18437847
Fluctuation studies and energy reconstruction in a segmented calorimeter
In order to better understand energy estimation of electromagnetic showers in segmented calorimeters, detailed Geant4 simulation studies of electromagnetic showers in the energy range 1-100 GeV in CsI have been performed. When sampled in layers of 1.99 cm thickness, corresponding to 1.08 radiation lengths, the energy fluctuations in the samples show distributions that vary significantly with depth. The energy distributions are similar for incident electrons and photons and were found to change systematically along the shower, varying little with the initial energy. Three probability distributions have been fitted to the data: negative binomial, log-normal and Gaussian distributions, none of which gives a good fit over the full shower length. The obtained parameterizations might be useful in the use of the maximum likelihood method for estimating the energy. Two methods for estimating the energy have also been studied. One method is based on fitting individual longitudinal shower profiles with a Gamma-function, the other one corrects the measured energy for leakage by utilizing the energy deposited in the last layer. Our simulations indicate that the last-layer correction method applied to photons and electrons of 1 and 10 GeV gives about a factor of 2 improvement in the energy resolution.
15402465
Coverage of Confidence Intervals for Poisson Statistics in Presence of Systematic Uncertainties
Coverage of Confidence Intervals for Poisson Statistics in Presence of Systematic Uncertainties
118516643
Anisotropies in the diffuse gamma-ray background from dark matter with Fermi LAT: a closer look
This thesis addresses the isotropic diffuse gamma-ray background, as measured by the Fermi gamma ray space telescope, and its implications for indirect detection of dark matter. We describe the measurement of the isotropic background, including also an alternative analysis method besides the one published by the Fermi-LAT collaboration. The measured isotropic diffuse background is compatible with a power law differential energy spectrum with a spectral index of -2.41 ± 0.05 and -2.39 ± 0.08, for the two analysis methods respectively. This is a softer spectrum than previously reported by the EGRET experiment. This rules out any dominant contribution with a significantly different shape, e.g. from dark matter, in the energy range 20 MeV to 102.4 GeV. Instead we present upper limits on a signal originating from annihilating dark matter of extragalactic origin. The uncertainty in the dark matter signal is primarily dependent on the cosmological evolution of the dark matter distribution. We use recent N-body simulations of structure formation, as well as a semi-analytical calculation, to assess this uncertainty. We investigate three main annihilation channels and find that in some, but not in all, of our scenarios we can start to probe, and sometimes rule out, interesting parameter spaces of particle physics models beyond the standard model.We also investigate the possibility to use the angular anisotropies of the annihilation signal to separate it from a background originating from conventional sources, e.g. from active galactic nuclei. By carefully modelling the performance of the Fermi gamma-ray space telescope and galactic foregrounds we find that this method could be as sensitive as using information from the energy spectrum only.
119762445
A search for neutrinos from Cosmic Point Sources using AMANDA-B10 with Emphasis on Limit Calculation Techniques
A search for cosmic point sources of neutrinos has been performed using data taken in 1999 with the AMANDA-B10 neutrino telescope. This work describes methods for signal and background separation and the statistical analysis of the final data sample. In particular, the multivariate method Support Vector Machines has been applied to achieve good background rejection while at the same time retaining high signal efficiency. A grid search covering the complete northern hemisphere revealed no statistical significant excess of events over the expected background from mis-reconstructed cosmic ray induced muons and muons induced by atmospheric neutrinos. Thus, no cosmic point sources of neutrinos have been detected. Upper limits on the neutrino flux for each cell of the grid are presented.Twenty potential sources of neutrinos chosen among three classes of astronomical objects (Blazars, Super Nova Remnants and Microquasars) have been preselected. Upper Limits on the flux of cosmic neutrinos from those are presented.The presence of systematic uncertainties makes the calculation of confidence limits an intricate problem. A method is presented which makes it possible to include these uncertainties into the frequentist construction of confidence intervals. Statistical properties of the presented method have been studied.
121929544
Recent Results from the AMANDA Experiment
AMANDA (Antarctic Muon And Neutrino Detector Array) is a neutrino telescope built under the southern polar icecap and its scope is to explore the possibility to detect high energy cosmic neutrinos. This should generate insight into the powerful celestial objects where acceleration mechanisms can bring up to 10 20 eV. We describe the achievements and results from the AMANDA-B10 prototype and the preliminary results from the current AMANDA-II detector which show dramatic increase in sensitivity.
14126312
Discovery and Upper Limits in Search for Exotic Physics with Neutrino Telescopes
This note gives a short review of the statistical issues concerning upper limit calculation and claiming of discovery arising in the search for exotic physics with neutrino telescopes. Low sample sizes and significant instrumental uncertainties require special consideration. Methods for treating instrumental or theoretical uncertainties in the calculation of limits or discovery are described. Software implementing these methods is presented. The issue of optimization of analysis cuts and definition of sensitivity is briefly discussed.
5993897
Neutrino Scattering on Glass: NuSOnG
These proceedings describe the physics goals and initial design for a new experiment: NuSOnG—Neutrino Scattering On Glass. The design will yield about two orders of magnitude higher statistics than previous high energy neutrino experiments, observed in a detector optimized for low hadronic energy and electromagnetic events. As a result, the purely weak processes νμ+e−→νμ+e− and νμ+e−→νe+μ− (inverse muon decay) can be measured with high accuracy for the first time. This allows important precision electroweak tests and well as direct searches for new physics. The high statistics also will yield the world's largest sample of Deep Inelastic (DIS) events for precision parton distribution studies.
2050309
A prototype detector for directional measurement of the cosmogenic neutron flux
This paper describes a novel directional neutron detector. The low pressure time projection chamber uses a mix of helium and CF4 gases. The detector reconstructs the energy and angular distribution of fast neutron recoils. This paper reports results of energy calibration using an source and angular reconstruction studies using a collimated neutron source. The best performance is obtained with a 12.5% CF4 { 87.5% He gas mixture. At low energies the target for fast neutrons transitions is primarily helium, while at higher energies, the uorine contributes as a target. The reconstruction eciency is both energy and target dependent. For neutrons with energies less than 20 MeV, the reconstruction eciency is 40% for uorine recoils and 60% for helium recoils.
6265315
Viewpoint: Rethinking the Neutrino
The Daya Bay Collaboration in China has discovered an unexpectedly large neutrino oscillation.
117938363
Searches for new physics at NuTeV
The NuTeV Experiment at Fermilab has searched for indications of physics beyond the standard model using indirect and direct search methods. The indirect method compares the NuTeV measurement of sin2 θW to the world measurement for this parameter. The direct measurement searches for decays of exotic neutral particles in a light mass, instrumented region upstream of the NuTeV calorimeter. No evidence for new physics has been observed. Therefore, NuTeV has placed constraints on extensions to the Standard Model which include certain Z′’s, neutral heavy leptons and the particle responsible for the Karmen Timing Anomaly.
2261610
Atmospheric tau neutrinos in a multikiloton liquid argon detector
An ultralarge liquid argon time projection chamber based neutrino detector will have the uncommon ability to detect atmospheric {nu}{sub {tau}}/{nu}{tau} events. This paper discusses the most promising modes for identifying charged current {nu}{sub {tau}}/{nu}{tau}, and shows that, with simple kinematic cuts, {approx}30 {nu}{sub {tau}}+{nu}{tau} interactions can be isolated in a 100 kt{center_dot}yr exposure, with greater than 4{sigma} significance. This sample is sufficient to perform flux-averaged total cross-section and cross-section shape parametrization measurements--the first steps toward using {nu}{sub {tau}}/{nu}{tau} to search for physics beyond the standard model.