Accelerator Neutrino Neutron Interaction Experiment (ANNIE): Preliminary Results and Physics Phase Proposal

TL;DR

ANNIE is a neutrino experiment at Fermilab focusing on neutron production in neutrino-nucleus interactions and testing new detector technologies, with initial results from its first phase and plans for a more advanced second phase.

Contribution

It provides preliminary results from the first phase of ANNIE and details the detector upgrades planned for the subsequent physics phase.

Findings

Initial neutron background measurements obtained

Detector design upgrades outlined for Phase II

Preliminary results support future physics measurements

Abstract

The R&D mission of the Accelerator Neutrino Neutron Interaction Experiment (ANNIE) is described in detail. ANNIE is: (1) an important measurement of neutrino-nucleus interactions focusing specifically on neutron production, and (2) an R&D effort focused on using new photodetector technology and chemical additives to make advanced water-base neutrino detectors. The ANNIE experiment consists of a small Water Cherenkov detector, instrumented with both conventional photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) and Large Area Picosecond Photodetectors (LAPPDs) deployed on the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) at Fermilab. The experiment is designed to proceed in two stages: a partially-instrumented test-beam run using only PMTs (Phase I) for the purpose of measuring critical neutron backgrounds to the experiment; and a physics run with a fully-instrumented detector (Phase II). This paper gives preliminary results of the first phase and described the detector design upgrades necessary for the next phase.