Measurement of neutrino oscillations with the MINOS detectors in the NuMI beam

Creators: Adamson, P.; Andreopoulos, C.; Arms, K. E.; Armstrong, R.; Auty, D. J.; Ayres, D. S.; Baller, B.; Barnes, P. D., Jr.; Barr, G.; Barrett, W. L.; Becker, B. R.; Belias, A.; Bernstein, R. H.; Bhattacharya, D.; Bishai, M.; Blake, A.; Bock, G. J.; Boehm, J.; Boehnlein, D. J.; Bogert, D.; Bower, C.; Buckley-Geer, E.; Cavanaugh, S.; Chapman, J. D.; Cherdack, D.; Childress, S.; Choudhary, B. C.; Cobb, J. H.; Coleman, S. J.; Culling, A. J.; de Jong, J. K.; Dierckxsens, M.; Diwan, M. V.; Dorman, M.; Dytman, S. A.; Escobar, C. O.; Evans, J. J.; Harris, E. Falk; Feldman, G. J.; Frohne, M. V.; Gallagher, H. R.; Godley, A.; Goodman, M. C.; Gouffon, P.; Gran, R.; Grashorn, E. W.; Grossman, N.; Grzelak, K.; Habig, A.; Harris, D.; Harris, P. G.; Hartnell, J.; Hatcher, R.; Heller, K.; Himmel, A.; Holin, A.; Hylen, J.; Irwin, G. M.; Ishitsuka, M.; Jaffe, D. E.; James, C.; Jensen, D.; Kafka, T.; Kasahara, S. M. S.; Kim, J. J.; Kim, M. S.; Koizumi, G.; Kopp, S.; Kordosky, M.; Koskinen, D. J.; Kotelnikov, S. K.; Kreymer, A.; Kumaratunga, S.; Lang, K.; Ling, J.; Litchfield, P. J.; Litchfield, R. P.; Loiacono, L.; Lucas, P.; Ma, J.; Mann, W. A.; Marchionni, A.; Marshak, M. L.; Marshall, J. S.; Mayer, N.; McGowan, A. M.; Meier, J. R.; Merzon, G. I.; Messier, M. D.; Metelko, C. J.; Michael, D. G.; Miller, J. L.; Miller, W. H.; Mishra, S. R.; Moore, C. D.; Morfín, J.; Mualem, L.; Mufson, S.; Murgia, S.; Musser, J.; Naples, D.; Nelson, J. K.; Newman, H. B.; Nichol, R. J.; Nicholls, T. C.; Ochoa-Ricoux, J. P.; Oliver, W. P.; Ospanov, R.; Paley, J.; Paolone, V.; Para, A.; Patzak, T.; Pavlović, Z.; Pawloski, G.; Pearce, G. F.; Peck, C. W.; Peterson, E. A.; Petyt, D. A.; Pittam, R.; Plunkett, R. K.; Rahaman, A.; Rameika, R. A.; Raufer, T. M.; Rebel, B.; Reichenbacher, J.; Rodrigues, P. A.; Rosenfeld, C.; Rubin, H. A.; Ruddick, K.; Ryabov, V. A.; Sanchez, M. C.; Saoulidou, N.; Schneps, J.; Schreiner, P.; Seun, S.-M.; Shanahan, P.; Smart, W.; Smith, C.; Sousa, A.; Speakman, B.; Stamoulis, P.; Strait, M.; Symes, P.; Tagg, N.; Talaga, R. L.; Tavera, M. A.; Thomas, J.; Thompson, J.; Thomson, M. A.; Thron, J. L.; Tinti, G.; Trostin, I.; Tsarev, V. A.; Tzanakos, G.; Urheim, J.; Vahle, P.; Viren, B.; Ward, C. P.; Ward, D. R.; Watabe, M.; Weber, A.; Webb, C.; Wehmann, A.; West, N.; White, C.; Wojcicki, S. G.; Wright, D. M.; Yang, T.; Zois, M.; Zhang, K.; Zwaska, R.

Abstract

This Letter reports new results from the MINOS experiment based on a two-year exposure to muon neutrinos from the Fermilab NuMI beam. Our data are consistent with quantum-mechanical oscillations of neutrino flavor with mass splitting |Δm^2|=(2.43±0.13)×10^-3 eV^2 (68% C.L.) and mixing angle sin^2(2θ)>0.90 (90% C.L.). Our data disfavor two alternative explanations for the disappearance of neutrinos in flight: namely, neutrino decays into lighter particles and quantum decoherence of neutrinos, at the 3.7 and 5.7 standard-deviation levels, respectively.

Additional Information

© 2008 The American Physical Society. Received 13 June 2008; published 26 September 2008. This work was supported by the U.S. DOE, the U.K. STFC, the U.S. NSF, the State and University of Minnesota, the University of Athens, Greece, and Brazil's FAPESP and CNPq. We are grateful to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the crew of the Soudan Underground Laboratory, and the staff of Fermilab for their contribution to this effort.

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