Nuclear Particle Astrophysics (NPA) Seminar: Jay Hyun Jo, Stony Brook University, “Measurement of the Inclusive Charged Current NuE Interaction rate on Water with the T2K Pi0 Detector”

Thursday Oct 8, 2015, 3:00 PM → 4:00 PM US/Eastern

WLC 108

The T2K (Tokai to Kamioka) experiment is a long-baseline neutrino experiment designed to measure νμ disappearance and νe appearance from the νμ beam. The T2K experimental setup consists of J-PARC (Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex) accelerator, a near detector (ND280) and a far detector (Super-Kamiokande).
With the recent firm establishment of νe appearance by T2K, future precision νe appearance measurements can be used to explore CP-violation in neutrino interactions. However such an exploration requires detailed understanding of the νe interactions, as well as contamination of νe in the νμ beam. The presence of the νe component in the beam accounts for 1.2% of the beam, which is the main background in the νe appearance measurement. Moreover, as Super-Kamiokande is a large water Cherenkov detector, neutrino interaction measurements on water are important to constrain the neutrino cross-section systematic uncertainty.
To this end, the T2K off-axis π0 detector (PØD) has been used to measure νe charged current interaction rates on water. The details of the analysis including the selection criteria and the systematic uncertainties are presented in this talk. In addition, prospects for the charged current interaction rate measurement with the PØD will be discussed. These are pioneering measurements of the νe interaction rate, particularly on water, which will become crucial in future CP-violation searches.

Jaehyun Jo_NPA_Seminar_10082015.pdf