H. Courant

The Atmospheric Neutrino Flavor Ratio from a 3.9 Fiducial Kiloton-Year Exposure of Soudan 2

Abstract We report a measurement of the atmospheric neutrino flavor ratio, R, using a sample of quasi-elastic neutrino interactions occurring in an iron medium. The flavor ratio (tracks/showers) of atmospheric neutrinos in a 3.9 fiducial kiloton-year exposure of Soudan 2 is 0.64±0.11(stat.)±0.06(syst.) of that expected. Important aspects of our main analysis have been checked by carrying out two independent, alternative analyses; one is based upon automated scanning, the other uses a multivariate approach for background subtraction. Similar results are found by all three approaches.

Measurement of the atmospheric neutrino flavour composition in Soudan 2

Abstract The atmospheric neutrino flavour ratio measured using a 1.52 kton-year exposure of Soudan 2 is found to be 0.72 ± 0.19−0.07+0.05 relative to the expected value from a Monte Carlo calculation. The possible background of interactions of neutrons and photons produced in muon interactions in the rock surrounding the detector has been investigated and is shown not to produce low values of the ratio.

Measurement of the L/E distributions of atmospheric neutrinos in Soudan 2 and their interpretation as neutrino oscillations

The effects of oscillations of atmospheric muon neutrinos are observed in the 5.90 fiducial kiloton-year exposure of the Soudan 2 detector. An unbinned maximum likelihood analysis of the neutrino L/E distribution has been carried out using the Feldman-Cousins prescription. The probability of the no oscillation hypothesis is 5.8x10-4. The 90% confidence allowed region in the sin**(2theta), Delta m**2 plane is presented.

Neutrino oscillation effects in Soudan-2 upward-stopping muons

Upward-going stopping muons initiated by atmospheric {nu}{sub {mu}} and {nu}{sub {mu}} interactions in the rock below the Soudan 2 detector have been isolated, together with a companion sample of neutrino-induced single muons, created within the detector, which travel downwards and exit. The downward-going sample is consistent with the atmospheric-neutrino flux prediction, but the upward-going sample exhibits a sizable depletion. Both are consistent with previously reported Soudan 2 neutrino-oscillation results. Inclusion of the two samples in an all-event likelihood analysis, using recent 3D-atmospheric-neutrino-flux calculations, reduces both the allowed oscillation parameter region and the probability of the no-oscillation hypothesis.

Nuclear transparency in 90°c.m. quasielastic A(p, 2p) reactions

nuclear transparency deuterons were studied. Second, we review the techniques used in an earlier experiment, E834, and show that the two experiments are consistent for the carbon data. E834 also determines the nuclear transparencies for lithium, aluminum, copper, and lead nuclei as well as for carbon. A determination of the sp + , p + pd transparencies is also reported. We find for both E850 and E834 that the Asp ,2 pd nuclear transparency, unlike that for Ase , e8pd nuclear transparency, is incompatible with a constant value versus energy as predicted by Glauber calculations. The Asp ,2 pd nuclear transparency for carbon and aluminum increases by a factor of two between 5.9 and 9.5 GeV/c incident proton momentum. At its peak the Asp ,2 pd nuclear transparency is ,80% of the constant Ase , e8pd nuclear transparency. Then the nuclear transparency falls back to a value at least as small as that at 5.9 GeV/ c, and is compatible with the Glauber level again. This oscillating behavior is generally interpreted as an interplay between two components of the pN scattering amplitude; one short ranged and perturbative, and the other long ranged and strongly absorbed in the nuclear medium. A study of the A dependent nuclear transparency indicates that the effective cross section varies with incident momentum and is considerably smaller than the free pN cross section. We suggest a number of experiments for further studies of nuclear transparency effects.

Search for neutron anti-neutron oscillations using multiprong events in Soudan 2

We have searched for neutron-antineutron oscillations using the 5.56 fiducial kiloton-year exposure of the Soudan 2 iron tracking calorimeter. We require candidate n-nbar occurrences to have .GE. 4 prongs (tracks and showers) and to have kinematics compatible with nbar-N annihilation within a nucleus. We observe five candidate events, with an estimated background from atmospheric neutrino and cosmic ray induced events of 4.5 \pm 1.2 events. Previous experiments with smaller exposures observed no candidates, with estimated background rates similar to this experiment. We set a lifetime lower limit for oscillation time in iron: T_A(Fe) > 7.2x10^{31} years. The corresponding lower limit for oscillation of free neutrons is \tau_{n-nbar} > 1.3x10^8 seconds.

Study of cosmic ray composition in the knee region using multiple muon events in the Soudan 2 detector

Deep underground muon events recorded by the Soudan 2 detector, located at a depth of 2100 m of water equivalent, have been used to infer the nuclear composition of cosmic rays in the ``knee`` region of the cosmic ray energy spectrum. The observed muon multiplicity distribution favors a composition model with a substantial proton content in the energy region 8{times}10{sup 5}{endash}1.3{times}10{sup 7} GeV/nucleus. {copyright} {ital 1997} {ital The American Physical Society}

The SOUDAN 2 detector: The design and construction of the tracking calorimeter modules

SOUDAN 2 is a 960-ton tracking calorimeter which has been constructed to search for nucleon decay and other phenomena. The full detector consists of 224 calorimeter modules each weighing 4.3 tons. The design and construction of the modules are described. The modules consist of finely segmented iron instrumented with 1 m long drift tubes of 15 mm internal diameter. The tubes enable three spatial coordinates and dE/dx to be recorded for charged particles traversing the tubes.

The large momentum transfer reaction 12C(p,2p + n) as a new method for measuring short range NN correlations in nuclei

Abstract The reaction 12 C( p ,2 p + n ) was measured for momentum transfers of 4.8 and 6.2 (GeV/c) 2 at beam momenta of 5.9 and 7.5 GeV/c. We measured the quasi-elastic reaction ( p ,2 p ) at θ cm ⋍ 90°, in a kinematically complete measurement. The neutron momentum was measured in triple coincidence with the two emerging high momentum protons. We present the correlation between the momenta of the struck target proton and the neutron. The events are associated with the high momentum components of the nuclear wave function. We present sparse data which, combined with a quasi elastic description of the ( p ,2 p ) reaction and kinematical arguments, point to a novel way for isolating two-nucleon short range correlations.

Differential cross sections for p-4 He elastic scattering at GeV energies

Abstract We have measured the differential cross section for p- 4 He elastic scattering at proton kinetic energies of 0.56, 0.80, 1.03, 1.27 and 1.73 GeV in a range of four-momentum transfer squared between 0.006 and 1.2 (GeV/ c ) 2 . The cross section has the usual diffraction minimum which decreases in depth with increasing energy. This data is consistent with contemporaneous data from Berkeley, but disagrees, particularly in the normalization, with earlier data from Brookhaven and Saclay.