arXiv subjects

S. Aoki

Publications and source records attributed to S. Aoki.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Measurement of the cosmic ray muon flux seasonal variation with the OPERA detector

The OPERA experiment discovered muon neutrino into tau neutrino oscillations in appearance mode, detecting tau leptons by means of nuclear emulsion films. The apparatus was also endowed with electronic detectors with tracking capability, such as scintillator strips and resistive plate chambers. Because of its location, in the underground Gran Sasso laboratory, under 3800 m.w.e., the OPERA detector has also been used as an observatory for TeV muons produced by cosmic rays in the atmosphere. In this paper the measurement of the single muon flux modulation and of its correlation with the seasonal variation of the atmospheric temperature are reported.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2018

Search for CP violation in Neutrino and Antineutrino Oscillations by the T2K experiment with $2.2\times10^{21}$ protons on target

The T2K experiment measures muon neutrino disappearance and electron neutrino appearance in accelerator-produced neutrino and antineutrino beams. With an exposure of $14.7(7.6)\times 10^{20}$ protons on target in neutrino (antineutrino) mode, 89 $ν_e$ candidates and 7 anti-$ν_e$ candidates were observed while 67.5 and 9.0 are expected for $δ_{CP}=0$ and normal mass ordering. The obtained $2σ$ confidence interval for the $CP$ violating phase, $δ_{CP}$, does not include the $CP$-conserving cases ($δ_{CP}=0,π$). The best-fit values of other parameters are $\sin^2θ_{23} = 0.526^{+0.032}_{-0.036}$ and $Δm^2_{32}=2.463^{+0.071}_{-0.070}\times10^{-3} \mathrm{eV}^2/c^4$.

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arXiv2018

Characterisation of nuclear effects in muon-neutrino scattering on hydrocarbon with a measurement of final-state kinematics and correlations in charged-current pionless interactions at T2K

This paper reports measurements of final-state proton multiplicity, muon and proton kinematics, and their correlations in charged-current pionless neutrino interactions, measured by the T2K ND280 near detector in its plastic scintillator (C$_8$H$_8$) target. The data were taken between years 2010 and 2013, corresponding to approximately 6$\times10^{20}$ protons on target. Thanks to their exploration of the proton kinematics and of kinematic imbalances between the proton and muon kinematics, the results offer a novel probe of the nuclear-medium effects most pertinent to the (sub-)GeV neutrino-nucleus interactions that are used in accelerator-based long-baseline neutrino oscillation measurements. These results are compared to many neutrino-nucleus interaction models which all fail to describe at least part of the observed phase space. In case of events without a proton above a detection threshold in the final state, a fully consistent implementation of the local Fermi gas model with multinucleon interactions gives the best description of the data. In the case of at least one proton in the final state the spectral function model agrees well with the data, most notably when measuring the kinematic imbalance between the muon and the proton in the plane transverse to the incoming neutrino. A clear indication of existence of multinucleon interactions is observed. The effect of final-state interactions is also discussed.

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arXiv2018

Final results of the search for $ν_μ \to ν_{e}$ oscillations with the OPERA detector in the CNGS beam

The OPERA experiment has discovered the tau neutrino appearance in the CNGS muon neutrino beam, in agreement with the 3 neutrino flavour oscillation hypothesis. The OPERA neutrino interaction target, made of Emulsion Cloud Chamber, was particularly efficient in the reconstruction of electromagnetic showers. Moreover, thanks to the very high granularity of the emulsion films, showers induced by electrons can be distinguished from those induced by $π^0$s, thus allowing the detection of charged current interactions of electron neutrinos. In this paper the results of the search for electron neutrino events using the full dataset are reported. An improved method for the electron neutrino energy estimation is exploited. Data are compatible with the 3 neutrino flavour mixing model expectations and are used to set limits on the oscillation parameters of the 3+1 neutrino mixing model, in which an additional mass eigenstate $m_{4}$ is introduced. At high $Δm^{2}_{41}$ $( \gtrsim 0.1~\textrm{eV}^{2})$, an upper limit on $\sin^2 2θ_{μe}$ is set to 0.021 at 90% C.L. and $Δm^2_{41} \gtrsim 4 \times 10^{-3}~\textrm{eV}^{2}$ is excluded for maximal mixing in appearance mode.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2018

Final results of the OPERA experiment on $ν_τ$ appearance in the CNGS beam

The OPERA experiment was designed to study $ν_μ\toν_τ$ oscillations in appearance mode in the CNGS neutrino beam. In this letter we report the final analysis of the full data sample collected between 2008 and 2012, corresponding to $17.97\cdot 10^{19}$ protons on target. Selection criteria looser than in previous analyses have produced ten $ν_τ$ candidate events, thus reducing the statistical uncertainty in the measurement of the oscillation parameters and of $ν_τ$ properties. A multivariate approach for event identification has been applied to the candidate events and the discovery of $ν_τ$ appearance is confirmed with an improved significance level of 6.1 $σ$. $Δm^2_{23}$ has been measured, in appearance mode, with an accuracy of 20%. The measurement of $ν_τ$ CC cross-section, for the first time with a negligible contamination from $\barν_τ$, and the first direct observation of the $ν_τ$ lepton number are also reported.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2018

First measurement of the $ν_μ$ charged-current cross section without pions in the final state on a water target

This paper reports the first differential measurement of the charged-current interaction cross section of $ν_μ$ on water with no pions in the final state. This flux-averaged measurement has been made using the T2K experiment's off-axis near detector, and is reported in doubly-differential bins of muon momentum and angle. The flux-averaged total cross section in a restricted region of phase space was found to be $ σ= (0.95 \pm 0.08 (\mbox{stat}) \pm 0.06 (\mbox{det. syst.}) \pm 0.04(\mbox{model syst.}) \pm{} 0.08(\mbox{flux}) ) \times 10^{-38} \mbox{cm}^2$ per n.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2018

Measurement of inclusive double-differential $ν_μ$ charged-current cross section with improved acceptance in the T2K off-axis near detector

We report a measurement of the flux-integrated cross section for inclusive muon neutrino charged-current interactions on carbon. The double differential measurements are given as function of the muon momentum and angle. Relative to our previous publication on this topic, these results have an increased angular acceptance and higher statistics. The data sample presented here corresponds to $5.7 \times 10^{20}$ protons-on-target. The total flux-integrated cross section is measured to be $(6.950 \pm 0.662) \times 10^{-39}$ cm$^2$nucleon$^{-1}$ and is consistent with our simulation.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2017

Topological Susceptibility in $N_f=2$ QCD at Finite Temperature

We study the topological charge in $N_f=2$ QCD at finite temperature using Möbius domain-wall fermions. The susceptibility $χ_t$ of the topological charge defined either by the index of overlap Dirac operator or a gluonic operator is investigated at several values of temperature $T\ (>T_c)$ varying the quark mass. A strong suppression of the susceptibility is observed below a certain value of the quark mass. The relation with the restoration of $U_A(1)$ is discussed.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2017

Measurement of the single $π^0$ production rate in neutral current neutrino interactions on water

The single $π^0$ production rate in neutral current neutrino interactions on water in a neutrino beam with a peak neutrino energy of 0.6 GeV has been measured using the PØD, one of the subdetectors of the T2K near detector. The production rate was measured for data taking periods when the PØD contained water ($2.64\times{}10^{20}$ protons-on-target) and also periods without water ($3.49 \times 10^{20}$ protons-on-target). A measurement of the neutral current single $π^0$ production rate on water is made using appropriate subtraction of the production rate with water in from the rate with water out of the target region. The subtraction analysis yields 106 $\pm$ 41 (stat.) $\pm$ 69 (sys.) signal events, which is consistent with the prediction of 157 events from the nominal simulation. The measured to expected ratio is 0.68 $\pm$ 0.26 (stat.) $\pm$ 0.44 (sys.) $\pm$ 0.12 (flux). The nominal simulation uses a flux integrated cross section of $7.63\times{}10^{-39}$ cm${}^2$ per nucleon with an average neutrino interaction energy of 1.3 GeV.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2017

Evidence of effective axial U(1) symmetry restoration at high temperature QCD

We study the axial U(1) symmetry at finite temperature in two-flavor lattice QCD. Employing the Mobius domain-wall fermions, we generate gauge configurations slightly above the critical temperature Tc with different lattice sizes L = 2-4 fm. Our action allows frequent topology tunneling while keeping good chiral symmetry close enough to that of overlap fermions. This allows us to recover full chiral symmetry by an overlap/domain-wall reweighting. Above the phase transition, a strong suppression of the low-lying modes is observed in both of overlap and domain-wall Dirac spectra. We, however, find a sizable violation of the Ginsparg-Wilson relation in the Mobius domain-wall Dirac eigenmodes, which dominates the signals of the axial U(1) symmetry breaking near the chiral limit. We also find that the use of overlap fermion only in the valence sector is dangerous since it suffers from the artifacts due to partial quenching. Reweighting the Mobius domain-wall fermion determinant to that of the overlap fermion, we observe the axial U(1) breaking to vanish in the chiral limit, which is stable against the changes of the lattice volume and lattice spacing.

hep-lat↗

arXiv2017

Study of tau-neutrino production at the CERN SPS

The DsTau project proposes to study tau-neutrino production in high-energy proton interactions. The outcome of this experiment are prerequisite for measuring the $ν_τ$ charged-current cross section that has never been well measured. Precisely measuring the cross section would enable testing of lepton universality in $ν_τ$ scattering and it also has practical implications for neutrino oscillation experiments and high-energy astrophysical $ν_τ$ observations. $D_s$ mesons, the source of tau neutrinos, following high-energy proton interactions will be studied by a novel approach to detect the double-kink topology of the decays $D_s \rightarrow τν_τ$ and $τ\rightarrowν_τX$. Directly measuring $D_s\rightarrow τ$ decays will provide an inclusive measurement of the $D_s$ production rate and decay branching ratio to $τ$. The momentum reconstruction of $D_s$ will be performed by combining topological variables. This project aims to detect 1,000 $D_s \rightarrow τ$ decays in $2.3 \times 10^8$ proton interactions in tungsten target to study the differential production cross section of $D_s$ mesons. To achieve this, state-of-the-art emulsion detectors with a nanometric-precision readout will be used. The data generated by this project will enable the $ν_τ$ cross section from DONUT to be re-evaluated, and this should significantly reduce the total systematic uncertainty. Furthermore, these results will provide essential data for future $ν_τ$ experiments such as the $ν_τ$ program in the SHiP project at CERN. In addition, the analysis of $2.3 \times 10^8$ proton interactions, combined with the expected high yield of $10^5$ charmed decays as by-products, will enable the extraction of additional physical quantities.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2017

Measurement of neutrino and antineutrino oscillations by the T2K experiment including a new additional sample of $ν_e$ interactions at the far detector

The T2K experiment reports an updated analysis of neutrino and antineutrino oscillations in appearance and disappearance channels. A sample of electron neutrino candidates at Super-Kamiokande in which a pion decay has been tagged is added to the four single-ring samples used in previous T2K oscillation analyses. Through combined analyses of these five samples, simultaneous measurements of four oscillation parameters, $|Δm^2_{32}|$, $\sin^2(θ_{23})$, $\sin^2(θ_{13})$, and $δ_{CP}$ and of the mass ordering are made. A set of studies of simulated data indicates that the sensitivity to the oscillation parameters is not limited by neutrino interaction model uncertainty. Multiple oscillation analyses are performed, and frequentist and Bayesian intervals are presented for combinations of the oscillation parameters with and without the inclusion of reactor constraints on $\sin^2(θ_{13})$. When combined with reactor measurements, the hypothesis of CP conservation ($δ_{CP}$$=0$ or $π$) is excluded at 90% confidence level. The 90% confidence region for $δ_{CP}$ is [-2.95,-0.44] ([-1.47, -1.27]) for normal (inverted) ordering. The central values and 68\% confidence intervals for the other oscillation parameters for normal (inverted) ordering are $Δm^{2}_{32}=2.54\pm0.08$ ($2.51\pm0.08$) $\times 10^{-3}$ eV$^2 / c^4$ and $\sin^2(θ_{23}) = 0.55^{+0.05}_{-0.09}$ ($0.55^{+0.05}_{-0.08}$), compatible with maximal mixing. In the Bayesian analysis, the data weakly prefer normal ordering (Bayes factor 3.7) and the upper octant for $\sin^2(θ_{23})$ (Bayes factor 2.4).

hep-ex↗

arXiv2017

Updated T2K measurements of muon neutrino and antineutrino disappearance using 1.5e21 protons on target

We report measurements by the T2K experiment of the parameters $θ_{23}$ and $Δm^{2}_{32}$ governing the disappearance of muon neutrinos and antineutrinos in the three flavor neutrino oscillation model. Utilizing the ability of the experiment to run with either a mainly neutrino or a mainly antineutrino beam, the parameters are measured separately for neutrinos and antineutrinos. Using $7.482 \times 10^{20}$ POT in neutrino running mode and $7.471 \times 10^{20}$ POT in antineutrino mode, T2K obtained, $\sin^{2}(θ_{23})=0.51^{+0.08}_{-0.07}$ and $Δm^{2}_{32} = 2.53^{+0.15}_{-0.13} \times 10^{-3}$eV$^{2}$/c$^{4}$ for neutrinos, and $\sin^{2}({\overlineθ}_{23})=0.42^{+0.25}_{-0.07}$ and ${Δ\overline{m}^2}_{32} = 2.55^{+0.33}_{-0.27} \times 10^{-3}$eV$^{2}$/c$^{4}$ for antineutrinos (assuming normal mass ordering). No significant differences between the values of the parameters describing the disappearance of muon neutrinos and antineutrinos were observed.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2017

Measurement of $\barν_μ$ and $ν_μ$ charged current inclusive cross sections and their ratio with the T2K off-axis near detector

We report a measurement of cross section $σ(ν_μ+{\rm nucleus}\rightarrowμ^{-}+X)$ and the first measurements of the cross section $σ(\barν_μ+{\rm nucleus}\rightarrowμ^{+}+X)$ and their ratio $R(\frac{σ(\bar ν)}{σ(ν)})$ at (anti-)neutrino energies below 1.5 GeV. We determine the single momentum bin cross section measurements, averaged over the T2K $\barν/ν$-flux, for the detector target material (mainly Carbon, Oxygen, Hydrogen and Copper) with phase space restricted laboratory frame kinematics of $θ_μ<32^\circ$ and $p_μ>$500 MeV/c. The results are $σ(\barν)=\left( 0.900\pm0.029{\rm (stat.)}\pm0.088{\rm (syst.)}\right)\times10^{-39}$ and $σ(ν)=\left( 2.41\ \pm0.022{\rm{(stat.)}}\pm0.231{\rm (syst.)}\ \right)\times10^{-39}$ in units of cm$^{2}$/nucleon and $R\left(\frac{σ(\barν)}{σ(ν)}\right)= 0.373\pm0.012{\rm (stat.)}\pm0.015{\rm (syst.)}$.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2017

Search for Lorentz and CPT violation using sidereal time dependence of neutrino flavor transitions over a short baseline

A class of extensions of the Standard Model allows Lorentz and CPT violations, which can be identified by the observation of sidereal modulations in the neutrino interaction rate. A search for such modulations was performed using the T2K on-axis near detector. Two complementary methods were used in this study, both of which resulted in no evidence of a signal. Limits on associated Lorentz and CPT violating terms from the Standard Model Extension have been derived taking into account their correlations in this model for the first time. These results imply such symmetry violations are suppressed by a factor of more than $10^{20}$ at the GeV scale.

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arXiv2017

The active muon shield in the SHiP experiment

The SHiP experiment is designed to search for very weakly interacting particles beyond the Standard Model which are produced in a 400 GeV/c proton beam dump at the CERN SPS. An essential task for the experiment is to keep the Standard Model background level to less than 0.1 event after $2\times 10^{20}$ protons on target. In the beam dump, around $10^{11}$ muons will be produced per second. The muon rate in the spectrometer has to be reduced by at least four orders of magnitude to avoid muon-induced combinatorial background. A novel active muon shield is used to magnetically deflect the muons out of the acceptance of the spectrometer. This paper describes the basic principle of such a shield, its optimization and its performance.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2017

First neutrino event detection with nuclear emulsion at J-PARC neutrino beamline

Precise neutrino--nucleus interaction measurements in the sub-multi GeV region are important to reduce the systematic uncertainty in future neutrino oscillation experiments. Furthermore, the excess of ${ν_e}$ interactions, as a possible interpretation of the existence of a sterile neutrino has been observed in such an energy region. The nuclear emulsion technique can measure all the final state particles with low energy threshold for a variety of targets (Fe, C, H${_2}$O, and so on). Its sub-$μ$m position resolution allows measurements of the ${ν_e}$ cross-section with good electron/gamma separation capability. We started a new experiment at J-PARC to study sub-multi GeV neutrino interactions by introducing the nuclear emulsion technique. The J-PARC T60 experiment has been implemented as a first step of such a project. Systematic neutrino event analysis with full scanning data in the nuclear emulsion detector was performed for the first time. The first neutrino event detection and its analysis is described in this paper.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2017

Chiral behavior of $K \to πl ν$ decay form factors in lattice QCD with exact chiral symmetry

We calculate the form factors of the $K \to πl ν$ semileptonic decays in three-flavor lattice QCD, and study their chiral behavior as a function of the momentum transfer and the Nambu-Goldstone boson masses. Chiral symmetry is exactly preserved by using the overlap quark action, which enables us to directly compare the lattice data with chiral perturbation theory (ChPT). We generate gauge ensembles at a lattice spacing of 0.11fm with four pion masses covering 290-540 MeV and a strange quark mass m_s close to its physical value. By using the all-to-all quark propagator, we calculate the vector and scalar form factors with high precision. Their dependence on m_s and the momentum transfer is studied by using the reweighting technique and the twisted boundary conditions for the quark fields. We compare the results for the semileptonic form factors with ChPT at next-to-next-to leading order in detail. While many low-energy constants appear at this order, we make use of our data of the light meson electromagnetic form factors in order to control the chiral extrapolation. We determine the normalization of the form factors as f_+(0) = 0.9636(36)(+57/-35), and observe reasonable agreement of their shape with experiment.

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