Evidence for neutrino oscillations from muon decay at rest
Abstract
A search for ν¯μ-->ν¯e oscillations has been conducted at the Los Alamos Meson Physics Facility using ν¯μ from μ+ decay at rest. The ν¯e are detected via the reaction ν¯ep-->e+n, correlated with the 2.2 MeV γ from np-->dγ. The use of tight cuts to identify e+ events with correlated γ rays yields 22 events with e+ energy between 36 and 60 MeV and only 4.6+/-0.6 background events. The probability that this excess is due entirely to a statistical fluctuation is 4.1×10-8. A χ2 fit to the entire e+ sample results in a total excess of 51.0+20.2-19.5+/-8.0 events with e+ energy between 20 and 60 MeV. If attributed to ν¯μ-->ν¯e oscillations, this corresponds to an oscillation probability (averaged over the experimental energy and spatial acceptance) of (0.31+/-0.12+/-0.05)%.
- Publication:
-
Physical Review C
- Pub Date:
- November 1996
- DOI:
- 10.1103/PhysRevC.54.2685
- arXiv:
- arXiv:nucl-ex/9605001
- Bibcode:
- 1996PhRvC..54.2685A
- Keywords:
-
- 14.60.Pq;
- 13.15.+g;
- Neutrino mass and mixing;
- Neutrino interactions;
- Nuclear Experiment;
- High Energy Physics - Experiment;
- High Energy Physics - Phenomenology;
- Nuclear Theory
- E-Print:
- 57 pages, 34 figures, revtex, additional information available at http://nu1.lampf.lanl.gov/~lsnd/