Search for anomalies in the ν e appearance from a ν μ beam

M. Antonello; B. Baibussinov; P. Benetti; F. Boffelli; A. Bubak; E. Calligarich; N. Canci; S. Centro; A. Cesana; K. Cieślik; D. B. Cline; A. G. Cocco; A. Dabrowska; D. Dequal; A. Dermenev; R. Dolfini; A. Falcone; C. Farnese; A. Fava; A. Ferrari; G. Fiorillo; D. Gibin; S. Gninenko; A. Guglielmi; M. Haranczyk; J. Holeczek; M. Kirsanow; J. Kisiel; I. Kochanek; J. Lagoda; S. Mania; A. Menegolli; G. Meng; C. Montanari; S. Otwinowski; P. Picchi; F. Pietropaolo; P. Plonski; A. Rappoldi; G. L. Raselli; M. Rossella; C. Rubbia; P. Sala; A. Scaramelli; E. Segreto; F. Sergiampietri; D. Stefan; R. Sulej; M. Szarska; M. Terrani; M. Torti; F. Varanini; S. Ventura; C. Vignoli; H. G. Wang; X. Yang; A. Zalewska; A. Zani; K. Zaremba

doi:10.1140/epjc/s10052-013-2599-z

2022 Impact factor 4.4

Particles and Fields

Eur. Phys. J. C (2013) 73: 2599
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-013-2599-z

Letter

Search for anomalies in the ν _e appearance from a ν _μ beam

M. Antonello¹, B. Baibussinov², P. Benetti³, F. Boffelli³, A. Bubak¹¹, E. Calligarich³, N. Canci¹, S. Centro², A. Cesana⁴, K. Cieślik⁵, D. B. Cline⁶, A. G. Cocco⁷, A. Dabrowska⁵, D. Dequal², A. Dermenev⁸, R. Dolfini³, A. Falcone³, C. Farnese², A. Fava², A. Ferrari⁹, G. Fiorillo⁷, D. Gibin²^*, S. Gninenko⁸, A. Guglielmi², M. Haranczyk⁵, J. Holeczek¹¹, M. Kirsanow⁸, J. Kisiel¹¹, I. Kochanek¹¹, J. Lagoda¹⁰, S. Mania¹¹, A. Menegolli³, G. Meng², C. Montanari³, S. Otwinowski⁶, P. Picchi¹², F. Pietropaolo², P. Plonski¹⁴, A. Rappoldi³, G. L. Raselli³, M. Rossella³, C. Rubbia¹^,13^,9, P. Sala⁴, A. Scaramelli⁴, E. Segreto¹, F. Sergiampietri¹⁵, D. Stefan¹, R. Sulej¹⁰^,9, M. Szarska⁵, M. Terrani⁴, M. Torti³, F. Varanini², S. Ventura², C. Vignoli¹, H. G. Wang⁶, X. Yang⁶, A. Zalewska⁵, A. Zani³ and K. Zaremba¹⁴

¹ Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, INFN, Assergi, Italy
² Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Padova and INFN, Padova, Italy
³ Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Pavia and INFN, Pavia, Italy
⁴ Politecnico di Milano and INFN, Milano, Italy
⁵ H. Niewodniczański Institute of Nuclear Physics, Polish Academy of Science, Kraków, Poland
⁶ Department of Physics and Astronomy, UCLA, Los Angeles, USA
⁷ Dipartimento di Scienze Fisiche, Università Federico II di Napoli and INFN, Napoli, Italy
⁸ INR RAS, Moscow, Russia
⁹ CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
¹⁰ National Centre for Nuclear Research, Otwock/Swierk, Poland
¹¹ Institute of Physics, University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland
¹² INFN Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, Frascati, Italy
¹³ GSSI, L’Aquila, Italy
¹⁴ Institute for Radioelectronics, Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland
¹⁵ INFN, Pisa, Italy

^* e-mail: daniele.gibin@pd.infn.it

Received: 6 August 2013
Revised: 16 September 2013
Published online: 17 October 2013

Abstract

We report an updated result from the ICARUS experiment on the search for ν _μ→ν _e anomalies with the CNGS beam, produced at CERN with an average energy of 20 GeV and traveling 730 km to the Gran Sasso Laboratory. The present analysis is based on a total sample of 1995 events of CNGS neutrino interactions, which corresponds to an almost doubled sample with respect to the previously published result. Four clear ν _e events have been visually identified over the full sample, compared with an expectation of 6.4±0.9 events from conventional sources. The result is compatible with the absence of additional anomalous contributions. At 90 % and 99 % confidence levels, the limits to possible oscillated events are 3.7 and 8.3 respectively. The corresponding limit to oscillation probability becomes consequently 3.4×10⁻³ and 7.6×10⁻³, respectively. The present result confirms, with an improved sensitivity, the early result already published by the ICARUS Collaboration.