Testing Lorentz Invariance and CPT Conservation with NuMI Neutrinos in the MINOS Near Detector

TL;DR

This study searched for sidereal variations in neutrino data from the MINOS near detector to test Lorentz and CPT invariance, finding no evidence of violation and setting upper limits on such effects.

Contribution

It provides the first experimental constraints on Lorentz and CPT violation using neutrino data from the MINOS near detector.

Findings

No sidereal modulation detected in neutrino data.

Upper limits on Lorentz and CPT violating terms between 0.01-1%.

Constraints are consistent with Standard Model predictions.

Abstract

A search for a sidereal modulation in the MINOS near detector neutrino data was performed. If present, this signature could be a consequence of Lorentz and CPT violation as predicted by a class of extensions to the Standard Model. No evidence for a sidereal signal in the data set was found, implying that there is no significant change in neutrino propagation that depends on the direction of the neutrino beam in a sun-centered inertial frame. Upper limits on the magnitudes of the Lorentz and CPT violating terms in these extensions to the Standard Model lie between 0.01-1% of the maximum expected, assuming a suppression of these signatures by factor of $10^{-17}$. \