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It is now widely accepted that the Standard Model assumption of massless neutrinos is wrong, due primarily to the observation of solar and atmospheric neutrino flavor oscillations by a small number of convincing experiments. The MINOS Far Detector, capable of observing both the outgoing lepton and associated showering products of a neutrino interaction, provides an excellent opportunity to independently search for an oscillation signature in atmospheric neutrinos. To this end, a MINOS data set from an 883 live day, 13.1 kt-yr exposure collected between July, 2003 and April, 2007 has been analyzed. 105 candidate charged current muon neutrino interactions were observed, with 120.5 ± 1.3 (statistical error only) expected in the absence of oscillation. A maximum likelihood analysis of the observed log(L/E) spectrum shows that the null oscillation hypothesis is excluded at over 96% confidence and that the best fit oscillation parameters are sin2 2[theta]23 = 0.95 -0.32 and [Delta]m$2\atop{23}$ = 0.93$+3.94\atop{ -0.44}$ x 10-3 eV2. This measurement of oscillation parameters is consistent with the best fit values from the Super-Kamiokande experiment at 68% confidence.
There is now substantial evidence that the proper description of neutrino involves two representations related by the 3 x 3 PMNS matrix characterized by either distinct mass or flavor. The parameters of this mixing matrix, three angles and a phase, as well as the mass differences between the three mass eigenstates must be determined experimentally. The Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search experiment is designed to study the flavor composition of a beam of muon neutrinos as it travels between the Near Detector at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory at 1 km from the target, and the Far Detector in the Soudan iron mine in Minnesota at 735 km from the target. From the comparison of reconstructed neutrino energy spectra at the near and far location, precise measurements of neutrino oscillation parameters from muon neutrino disappearance and electron neutrino appearance are expected. It is very important to know the neutrino flux coming from the source in order to achieve the main goal of the MINOS experiment: precise measurements of the atmospheric mass splitting.
A strong case has been made by several experiments that neutrinos oscillate, although important questions remain as to the mechanisms and precise values of the parameters. In the standard picture, two parameters describe the nature of how the neutrinos oscillate: the mass-squared difference between states and the mixing angle. The purpose of this thesis is to use data from the MINOS experiment to precisely measure the parameters associated with oscillations first observed in studies of atmospheric neutrinos. MINOS utilizes two similar detectors to observe the oscillatory nature of neutrinos. The Near Detector, located 1 km from the source, observes the unoscillated energy spectrum while the Far Detector, located 735 km away, is positioned to see the oscillation signal. Using the data in the Near Detector, a prediction of the expected neutrino spectrum at the Far Detector assuming no oscillations is made. By comparing this prediction with the MINOS data, the atmospheric mixing parameters are measured to be [Delta]m322 = 2.45{sub +0.12}{sup -0.12} x 103 eV2 and sin2(2[theta]32) = 1.00{sub -0.04}{sup +0.00} (> 0.90 at 90% confidence level).
MINOS is a long-baseline two-detector neutrino oscillation experiment that uses a high intensity muon neutrino beam to investigate the phenomena of neutrino oscillations. The neutrino beam is produced by the NuMI facility at Fermilab, Batavia, Illinois, and is observed at near and far detectors placed 734 km apart. The neutrino interactions in the near detector are used to measure the initial muon neutrino flux. The vast majority of neutrinos travel through the near detector and Earth matter without interactions. A fraction of muon neutrinos oscillate into other flavors resulting in the disappearance of muon neutrinos at the far detector. This thesis presents a measurement of the muon neutrino oscillation parameters in the framework of the two-neutrino oscillation hypothesis.
Experimental evidence has established that neutrino flavor states evolve over time. A neutrino of a particular flavor that travels some distance can be detected in a different neutrino flavor state. The Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search (MINOS) is a long-baseline experiment that is designed to study this phenomenon, called neutrino oscillations. MINOS is based at Fermilab near Chicago, IL, and consists of two detectors: the Near Detector located at Fermilab, and the Far Detector, which is located in an old iron mine in Soudan, MN. Both detectors are exposed to a beam of muon neutrinos from the NuMI beamline, and MINOS measures the fraction of muon neutrinos that disappear after traveling the 734 km between the two detectors. One can measure the atmospheric neutrino mass splitting and mixing angle by observing the energy-dependence of this muon neutrino disappearance. MINOS has made several prior measurements of these parameters. Here I describe recently-developed techniques used to enhance our sensitivity to the oscillation parameters, and I present the results obtained when they are applied to a dataset that is twice as large as has been previously analyzed. We measure the mass splitting ?m232 = (2.32-0.08+0.12) x 10-3 eV2/c4 and the mixing angle sin2(2?32) > 0.90 at 90% C.L. These results comprise the world's best measurement of the atmospheric neutrino mass splitting. Alternative disappearance models are also tested. The neutrino decay hypothesis is disfavored at 7.2? and the neutrino quantum decoherence hypothesis is disfavored at 9.0?.
The MINOS Experiment consists of two steel-scintillator calorimeters, sampling the long baseline NuMI muon neutrino beam. It was designed to make a precise measurement of the 'atmospheric' neutrino mixing parameters, [Delta]m2 atm. and sin2 (2 atm.). The Near Detector measures the initial spectrum of the neutrino beam 1km from the production target, and the Far Detector, at a distance of 735 km, measures the impact of oscillations in the neutrino energy spectrum. Work performed to validate the quality of the data collected by the Near Detector is presented as part of this thesis. This thesis primarily details the results of a v[mu] disappearance analysis, and presents a new sophisticated fitting software framework, which employs a maximum likelihood method to extract the best fit oscillation parameters. The software is entirely decoupled from the extrapolation procedure between the detectors, and is capable of fitting multiple event samples (defined by the selections applied) in parallel, and any combination of energy dependent and independent sources of systematic error. Two techniques to improve the sensitivity of the oscillation measurement were also developed. The inclusion of information on the energy resolution of the neutrino events results in a significant improvement in the allowed region for the oscillation parameters. The degree to which sin2 (2[theta])= 1.0 could be disfavoured with the exposure of the current dataset if the true mixing angle was non-maximal, was also investigated, with an improved neutrino energy reconstruction for very low energy events. The best fit oscillation parameters, obtained by the fitting software and incorporating resolution information were.
MINOS is a long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. It measures the flux from the predominately muon neutrino NuMI beam first 1 km from beam start and then again 735 km later using a pair of steel scintillator tracking calorimeters. The comparison of measured neutrino energy spectra at our Far Detector with the prediction based on our Near Detector measurement allows for a measurement of the parameters which define neutrino oscillations. This thesis will describe the most recent measurement of muon neutrino disappearance in the NuMI muon neutrino beam using the MINOS experiment.