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
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.
15547042
Searches for Particle Dark Matter with the GLAST Large Area Telescope
The Large Area Telescope (LAT), one of two instruments on the Gamma-ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST) mission, scheduled for launch by NASA in 2007, is an imaging, wide field-of-view, high-energy gamma-ray telescope, covering the approximate energy range from 20 MeV to more than 300 GeV. Annihilation of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMP), predicted in many extensions of the Standard Model of Particle Physics, may give rise to a signal in gamma-ray spectra from many cosmic sources. In this contribution we give an overview of the searches for WIMP Dark Matter performed by the GLAST-LAT collaboration.
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.
55280135
Discovery of TeV gamma-ray emission from PKS 0447-439 and derivation of an upper limit on its redshift
Very high-energy gamma-ray emission from PKS 0447-439 was detected with the H. E. S. S. Cherenkov telescope array in December 2009. This blazar is one of the brightest extragalactic objects in the ...
17026750
Measurement of the Cosmic Ray Composition at the Knee with the SPASE-2/AMANDA-B10 Detectors
Measurement of the Cosmic Ray Composition at the Knee with the SPASE-2/AMANDA-B10 Detectors
21221936
Neutrino Scattering at High Energies
The construction of a high energy (∼100 GeV), sign‐selected neutrino beam opens exciting opportunities to search for beyond‐standard‐model physics as well as to make valuable QCD measurements. Such a beam can be produced at the Tevatron or, potentially, at the CERN SPS+. The resulting physics would be unique and complementary to the present neutrino program. Here we use neutrino‐electron scattering as an example.
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.
208856461
Search for core-collapse supernovae using the MiniBooNE neutrino detector
We present a search for core-collapse supernovae in the Milky Way galaxy, using the MiniBooNE neutrino detector. No evidence is found for core-collapse supernovae occurring in our Galaxy in the period from December 14, 2004 to July 31, 2008, corresponding to 98% live time for collection. We set a limit on the core-collapse supernova rate out to a distance of 13.4 kpc to be less than 0.69 supernovae per year at 90% C.L.
123338648
New Opportunities for Surprise
If history is any guide, then there is a good chance that our present description of neutrinos is wrong. Over the past 30 years, neutrino physics has again and again produced results which took us by surprise, and forced us to change our theoretical direction. In light of this, it is worth examining the experimental clues we now have to see if they lead to ideas outside our "New Standard Model." Our present paradigm says that there are only three neutrinos participating in the weak interaction. They are light, with masses less than 0.1 eV, and predicted to be Majorana neutrinos, that is, each is its own antiparticle. The light mass is motivated by the see-saw model, which postulates partners which are very massive (~hundreds of GeV). By contrast with this "conventional wisdom," this talk discusses five examples of experimental results which, if confirmed, would cause us to rethink our theory. It focuses only on oscillations, and on those questions which can be addressed at accelerators. Other ways neutrinos may be surprising, such as the anomalous measurement of sin2θW from NuTeV, are left for other talks. The ideas discussed here are best explored through accelerator-produced neutrino beams. So the reasons why beam-based experiments are becoming the venue-of-choice are then examined. Lastly, the first two of the five ideas are explored in detail.
20950520
Photodegradation mechanisms of tetraphenyl butadiene coatings for liquid argon detectors
We report on studies of degradation mechanisms of tetraphenyl butadiene (TPB) coatings of the type used in neutrino and dark matter liquid argon experiments. Using gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry we have detected the ultraviolet-blocking impurity benzophenone. We monitored the drop in performance and increase of benzophenone concentration in TPB plates with exposure to ultraviolet (UV) light, and demonstrate the correlation between these two variables. Based on the presence and initially exponential increase in the concentration of benzophenone observed, we propose that TPB degradation is a free radical-mediated photooxidation reaction, which is subsequently confirmed by displaying delayed degradation using a free radical inhibitor. Finally we show that the performance of wavelength-shifting coatings of the type envisioned for the LBNE experiment can be improved by 10-20%, with significantly delayed UV degradation, by using a 20% admixture of 4-tert-Butylcatechol.