Measurement of the electron-neutrino component of the T2K beam and search for electron-neutrino disappearance at the T2K Near Detector

Abstract

The T2K experiment is a long baseline neutrino experiment that has observed for first time the appearance of electron-neutrinos in a muon-neutrino beam. Thanks to this analysis, the last unknown neutrino mixing angle q13 is measured with a good precision. The main background to this measurement is the contamination of electron-neutrinos produced in the neutrino beam together with the dominant muon-neutrino component. This is an irreducible component that needs to be measured and controlled. The prediction of this component at SuperKamiokande is based on the constrain of the neutrino flux and cross sections by a muon-neutrino selection at the T2K near detector ND280. To confirm this prediction, we measure the electron-neutrino event rates at ND280 before the oscillations occur, establishing that the electron-neutrino component is correctly reproduced by the simulation at the 10% level. In addition, studying the electron-neutrino component is interesting to investigate the abnormal behaviour of some neutrino experiments. The reactor neutrino experiments as well as the results from calibration with radioactive sources in solar neutrino experiment with gallium have observed a deficit of electron-neutrino at very short distances from the neutrino source. This depletion is not compatible with standard neutrino oscillation, but it can be explained by invoking a fourth neutrino with a mass of the order of 1eV². This neutrino does not feel any force of the Standard Model and hence is called sterile neutrino. Assuming that it mixes with the electron-neutrinos, it would be responsible of the short base-line electron-neutrino disappearance due to neutrino oscillation. The T2K near detector is located at a position short enough to study the light sterile neutrino oscillations. The neutrino model with an additional sterile neutrino apart from the three active species is tested and some constraints to the oscillation parameters are set and compared with the literature.

Date of Award	18 Jul 2014
Original language	English
Supervisor	Federico Joaquin Sanchez Nieto (Director), C. Giganti (Director) & Enrique Fernandez Sanchez (Tutor)