Updated MiniBooNE neutrino oscillation results with increased data and new background studies

Authors

A. A. Aguilar-Arevalo, Univ Nacl Autonoma Mexico, Inst Ciencias Nucl, Cdmx 04510, Mexico
B. C. Brown, Fermilab Natl Accelerator Lab, POB 500, Batavia, IL 60510 USA
J. M. Conrad, MIT, 77 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA
R. Dharmapalan, Univ Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 USA, Univ Hawaii Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822 USA
A. Diaz, MIT, 77 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA
Z. Djurcic, Argonne Natl Lab, 9700 S Cass Ave, Argonne, IL 60439 USA
D. A. Finley, Fermilab Natl Accelerator Lab, POB 500, Batavia, IL 60510 USA
R. Ford, Fermilab Natl Accelerator Lab, POB 500, Batavia, IL 60510 USA
G. T. Garvey, Los Alamos Natl Lab, Los Alamos, NM 87545 USA
S. Gollapinni, Los Alamos Natl Lab, Los Alamos, NM 87545 USA
A. Hourlier, MIT, 77 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA
E-C Huang, Los Alamos Natl Lab, Los Alamos, NM 87545 USA
N. W. Kamp, MIT, 77 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA
G. Karagiorgi, Columbia Univ, New York, NY 10027 USA
T. Katori, Kings Coll London, London WC2R 2LS, England
T. Kobilarcik, Fermilab Natl Accelerator Lab, POB 500, Batavia, IL 60510 USA
K. Lin, Los Alamos Natl Lab, Los Alamos, NM 87545 USA, Columbia Univ, New York, NY 10027 USA
W. C. Louis, Los Alamos Natl Lab, Los Alamos, NM 87545 USA
C. Mariani, Virginia Tech, Ctr Neutrino Phys, Blacksburg, VA 24061 USA
W. Marsh, Fermilab Natl Accelerator Lab, POB 500, Batavia, IL 60510 USA
G. B. Mills, Los Alamos Natl Lab, Los Alamos, NM 87545 USA
J. Mirabal-Martinez, Los Alamos Natl Lab, Los Alamos, NM 87545 USA
C. D. Moore, Fermilab Natl Accelerator Lab, POB 500, Batavia, IL 60510 USA
R. H. Nelson, Univ Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 USA
J. Nowak, Univ Lancaster, Lancaster L41 4YB, England
I Parmaksiz, Univ Texas Arlington, Arlington, TX 76019 USA
Z. Pavlovic, Fermilab Natl Accelerator Lab, POB 500, Batavia, IL 60510 USA
H. Ray, Univ Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611 USA
B. P. Roe, Univ Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 USA
A. D. Russell, Fermilab Natl Accelerator Lab, POB 500, Batavia, IL 60510 USA
A. Schneider, MIT, 77 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139 USA
M. H. Shaevitz, Columbia Univ, New York, NY 10027 USA
H. Siegel, Columbia Univ, New York, NY 10027 USA
J. Spitz, Univ Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 USA
I. Stancu, Univ Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 USA
R. Tayloe, Indiana Univ, Bloomington, IN 47405 USA
R. T. Thornton, Los Alamos Natl Lab, Los Alamos, NM 87545 USA
M. Tzanov, Univ Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 USA, Louisiana State Univ, Baton Rouge, LA 70803 USA
R. G. Van de Water, Los Alamos Natl Lab, Los Alamos, NM 87545 USA
D. H. White, Los Alamos Natl Lab, Los Alamos, NM 87545 USA
E. D. Zimmerman, Univ Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309 USA

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

3-8-2021

Abstract

The MiniBooNE experiment at Fermilab reports a total excess of 638.0 +/- 52.1(stat) +/- 122.2(syst) electronlike events from a data sample corresponding to 18.75 x 10(20) protons-on-target in neutrino mode, which is a 46% increase in the data sample with respect to previously published results and 11.27 x 10(20) protons-on-target in antineutrino mode. The overall significance of the excess, 4.8 sigma, is limited by systematic uncertainties, assumed to be Gaussian, as the statistical significance of the excess is 12.2 sigma. The additional statistics allow several studies to address questions on the source of the excess. First, we provide two-dimensional plots in visible energy and the cosine of the angle of the outgoing lepton, which can provide valuable input to models for the event excess. Second, we test whether the excess may arise from photons that enter the detector from external events or photons exiting the detector from pi(0) decays in two model independent ways. Beam timing information shows that almost all of the excess is in time with neutrinos that interact in the detector. The radius distribution shows that the excess is distributed throughout the volume, while tighter cuts on the fiducial volume increase the significance of the excess. The data likelihood ratio disfavors models that explain the event excess due to entering or exiting photons.

Publication Source (Journal or Book title)

PHYSICAL REVIEW D

Recommended Citation

Aguilar-Arevalo, A. A., Brown, B. C., Conrad, J. M., Dharmapalan, R., Diaz, A., Djurcic, Z., Finley, D. A., Ford, R., Garvey, G. T., Gollapinni, S., Hourlier, A., Huang, E., Kamp, N. W., Karagiorgi, G., Katori, T., Kobilarcik, T., Lin, K., Louis, W. C., Mariani, C., Marsh, W., Mills, G. B., Mirabal-Martinez, J., Moore, C. D., Nelson, R. H., Nowak, J., Parmaksiz, I., Pavlovic, Z., Ray, H., Roe, B. P., Russell, A. D., Schneider, A., Shaevitz, M. H., Siegel, H., Spitz, J., Stancu, I., Tayloe, R., Thornton, R. T., Tzanov, M., Van de Water, R. G., White, D. H., & Zimmerman, E. D. (2021). Updated MiniBooNE neutrino oscillation results with increased data and new background studies. PHYSICAL REVIEW D, 103 (5) https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.103.052002