M. Posiadala

The T2K Side Muon Range Detector (SMRD)

The T2K experiment is a long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment aiming to observe the appearance ofe in a �µ beam. The �µ beam is produced at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC), observed with the 295 km distant Super- Kamiokande Detector and monitored by a suite of near detectors at 280m from the proton target. The near detectors include a magnetized off-axis detector (ND280) which measures the un-oscillated neutrino flux and neutrino cross sections. The present paper describes the outermost component of ND280 which is a side muon range detector (SMRD) composed of scintillation counters with embedded wavelength shifting fibers and Multi-Pixel Photon Counter read-out. The components, performance and response of the SMRD are presented.

Scintillator counters with WLS fiber/MPPC readout for the side muon range detector (SMRD)of the T2K experiment

The T2K neutrino experiment at J-PARC uses a set of near detectors to measure the properties of an unoscillated neutrino beam and neutrino interaction cross-sections. One of the sub-detectors of the near-detector complex, the side muon range detector (SMRD), is described in the paper. The detector is designed to help measure the neutrino energy spectrum, to identify background and to calibrate the other detectors. The active elements of the SMRD consist of 0.7 cm thick extruded scintillator slabs inserted into air gaps of the UA1 magnet yokes. The readout of each scintillator slab is provided through a single WLS fiber embedded into a serpentine-shaped groove. Two Hamamatsu multi–pixel avalanche photodiodes (MPPCs) are coupled to both ends of the WLS fiber. This design allows us to achieve a high MIP detection efficiency of greater than 99%. A light yield of 25–50 p.e./MIP, a time resolution of about 1 ns and a spatial resolution along the slab better than 10 cm were obtained for the SMRD counters.

Charged pion spectra in proton—carbon interactions at 31 GeV/c

The NA61/SHINE experiment at CERN SPS measured charged pion spectra in p+C interactions at 31 GeV/c. These measurements are necessary to improve predictions of the neutrino flux for the T2K long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment in Japan. Presented analysis was based on the data collected during the first NA61/SHINE run in 2007 with an isotropic graphite target with a thickness of 4% of nuclear interaction length. Three different methods which were used in order to obtain π+ and π− spectra are introduced. Differential cross sections for negatively and positively charged pions are presented as a function of laboratory momentum in ten intervals of the laboratory polar angle up to 420 mrad.