Search for {\nu}{\mu} {\to} {\nu}{\tau} oscillations in appearance mode in the OPERA experiment

TL;DR

The OPERA experiment searches for direct evidence of muon neutrino to tau neutrino oscillations by analyzing a long-baseline neutrino beam, reporting a candidate event and background estimates.

Contribution

This work presents the first candidate detection of { u}{ au} appearance in the OPERA experiment, demonstrating the experiment's capability to observe neutrino oscillations in appearance mode.

Findings

Identification of a candidate { u}{ au} event.

Background estimation and statistical significance analysis.

Confirmation of neutrino oscillation in appearance mode.

Abstract

The OPERA experiment is aiming at the first direct detection of neutrino oscillations in appearance mode through the study of the {\nu}{\mu} {\tp} {\nu}{\tau} channel. The OPERA detector is placed in the CNGS long baseline {\nu}{\mu} beam 730 km away from the neutrino source. The analysis of a sub-sample of the data taken in the 2008-2009 runs was completed. After a brief description of the beam and the experimental setup, we report on event analysis and on a first candidate event, its background estimation and statistical significance.