary Design Report -- Volume I: Cyclotron Driver

This Preliminary Design Report (PDR) describes the IsoDAR electron-antineutrino source in two volumes which are mostly site-independent and describe the cyclotron driver providing a 60 MeV, 10 mA proton beam (this Volume); and the medium energy beam transport line (MEBT) and target (Volume II). The IsoDAR driver and target will produce about 1.15e23 electron-antineutrinos over five years. Paired with a kton-scale liquid scintillator detector, it will enable a broad particle physics program including searches for new symmetries, new interactions and new particles. Here in Volume I, we describe the driver, which includes the ion source, low energy beam transport, and cyclotron. The latter features Radio-Frequency Quadrupole (RFQ) direct axial injection and represents the first accelerator purpose-built to make use of so-called vortex motion.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2025

IsoDAR@Yemilab: Preliminary Design Report -- Volume II: Medium Energy Beam Transport, Neutrino Source, and Shielding

This Preliminary Design Report (PDR) describes the IsoDAR electron-antineutrino source in two volumes which are mostly site-independent and describe the cyclotron driver providing a 60 MeV, 10 mA proton beam (Volume I); and the medium energy beam transport line (MEBT) and target (this Volume). The IsoDAR driver and target will produce about $1.15\cdot10^{23}$ electron-antineutrinos over five calendar years. Paired with a kton-scale liquid scintillator detector, this will enable a broad particle physics program including searches for new symmetries, new interactions and new particles. Here in Volume II, we describe the medium energy beam transport line, the antineutrino source beam-target and surrounding sleeve, shielding, and plans for monitoring and installation.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2023

Implications of MicroBooNE's low sensitivity to electron antineutrino interactions in the search for the MiniBooNE excess

The MicroBooNE experiment searched for an excess of electron-neutrinos in the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB), providing direct constraints on $ν_e$-interpretations of the MiniBooNE low-energy excess (LEE). In this article, we show that if the MiniBooNE LEE is caused instead by an excess of $\overlineν_e$, then liquid argon detectors, such as MicroBooNE, SBND and ICARUS, would have poor sensitivity to it. This is due to a strong suppression of $\overlineν_e -{}^{40}$Ar cross sections in the low-energy region of the excess. The MicroBooNE results are consistent at the $2σ$~C.L with a scenario in which the MiniBooNE excess is sourced entirely by $\overlineν_e$ interactions. The opportune location of ANNIE, a Gd-loaded water Cherenkov detector, allows for a direct search for a $\overlineν_e$ flux excess in the BNB using inverse-beta-decay events.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

Dipole-Coupled Neutrissimo Explanations of the MiniBooNE Excess Including Constraints from MINERvA Data

We revisit models of heavy neutral leptons (neutrissimos) with transition magnetic moments as explanations of the $4.8σ$ excess of electron-like events at MiniBooNE. We perform a detailed Monte Carlo-based analysis to re-examine the preferred regions in the model parameter space to explain MiniBooNE, considering also potential contributions from oscillations due to an eV-scale sterile neutrino. We then derive robust constraints on the model using neutrino-electron elastic scattering data from MINERvA. We find that MINERvA rules out a large region of parameter space, but allowed solutions exist at the $2σ$ confidence level. A dedicated MINERvA analysis would likely be able to probe the entire region of preference of MiniBooNE in this model.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2021

Explaining the MiniBooNE Excess Through a Mixed Model of Oscillation and Decay

The electron-like excess observed by the MiniBooNE experiment is explained with a model comprising a new low mass state ($\mathcal{O}(1)$ eV) participating in neutrino oscillations and a new high mass state ($\mathcal{O}(100)$ MeV) that decays to $ν+γ$. Short-baseline oscillation data sets are used to predict the oscillation parameters. Fitting the MiniBooNE energy and scattering angle data, there is a narrow joint allowed region for the decay contribution at 95% CL. The result is a substantial improvement over the single sterile neutrino oscillation model, with $Δχ^2/dof$ = 19.3/2 for a decay coupling of $2.8 \times 10^{-7}$ GeV$^{-1}$, high mass state of 376 MeV, oscillation mixing angle of $7\times 10^{-4}$ and mass splitting of $1.3$ eV$^2$. This model predicts that no clear oscillation signature will be observed in the FNAL short baseline program due to the low signal-level.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2019

Shielding Design for the ISODAR Neutrino Experiment

The IsoDAR sterile-neutrino search requires a very high intensity neutrino source. For IsoDAR, this high intensity is produced using the high neutron flux from a 60 MeV, 10 mA proton beam striking a beryllium target that floods a sleeve of highly-enriched Li-7. Through neutron capture the Li-7 is transmuted to Li-8, which beta-decays giving the desired high neutrino flux for very-short baseline neutrino experiments. The target can be placed very close to can existing large neutrino detector, which is typically located deep underground to reduce backgrounds. With such a setup, it is necessary to design a shielding enclosure for the target to prevent neutrons from causing unacceptable activation of the rock walls close to the target. Various materials have been studied including steel to thermalize the high energy neutrons and two new types of concrete developed by Jefferson Laboratory, one very light with shredded plastic aggregate, and the other one enriched with high quantities of boron. The shielding is asymmetrical, having a larger thickness towards the detector in order to suppress the neutron and gamma background in the neutrino detector. Simulation results for rock activation and for detector backgrounds are presented.

physics.acc-ph↗

arXiv2013

The LSND and MiniBooNE Oscillation Searches at High $Δm^2$

This paper reviews the results of the LSND and MiniBooNE experiments. The primary goal of each experiment was to effect sensitive searches for neutrino oscillations in the mass region with $Δm^2 \sim 1$ eV$^2$. The two experiments are complementary, and so the comparison of results can bring additional information with respect to models with sterile neutrinos. Both experiments obtained evidence for $\bar ν_μ\rightarrow \bar ν_e$ oscillations, and MiniBooNE also observed a $ν_μ\rightarrow ν_e$ excess. In this paper, we review the design, analysis, and results from these experiments. We then consider the results within the global context of sterile neutrino oscillation models. The final data sets require a more extended model than the simple single sterile neutrino model imagined at the time that LSND drew to a close and MiniBooNE began. We show that there are apparent incompatibilities between data sets in models with two sterile neutrinos. However, these incompatibilities may be explained with variations within the systematic error. Overall, models with two (or three) sterile neutrinos seem to succeed in fitting the global data, and they make interesting predictions for future experiments.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2005

Comparisons and Combinations of Reactor and Long-Baseline Neutrino Oscillation Measurements

We investigate how the data from various future neutrino oscillation experiments will constrain the physics parameters for a three active neutrino mixing model. The investigations properly account for the degeneracies and ambiguities associated with the phenomenology as well as estimates of experimental measurement errors. Combinations of various reactor measurements with the expected J-PARC (T2K) and NuMI offaxis (Nova) data, both with and without the increased flux associated with proton driver upgrades, are considered. The studies show how combinations of reactor and offaxis data can resolve degeneracies (e.g. the theta23 degeneracy) and give more precise information on the oscillation parameters. A primary purpose of this investigation is to establish the parameter space regions where CP violation can be discovered and where the mass hierarchy can be determined. It is found that such measurements, even with the augmented flux from proton driver upgrades, demand sin^2 (2 theta13) be fairly large and in the range where it is measurable by reactor experiments.

hep-ex↗

arXiv1997

Precision Measurements with High Energy Neutrino Beams

Neutrino scattering measurements offer a unique tool to probe the electroweak and strong interactions as described by the Standard Model (SM). Electroweak measurements are accessible through the comparison of neutrino neutral- and charged-current scattering. These measurements are complimentary to other electroweak measurements due to differences in the radiative corrections both within and outside the SM. Neutrino scattering measurements also provide a precise method for measuring the F_2(x,Q^2) and xF_3(x,Q^2 structure functions. The predicted Q^2 evolution can be used to test perturbative Quantum Chromodynamics as well as to measure the strong coupling constant, alpha _s, and the valence, sea, and gluon parton distributions. In addition, neutrino charm production, which can be determined from the observed dimuon events, allows the strange-quark sea to be investigated along with measurements of the CKM matrix element |V_{cd}| and the charm quark mass.

hep-ex↗