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Register a new userMeasurement of the neutrino velocity with the OPERA detector in the CNGS beam using the 2012 dedicated data
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In spring 2012 CERN provided two weeks of a short bunch proton beam dedicated to the neutrino velocity measurement over a distance of 730 km. The OPERA neutrino experiment at the underground Gran Sasso Laboratory used an upgraded setup compared to the 2011 measurements, improving the measurement time accuracy. An independent timing system based on the Resistive Plate Chambers was exploited providing a time accuracy of $sim$1 ns. Neutrino and anti-neutrino contributions were separated using the information provided by the OPERA magnetic spectrometers. The new analysis profited from the precision geodesy measurements of the neutrino baseline and of the CNGS/LNGS clock synchronization. The neutrino arrival time with respect to the one computed assuming the speed of light in vacuum is found to be $delta t_ u equiv TOF_c - TOF_ u= (0.6 pm 0.4 (stat.) pm 3.0 (syst.))$ ns and $delta t_{bar{ u}} equiv TOF_c - TOF_{bar{ u}} = (1.7 pm 1.4 (stat.) pm 3.1 (syst.))$ ns for $ u_{mu}$ and $bar{ u}_{mu}$, respectively. This corresponds to a limit on the muon neutrino velocity with respect to the speed of light of $-1.8 times 10^{-6} < (v_{ u}-c)/c < 2.3 times 10^{-6}$ at 90% C.L. This new measurement confirms with higher accuracy the revised OPERA result.
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The OPERA neutrino experiment at the underground Gran Sasso Laboratory has measured the velocity of neutrinos from the CERN CNGS beam over a baseline of about 730 km. The measurement is based on data taken by OPERA in the years 2009, 2010 and 2011. Dedicated upgrades of the CNGS timing system and of the OPERA detector, as well as a high precision geodesy campaign for the measurement of the neutrino baseline, allowed reaching comparable systematic and statistical accuracies. An arrival time of CNGS muon neutrinos with respect to the one computed assuming the speed of light in vacuum of (6.5 +/- 7.4(stat.)((+8.3)(-8.0)sys.))ns was measured corresponding to a relative difference of the muon neutrino velocity with respect to the speed of light (v-c)/c =(2.7 +/-3.1(stat.)((+3.4)(-3.3)(sys.))x10^(-6). The above result, obtained by comparing the time distributions of neutrino interactions and of protons hitting the CNGS target in 10.5 microseconds long extractions, was confirmed by a test performed at the end of 2011 using a short bunch beam allowing to measure the neutrino time of flight at the single interaction level.
The CERN-SPS accelerator has been briefly operated in a new, lower intensity neutrino mode with ~10^12 p.o.t. /pulse and with a beam structure made of four LHC-like extractions, each with a narrow width of 3 ns, separated by 524 ns. This very tightly bunched beam structure represents a substantial progress with respect to the ordinary operation of the CNGS beam, since it allows a very accurate time-of-flight measurement of neutrinos from CERN to LNGS on an event-to-event basis. The ICARUS T600 detector has collected 7 beam-associated events, consistent with the CNGS delivered neutrino flux of 2.2 10^16 p.o.t. and in agreement with the well known characteristics of neutrino events in the LAr-TPC. The time of flight difference between the speed of light and the arriving neutrino LAr-TPC events has been analysed. The result is compatible with the simultaneous arrival of all events with equal speed, the one of light. This is in a striking difference with the reported result of OPERA that claimed that high energy neutrinos from CERN should arrive at LNGS about 60 ns earlier than expected from luminal speed.
The OPERA experiment is designed to search for $ u_{mu} rightarrow u_{tau}$ oscillations in appearance mode i.e. through the direct observation of the $tau$ lepton in $ u_{tau}$ charged current interactions. The experiment has taken data for five years, since 2008, with the CERN Neutrino to Gran Sasso beam. Previously, two $ u_{tau}$ candidates with a $tau$ decaying into hadrons were observed in a sub-sample of data of the 2008-2011 runs. Here we report the observation of a third $ u_tau$ candidate in the $tau^-tomu^-$ decay channel coming from the analysis of a sub-sample of the 2012 run. Taking into account the estimated background, the absence of $ u_{mu} rightarrow u_{tau}$ oscillations is excluded at the 3.4 $sigma$ level.
The OPERA experiment has conclusively observed the appearance of tau neutrinos in the muon neutrino CNGS beam. Exploiting the OPERA detector capabilities, it was possible to isolate high purity samples of $ u_{e}$, $ u_{mu}$ and $ u_{tau}$ charged current weak neutrino interactions, as well as neutral current weak interactions. In this Letter, the full dataset is used for the first time to test the three-flavor neutrino oscillation model and to derive constraints on the existence of a light sterile neutrino within the framework of the $3+1$ neutrino model. For the first time, tau and electron neutrino appearance channels are jointly used to test the sterile neutrino hypothesis. A significant fraction of the sterile neutrino parameter space allowed by LSND and MiniBooNE experiments is excluded at 90% C.L. In particular, the best-fit values obtained by MiniBooNE combining neutrino and antineutrino data are excluded at 3.3 $sigma$ significance.
OPERA is a long-baseline experiment designed to search for $ u_{mu}to u_{tau}$ oscillations in appearance mode. It was based at the INFN Gran Sasso laboratory (LNGS) and took data from 2008 to 2012 with the CNGS neutrino beam from CERN. After the discovery of $ u_tau$ appearance in 2015, with $5.1sigma$ significance, the criteria to select $ u_tau$ candidates have been extended and a multivariate approach has been used for events identification. In this way the statistical uncertainty in the measurement of the oscillation parameters and of $ u_tau$ properties has been improved. Results are reported.
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