Transcript Document

A study of
atmospheric neutrinos
at
India-based Neutrino Observatory
Abhijit Samanta
(INO Collaboration)
[email protected]
Saha Institue of Nuclear Physics
Kolkata, India
Plan

Neutrino oscillation

Neutrino parameters from present experiments

INO detector

Detector simulation

Physics issues of INO:
Studies with atmospheric s (INO Phase I) .
(Precision study of atmospheric oscillation parameters
only will be discussed in details here.)
Studies with beams from -decay,


INO site
Conclusion
(in short)
-factory (INO Phase II).
Quantum mechanics of neutrino oscillation
Neutrino stationary states: |1, |2 mass
Neutrino flavour eigenstates: |e>, | µ>
m1, m2
Two different bases: |e  = |1  cosθ + |2 sinθ
|µ  = -|1 sinθ + |2 cosθ
|e produced at t = 0  |Ψ(0) = |e = |1 cos θ + |2 sinθ
At a later time:
|Ψ(t) = |1 cos θ e-iE1t + |2 sinθ e-iE2t
Prob(e µ, t) = |µ |Ψ(t) |2 = 4 c2 s2 |e-iE1t - e-iE2t|2
Neutrinos are ultra-relativistic: p>>m  Ei = (p2 + mi2)½ ≈ p +
mi2/2p
(E1 - E2)t = (m12 – m22)t /2p ≡ (∆/2p)t = L ∆/2E
Prob(e µ, L) = 4 c2 s2 sin2(L/ λ)
where λ = 4 E/ ∆
Survival Prob. = Prob(e e, L) = 1 - Prob(e µ, L)
Neutrino parameters from present experiments

Neutrinos oscillate.

Neutrinos are massive and non-degenerate (m2 0)


& sin2  0.
e
e
e
e
t

 Solar    m21 = 7.9  105 eV2,
12 = 36o (best-fit)
 Atmospheric |m322|=2 10-3eV2 ,
23= 45o (best-fit)
 Reactor   KamLAND agrees with solar and
CHOOZ constrain 13 11o
 Accelerator   K2K confirms atmospheric results
INO will have important role in
Confirmation of oscillation dip and rise
Sign of |m232|
Determination of 13
CP phase
Measuring the deviation of 23 from 45o
New physics ?
INO Detector
Mass: 50 kTon
Size : 48 m (x) 16m (y) 12 m (z)
140 layers of 6 cm thick iron
with 2.5 cm gap for active elements
Magnetic field ~ 1 Tesla
along y-direction
Construction of RPC
Two 2 mm thick float Glass
Separated by 2 mm spacer
2 mm thick spacer
Pickup strips
Glass plates
Complete RPC
Graphite coating on the outer surfaces of glass
INO will have the opportunity
to change the active part of
the detector.
RPC test
RPC Efficiency
Freon 134a : 62%
Argon
: 30%
Isobutane : 8%
RPC Timing Studies
Good time resolution  Good
up/down discrimination
Bending in magnetic field can
also do this job.
INO prototype will be very
soon at VECC, Kolkata.
Detector Simulation
Package: GEANT
Version : 3.2214
Track reconstruction

When a charge particle, say, ±, moves through ICAL, it gives
hits (very localized electric discharge in the gases) in the active
detector elements; a track in the detector.

Energy for a track can be measured in two ways:
I) Energy calibration (FC only) II) curvature in a
magnetic field (FC+PC).
(The case I & II have been studied separately. The case I will be
discussed here.)

Energy can be calibrated with number of hits or with effective
path-length (density geometric path).
It measures the amount of energy deposited in the detector.

Angle is determined from the first few hits of the track.
Calibration of E with number of hits
for a fixed zenith angle 40o
Calibration of E with effective path-length
for a fixed zenith angle 40o
 Effective path-length and number of hits
are proportional to E for a fixed zenith angle.
Variation of number of hits with
zenith angle for fixed E
Variation of effective path-length with
zenith angle for fixed E
 Energy calibration with effective path-length is less dependent on
zenith angle than that with number of hits.
The variation of muon energy
resolution for zenith angle 54o.
The variation of zenith angle
resolution for E= 1 GeV.
(It will improve (worsen)
with decrease (increase)
of zenith angle.)
(It will improve with increase
of energy.)
Precision study with
atmospheric neutrinos
Event generator: NUANCE
Flux : Honda
Detector simulator: GEANT
Atmospheric neutrino fluxes
 Low
energy flux is not
symmetric in up & down
direction.
Oscillation of atmospheric
neutrinos

L ~ 10 km for down going 
~12000 km for up going 
 E~ few MeV-100GeV
Down  near detectorno oscillation
Up  far detector  Oscillation
 (Single detector with two equal
sources.)
up
 L/E
down
Reduction of events (cuts)
To study the L/E resolution we generate a huge data set, say,
83000 events in the energy range 0.8 GeV to 200 GeV with almost equal
weight up to 30GeV .
Study L/E resolutions in measured E & L/E bins.
For a particular L/E-bin, it improves with increase of E.
(With increase of E the scattering angle ( - ) decreases.)
Again for a particular bin of E, resolution improves with increase of L/E.
(L resolution improves as we go far from horizon.)
Let us fix a width of the resolution as a measure of goodness.
With this criteria we find the minimum value of L/E for a given E.
We consider only longest track of an event (essentially the muon track).
No hadrons are considered  a very clean signal at ICAL detector.
Reduction of events (cut)
Applying the cuts defined above, we find the L/E
resolutions and efficiency in neutrino (L/E – E) bins.
efficiency () = (selected events)/(nuance generated events)
L/E resolution
The first four figures are
obtained for a bin of E
& (L/E).
The last figure with all
E & (L/E) of 20 years
un-oscillated data.
The shape and width of resolution change with E & L/E .
The reasons have been discussed earlier.
Taking a given year of exposure we generate a GEANT simulated data
Find up/down vs. L/E distribution (call it the “experimental data”)
Confirm oscillation with dip and then rise
Cut
5-year run
Number of
surviving
Efficiency
hit 7
4313 events
-------
Cut for L/E
resolution
2327
54
Note: Efficiency must be
improved if we consider
zenith angle analysis for sin2
precision.
2-fit
We take an event and calculate the oscillation probability P.
We choose a random number X. If P > x, we keep it.
Identify the resolution function from the value of E & L .
If the efficiency of this bin is , smear  over all L/E bins instead of
smearing unity.
We thus obtain a up/down plot from 20 years un-oscillated data set.
We call it a “theoretical data”.
If the bin size of E & L/E are made very small, we are then practically
generating resolutions for every events.
Precautions in 2-fit
Up/down for  plot obtained with Nuance and by random number
technique from un-oscillated data as discussed above should match.
See the difference if Honda flux is with cosz bin 20 & 180 !!!
Up/down plot from random number technique matches with 180 bin of
cosz
Allowed oscillation parameter regions
Precision =
(upper limit – lower limit)
( upper limit +lower limit)
INO (with FC events only)  7 
SKIII
 10 
 19 
10-yr
 20  10-yr
MINOS
 10 
 38 
5-yr
T2K
 6
 22 
5-yr
SK (present experiment)  28 
 39 
The precision at INO will improve with inclusion of PC.
Note: We use multiple resolution functions; it is for each (E  L/E ) bin.
The important features of INO
1.
Large mass( high statistics) magnetized Iron CALorimeter
2. Tracks are obtained from the hits (electric discharge in the gases is
very transient and localized unlike Cherenkov detector)

I) High angular resolution and high charge identification capability
(bending of track in magnetic field)
II) Good E resolution
III) Good time resolution ( ~ nanosec)
 up/down discrimination
3. INO to CERN baseline  magic baseline (degeneracy in observables
due to CP-phase  is negligible.)

Important role in the present open issues in neutrino physics
e.g., determination of mass hierarchy, 13, CP-phase 
search for new physics ……..
INO Site
PUSHEP (Pykara Ultimate Stage Hydro
Electric Project) in South India
Reduction of muon
background with depth
INO is in good depth !!!
PUSHEP selected,
after a detailed
comparison with
Rammam
INO Collaboration
In the last year
41 Experimentalists
+ Engineers
22 Theorists
INO is growing up rapidly
through
The INO training school
Phase-I (April 10 – 25)
at Harish-Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad
on Theoretical and Phenomenological Aspects
Phase-II (May 1 – 13)
Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics/Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre, Kolkata
on Experimental Aspects
URL: http://www.imsc.res.in/ ~ino
Acknowledgement
I am grateful to Dr. Michele Maltoni for arranging
this talk. I want to express my gratitude to Professor
Amitava Raychaudhuri, Professor Sudeb
Bhattacharya and Professor Kamales Kar for all
kind of supports, suggestions and discussions. I
am also thankful to my collaborators Professor
Ambar Ghosal and Professor Debasish Majumdar
for discussions. Finally I want to acknowledge the
supports from DST, India as well as from ASICTP.