L. N. Kalousis

Numerical implementation of lepton-nucleus interactions and its effect on neutrino oscillation analysis

We discuss the implementation of the nuclear model based on realistic nuclear spectral functions in the GENIE neutrino interaction generator. Besides improving on the Fermi gas description of the nuclear ground state, our scheme involves a new prescription for Q2 selection, meant to efficiently enforce energy-momentum conservation. The results of our simulations, validated through comparison to electron scattering data, have been obtained for a variety of target nuclei, ranging from carbon to argon, and cover the kinematical region in which quasielastic scattering is the dominant reaction mechanism. We also analyze the influence of the adopted nuclear model on the determination of neutrino oscillation parameters.

Cosmic muon flux measurements at the Kimballton Underground Research Facility

In this article, the results from a series of muon flux measurements conducted at the Kimballton Underground Research Facility (KURF), Virginia, United States, are presented. The detector employed for these investigations, is made of plastic scintillator bars readout by wavelength shifting fibers and multianode photomultiplier tubes. Data was taken at several locations inside KURF, spanning rock overburden values from ~ 200 to 1450 m.w.e. From the extracted muon rates an empirical formula was devised, that estimates the muon flux inside the mine as a function of the overburden. The results are in good agreement with muon flux calculations based on analytical models and MUSIC.