Neutrino Oscillations with MINOS and MINOS+

TL;DR

This paper reports the most precise measurement of atmospheric neutrino oscillation parameters from the MINOS experiment, and discusses ongoing and future analyses with MINOS+ data to test the standard model and search for new physics.

Contribution

It provides the most precise measurement of dm^2_32 and theta_23, and demonstrates the consistency of MINOS+ results with previous findings, enhancing understanding of neutrino oscillations.

Findings

Precise measurement of |dm^2_32| and sin^2θ_23 in both hierarchies.

MINOS+ results consistent with MINOS, confirming oscillation parameters.

Future data will improve sensitivity to exotic phenomena.

Abstract

The MINOS experiment ran from 2003 until 2012 and collected a data sample including 10.71x10^20 protons-on-target (POT) of beam neutrinos, 3.36x10^20 POT of beam antineutrinos and an atmospheric neutrino exposure of 37.88 kt-yrs. The final measurement of the atmospheric neutrino oscillation parameters, dm^2_32 and theta_23, came from a full three flavour oscillation analysis of the combined CC nu_mu and CC anti-nu_mu beam and atmospheric samples and the CC nu_e and CC anti-nu_e appearance samples. This analysis yielded the most precise measurement of the atmospheric mass splitting dm^2_32 performed to date. The results are |dm^2_32|=[2.28 - 2.46]x10^-3 eV^2 (68\%) and sin^{2}theta_23=0.35-0.65$ (90\%) in the normal hierarchy, and |dm^2_32|=[2.32 - 2.53]x10^-3 eV^2 (68\%) and sin^{2}theta_23=0.34-0.67 (90\%) in the inverted hierarchy. The successor to MINOS in the NOvA era at FNAL, MINOS+, is now collecting data mostly in the 3-10 GeV region, and an analysis of nu_mu disappearance using the first 2.99x10^20 POT of data produced results very consistent with those from MINOS. Future data will further test the standard neutrino oscillation paradigm and allow for improved searches for exotic phenomena including sterile neutrinos, large extra dimensions and non-standard interactions.