Speaker
Dr
Neha Dokania
(Stony Brook University)
Description
All neutrino oscillation experiments face the problem of reconstructing the incoming
neutrino energy using only the visible interaction products. Unfortunately, the initial
neutrino interaction is not well understood, and some of the interaction products not are
visible. In preparation for the analysis of neutrino oscillation data collected using liquid
argon time projection chambers, the Cryogenic Apparatus for Precision Tests of Argon
Interactions with Neutrinos (CAPTAIN) program makes crucial measurements
addressing these problems in two distinct phases. The first uses Mini-CAPTAIN to
measure the cross section of neutrons impinging on an argon target with a kinetic
energy of more than 50 MeV. This measurement will help determine the signature of
neutrino generated neutrons in a LArTPC. Mini-CAPTAIN, a LArTPC with 400 kg of
instrumented mass, is currently deployed in a neutron beamline at the Los Alamos
Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The
LANSCE beam provides a well-known flux of neutrons up to a kinetic energy of 800
MeV. The total cross section will be measured as a function of neutron kinetic energy,
and partial cross sections for n + Ar → p + X and n + Ar → π± + X will be measured
above the threshold for the produced protons and pions. I will report results from a
February 2016 engineering run during which Mini-CAPTAIN collected neutron data with
a photon-detection system, discuss the upcoming neutron run and their implications for
the long-baseline oscillation analysis at DUNE. Finally, I will discuss a future
deployment of CAPTAIN, a LArTPC with 5 tons of instrumented mass, at a stopped-pion
neutrino source and the implications of the measurements for the future DUNE
supernova physics program.
Primary author
Dr
Neha Dokania
(Stony Brook University)