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Open Access Publications from the University of California

Scholarly Works (14 results)

  • Article
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (2008)

An array of Neutral-Current Detectors (NCDs) has been built in order to make a unique measurement of the total active ux of solar neutrinos in the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO). Data in the third phase of the SNO experiment were collected between November 2004 and November 2006, after the NCD array was added to improve the neutral-current sensitivity of the SNO detector. This array consisted of 36 strings of proportional counters lled with a mixture of 3He and CF4 gas capable of detecting the neutrons liberated by the neutrino-deuteron neutral current reaction in the D2O, and four strings lled with a mixture of 4He and CF4 gas for background measurements. The proportional counter diameter is 5 cm. The total deployed array length was 398 m. The SNO NCD array is the lowest-radioactivity large array of proportional counters ever produced. This article describes the design, construction, deployment, and characterization of the NCD array, discusses the electronics and data acquisition system, and considers event signatures and backgrounds.

    Cover page: An array of low-background 3He proportional counters for the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory
    • Article
    Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (2004)
      Cover page: Measurement of neutrino oscillation with Kamland: Evidence of spectral distortion
      • Article
      • Peer Reviewed
      UC Berkeley Previously Published Works (2017)
      Tests on B-L symmetry breaking models are important probes to search for new physics. One proposed model with Δ(B-L)=2 involves the oscillations of a neutron to an antineutron. In this paper, a new limit on this process is derived for the data acquired from all three operational phases of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory experiment. The search concentrated on oscillations occurring within the deuteron, and 23 events were observed against a background expectation of 30.5 events. These translated to a lower limit on the nuclear lifetime of 1.48×1031 yr at 90% C.L. when no restriction was placed on the signal likelihood space (unbounded). Alternatively, a lower limit on the nuclear lifetime was found to be 1.18×1031 yr at 90% C.L. when the signal was forced into a positive likelihood space (bounded). Values for the free oscillation time derived from various models are also provided in this article. This is the first search for neutron-Antineutron oscillation with the deuteron as a target.
        Cover page: Search for neutron-antineutron oscillations at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory
        • Article
        LBL Publications (2002)
          Cover page: First results from KamLAND: Evidence for reactor anti-neutrino disappearance
          • Article
          • Peer Reviewed
          UC Berkeley Previously Published Works (2020)
          A search has been performed for neutrinos from two sources, the hep reaction in the solar pp fusion chain and the νe component of the diffuse supernova neutrino background (DSNB), using the full dataset of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory with a total exposure of 2.47 kton-years after fiducialization. The hep search is performed using both a single-bin counting analysis and a likelihood fit. We find a best-fit flux that is compatible with solar model predictions while remaining consistent with zero flux, and set a one-sided upper limit of φhep<30×103 cm-2 s-1 [90% credible interval (CI)]. No events are observed in the DSNB search region, and we set an improved upper bound on the νe component of the DSNB flux of φνeDSNB<19 cm-2 s-1 (90% CI) in the energy range 22.9
            Cover page: Search for hep solar neutrinos and the diffuse supernova neutrino background using all three phases of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory
            • Article
            • Peer Reviewed
            UC Berkeley Previously Published Works (2019)
            Neutrons produced in nuclear interactions initiated by cosmic-ray muons present an irreducible background to many rare-event searches, even in detectors located deep underground. Models for the production of these neutrons have been tested against previous experimental data, but the extrapolation to deeper sites is not well understood. Here we report results from an analysis of cosmogenically produced neutrons at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory. A specific set of observables are presented, which can be used to benchmark the validity of geant4 physics models. In addition, the cosmogenic neutron yield, in units of 10-4 cm2/(g·μ), is measured to be 7.28±0.09(stat)-1.12+1.59(syst) in pure heavy water and 7.30±0.07(stat)-1.02+1.40(syst) in NaCl-loaded heavy water. These results provide unique insights into this potential background source for experiments at SNOLAB.
              Cover page: Cosmogenic neutron production at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory
              • Article
              Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (2006)

              A search has been made for neutrinos from the hep reaction in the Sun and from the diffuse supernova neutrino background (DSNB) using data collected during the first operational phase of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, with an exposure of 0.65 kilotonne-years. For the hep neutrino search, two events are observed in the effective electron energy range of 14.3 MeV < Teff < 20 MeV where 3.1 background events are expected. After accounting for neutrino oscillations, an upper limit of 2.3 x 104 cm-2s-1 at the 90 percent confidence level is inferred on the integral total flux of hep neutrinos. For DSNB neutrinos, no events are observed in the effective electron energy range of 21 MeV < Teff < 35 MeV and, consequently, an upper limit on the nu e component of the DSNB fluxin the neutrino energy range of 22.9 MeV < E nu < 36.9 MeV of 70 cm-2-1 is inferred at the 90 percent confidence level. This is an improvement by a factor of 6.5 on the previous best upper limit on the hep neutrino flux and by two orders of magnitude on the previous upper limit on the nu e component of the DSNB flux.

                Cover page: A Search for Neutrinos from the Solar hep Reaction and the Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background with the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory
                • Article
                • Peer Reviewed
                UC Berkeley Previously Published Works (2019)
                The long baseline between Earth and the Sun makes solar neutrinos an excellent test beam for exploring possible neutrino decay. The signature of such decay would be an energy-dependent distortion of the traditional survival probability which can be fit for using well-developed and high-precision analysis methods. Here a model including neutrino decay is fit to all three phases of B8 solar neutrino data taken by the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO). This fit constrains the lifetime of neutrino mass state ν2 to be >8.08×10-5 s/eV at 90% confidence. An analysis combining this SNO result with those from other solar neutrino experiments results in a combined limit for the lifetime of mass state ν2 of >1.92×10-3 s/eV at 90% confidence.
                  Cover page: Constraints on neutrino lifetime from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory
                  • Article
                  • Peer Reviewed
                  UC Berkeley Previously Published Works (2016)
                  SNO+ is a large liquid scintillator-based experiment located 2 km underground at SNOLAB, Sudbury, Canada. It reuses the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory detector, consisting of a 12 m diameter acrylic vessel which will be filled with about 780 tonnes of ultra-pure liquid scintillator. Designed as a multipurpose neutrino experiment, the primary goal of SNO+ is a search for the neutrinoless double-beta decay (0ββ) of 130Te. In Phase I, the detector will be loaded with 0.3% natural tellurium, corresponding to nearly 800 kg of 130Te, with an expected effective Majorana neutrino mass sensitivity in the region of 55-133 meV, just above the inverted mass hierarchy. Recently, the possibility of deploying up to ten times more natural tellurium has been investigated, which would enable SNO+ to achieve sensitivity deep into the parameter space for the inverted neutrino mass hierarchy in the future. Additionally, SNO+ aims to measure reactor antineutrino oscillations, low energy solar neutrinos, and geoneutrinos, to be sensitive to supernova neutrinos, and to search for exotic physics. A first phase with the detector filled with water will begin soon, with the scintillator phase expected to start after a few months of water data taking. The 0νββ Phase I is foreseen for 2017.
                    Cover page: Current Status and Future Prospects of the SNO+ Experiment
                    • Article
                    • Peer Reviewed
                    UC Berkeley Previously Published Works (2019)
                    Neutron production in giga electron volt-scale neutrino interactions is a poorly studied process. We have measured the neutron multiplicities in atmospheric neutrino interactions in the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory experiment and compared them to the prediction of a Monte Carlo simulation using genie and a minimally modified version of geant4. We analyzed 837 days of exposure corresponding to Phase I, using pure heavy water, and Phase II, using a mixture of Cl in heavy water. Neutrons produced in atmospheric neutrino interactions were identified with an efficiency of 15.3% and 44.3%, for Phases I and II respectively. The neutron production is measured as a function of the visible energy of the neutrino interaction and, for charged current quasielastic interaction candidates, also as a function of the neutrino energy. This study is also performed by classifying the complete sample into two pairs of event categories: charged current quasielastic and non charged current quasielastic, and νμ and νe. Results show good overall agreement between data and Monte Carlo for both phases, with some small tension with a statistical significance below 2σ for some intermediate energies.
                      Cover page: Measurement of neutron production in atmospheric neutrino interactions at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory
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