Looking for matter enhanced neutrino oscillations via day v. night asymmetries in the NCD phase of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

To measure the regeneration of electron neutrinos during passage through the Earth via the MSW effect, the difference in electron neutrino flux between day and night is measured at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO). To be able to distinguish an actual discrepancy from an artifact, the detector properties and backgrounds are studied in regard to both a diurnal difference and a difference in the detector for upgoing v. downgoing neutrinos. This thesis focuses on the signal extraction part of this process, by which the neutrino fluxes are determined from the processed data by means of a Markov Chain Monte Carlo method. Recognizing that this effect is expected to have an energy dependence, the asymmetry is modeled as an affine function of energy. This measurement yields an asymmetry in the neutrino flux of ... measured in MeV.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Physics.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2011

Author dc:creator

• Ott, Richard Anthony, III

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/1721.1/77490

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/77490