A measurement of the atmospheric neutrino flux and oscillation parameters at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

Through-going muon events are analyzed as a function of their direction of travel through the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory. Based on simulations and previous measurements, muons with a zenith angle of 1 < cos([theta]zenith) < 0:4 are selected as atmospheric neutrino-induced muons. A two-neutrino analysis of these events agrees with the oscillation parameters observed by the Super Kamiokande and Minos experiments, and places 2-D limits of [delta]m2 23 = 1:8+7:1 ??1:1 103 eV2 at the 68% confidence level, and sin2(2[theta]23) > 0:33 at the 90% confidence level. In addition, the flux of atmospheric neutrinos is measured in 1-D with a 68% confidence level to be 1:24+0:11 0:10 times the prediction of the BARTOL group based on SNO data alone, and 1:27+/-0.09 times the prediction when the oscillation parameters are constrained by the Super Kamiokande and Minos results.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Physics.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Sonley, Thomas John

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Joseph Formaggio.

• Physics.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/52783

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/52783