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This paper reviews the results of the LSND and MiniBooNE experiments. The primary goal of each experiment was to effect sensitive searches for neutrino oscillations in the mass region with $Delta m^2 sim 1$ eV$^2$. The two experiments are complementary, and so the comparison of results can bring additional information with respect to models with sterile neutrinos. Both experiments obtained evidence for $bar u_mu rightarrow bar u_e$ oscillations, and MiniBooNE also observed a $ u_mu rightarrow u_e$ excess. In this paper, we review the design, analysis, and results from these experiments. We then consider the results within the global context of sterile neutrino oscillation models. The final data sets require a more extended model than the simple single sterile neutrino model imagined at the time that LSND drew to a close and MiniBooNE began. We show that there are apparent incompatibilities between data sets in models with two sterile neutrinos. However, these incompatibilities may be explained with variations within the systematic error. Overall, models with two (or three) sterile neutrinos seem to succeed in fitting the global data, and they make interesting predictions for future experiments.
This article presents the compatibility of experimental data from neutrino oscillation experiments with a high-$dmsq$ two-neutrino oscillation hypothesis. Data is provided by the Bugey, Karlsruhe Rutherford Medium Energy Neutrino Experiment 2 (KARMEN2), Los Alamos Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector (LSND), and MiniBooNE experiments. The LSND, KARMEN2, and MiniBooNE results are 25.36% compatible within a two-neutrino oscillation hypothesis. However, the point of maximal compatibility is found in a region that is excluded by the Bugey data. A joint analysis of all four experiments, performed in the $sinsqtheta mathrm{vs} dmsq$ region common to all data, finds a maximal compatibility of 3.94%. This result does not account for additions to the neutrino oscillation model from sources such as CP violation or sterile neutrinos.
A proposal submitted to the FNAL PAC is described to search for light sub-GeV WIMP dark matter at MiniBooNE. The possibility to steer the beam past the target and into an absorber leads to a significant reduction in neutrino background, allowing for a sensitive search for elastic scattering of WIMPs off nucleons or electrons in the detector. Dark matter models involving a vector mediator can be probed in a parameter region consistent with the required thermal relic density, and which overlaps the region in which these models can resolve the muon g-2 discrepancy. Estimates of signal significance are presented for various operational modes and parameter points. The experimental approach outlined for applying MiniBooNE to a light WIMP search may also be applicable to other neutrino facilities.
We show that one of the simplest extensions of the Standard Model, the addition of a second Higgs doublet, when combined with a dark sector singlet scalar, allows us to: $i)$ explain the long-standing anomalies in the Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector (LSND) and MiniBooNE (MB) while maintaining compatibility with the null result from KARMEN, $ii)$ obtain, in the process, a portal to the dark sector, and $iii)$ comfortably account for the observed value of the muon $g-2$. Three singlet neutrinos allow for an understanding of observed neutrino mass-squared differences via a Type I seesaw, with two of the lighter states participating in the interaction in both LSND and MB. We obtain very good fits to energy and angular distributions in both experiments. We explain features of the solution presented here and discuss the constraints that our model must satisfy. We also mention prospects for future tests of its particle content.
The MiniBooNE Collaboration reports first results of a search for $ u_e$ appearance in a $ u_mu$ beam. With two largely independent analyses, we observe no significant excess of events above background for reconstructed neutrino energies above 475 MeV. The data are consistent with no oscillations within a two neutrino appearance-only oscillation model.
The MiniBooNE Experiment has contributed substantially to beyond standard model searches in the neutrino sector. The experiment was originally designed to test the $Delta m^2$~1 eV$^2$ region of the sterile neutrino hypothesis by observing $ u_e$ ($bar u_e$) charged current quasi-elastic signals from a $ u_mu$ ($bar u_mu$) beam. MiniBooNE observed excesses of $ u_e$ and $bar u_e$-candidate events in neutrino and anti-neutrino mode, respectively. To date, these excesses have not been explained within the neutrino Standard Model ($ u$SM), the Standard Model extended for three massive neutrinos. Confirmation is required by future experiments such as MicroBooNE. MiniBooNE also provided an opportunity for precision studies of Lorentz violation. The results set strict limits for the first time on several parameters of the Standard Model-Extension, the generic formalism for considering Lorentz violation. Most recently, an extension to MiniBooNE running, with a beam tuned in beam-dump mode, is being performed to search for dark sector particles. This review describes these studies, demonstrating that short baseline neutrino experiments are rich environments in new physics searches.