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The Cryogenic Apparatus for Precision Tests of Argon Interactions with Neutrino (CAP- TAIN) program is designed to make measurements of scientific importance to long-baseline neutrino physics and physics topics that will be explored by large underground detectors. The CAPTAIN detector is a liquid argon TPC deployed in a portable and evacuable cryostat. Five tons of liquid argon are instrumented with a 2,000 channel liquid argon TPC and a photon detection system. Subsequent to the commissioning phase, the detector will collect data in a high-energy neutron beamline that is part of the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center to measure cross-sections of spallation products that are backgrounds to measurements of neutrinos from a supernova burst, cross-sections of events that mimic the electron neutrino appearance signal in long-baseline neutrino physics and neutron signatures to constrain neutrino energy reconstruction in LBNEs long-baseline program. Subsequent to the neutron running, the CAPTAIN detector will be moved to a neutrino source. Two possibilities are an on-axis run in the NuMI beamline at FNAL and a run in the neutrino source produced by the SNS. An on-axis run at NuMI produces more than one million events of interest in a two or three year run at neutrino energies between 1 and 10 GeV - complementary to the MicroBooNE experiment, which will measure similar interactions at a lower energy range - 0.5 to 2 GeV. At the SNS the neutrinos result from the decays stopped positively charged pions and muons yielding a broad spectrum up to 50 MeV. If located close to the spallation target, CAPTAIN can detect several thousand events per year in the same neutrino energy regime where neutrinos from a supernova burst are. Measurements at the SNS yield a first measurement of the cross- section of neutrinos on argon in this important energy regime.
The Precision Reactor Oscillation and Spectrum Experiment, PROSPECT, is designed to make a precise measurement of the antineutrino spectrum from a highly-enriched uranium reactor and probe eV-scale sterile neutrinos by searching for neutrino oscillations over meter-long distances. PROSPECT is conceived as a 2-phase experiment utilizing segmented $^6$Li-doped liquid scintillator detectors for both efficient detection of reactor antineutrinos through the inverse beta decay reaction and excellent background discrimination. PROSPECT Phase I consists of a movable 3-ton antineutrino detector at distances of 7 - 12 m from the reactor core. It will probe the best-fit point of the $ u_e$ disappearance experiments at 4$sigma$ in 1 year and the favored region of the sterile neutrino parameter space at $>$3$sigma$ in 3 years. With a second antineutrino detector at 15 - 19 m from the reactor, Phase II of PROSPECT can probe the entire allowed parameter space below 10 eV$^{2}$ at 5$sigma$ in 3 additional years. The measurement of the reactor antineutrino spectrum and the search for short-baseline oscillations with PROSPECT will test the origin of the spectral deviations observed in recent $theta_{13}$ experiments, search for sterile neutrinos, and conclusively address the hypothesis of sterile neutrinos as an explanation of the reactor anomaly.
This contribution to LCWS2016 presents recent developments within the CLICdp collaboration. An updated scenario for the staged operation of CLIC has been published; the accelerator will operate at 380 GeV, 1.5 TeV and 3 TeV. The lowest energy stage is optimised for precision Higgs and top physics, while the higher energy stages offer extended Higgs and BSM physics sensitivity. The detector models CLIC_SiD and CLIC_ILD have been replaced by a single optimised detector; CLICdet. Performance studies and R&D in technologies to meet the requirements for this detector design are ongoing.
This manuscript describes the commissioning of the Mini-CAPTAIN liquid argon detector in a neutron beam at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE), which led to a first measurement of high-energy neutron interactions in argon. The Mini-CAPTAIN detector consists of a Time Projection Chamber (TPC) with an accompanying photomultiplier tube (PMT) array sealed inside a liquid-argon-filled cryostat. The liquid argon is constantly purified and recirculated in a closed-loop cycle during operation. The specifications and assembly of the detector subsystems and an overview of their performance in a neutron beam are reported.
The large-volume liquid-scintillator detector LENA (Low Energy Neutrino Astronomy) has been proposed as a next-generation experiment for low-energy neutrinos. High-precision spectroscopy of solar, Supernova and geo-neutrinos provides a new access to the otherwise unobservable interiors of Earth, Sun and heavy stars. Due to the potent background discrimination, the detection of the Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background is expected for the first time in LENA. The sensitivity of the proton lifetime for the decay into Kaon and antineutrino will be increased by an order of magnitude over existing experimental limits. Recent studies indicate that liquid-scintillator detectors are capable to reconstruct neutrino events even at GeV energies, providing the opportunity to use LENA as far detector in a long-baseline neutrino beam experiment.
The discovery of the neutrino by Reines & Cowan in 1956 revolutionised our understanding of the universe at its most fundamental level and provided a new probe with which to explore the cosmos. Furthermore, it laid the groundwork for one of the most successful and widely used neutrino detection technologies to date: the liquid scintillator detector. In these detectors, the light produced by particle interactions propagates across transparent scintillator volumes to surrounding photo-sensors. This article introduces a new approach, called LiquidO, that breaks with the conventional paradigm of transparency by confining and collecting light near its creation point with an opaque scintillator and a dense array of fibres. The principles behind LiquidOs detection technique and the results of the first experimental validation are presented. The LiquidO technique provides high-resolution imaging that enables highly efficient identification of individual particles event-by-event. Additionally, the exploitation of an opaque medium gives LiquidO natural affinity for using dopants at unprecedented levels. With these and other capabilities, LiquidO has the potential to unlock new opportunities in neutrino physics, some of which are discussed here.