U.S. Long Baseline Neutrino Experiment Study

New site for many of these documents is DDRD DOCDB

Final (May 9, 2007) report, Fermilab-0801-AD-E, BNL-77973-2007-IR from the study group REPORT

Also at arXiv:0705.4396

Letter of acceptance from FNAL and BNL directors, Piermaria Oddone and Samuel Aronson. Letter

Final report from the NuSAG committee which relied on our input is located at HEPAP reports

Local Copy HEPAP transmittal letter.

Final Report.

Final report from the P5 panel of HEPAP regarding the US high energy program for the next 10 years, and neutrino physics in particular, P5 report from May 29, 2008

Also see the P5 presentation. Agenda

This is the joint Fermilab/BNL study which could form (has formed) the basis for a US national program in neutrino physics.

Welcome to Milind Diwan's page for this study. The official FNAL page is kept by Gina Rameika. It can be found here.

Table of contents for this web site

  1. Participants
  2. Preamble
  3. Meetings
    1. March 5-6, 2006
    2. NuSAG presentations May20, 2006
    3. Mini-workshop at FNAL, June 27-28, 2006
    4. HEPAP presentation July 6, 2006
    5. Study group meeting Sep. 16-17,2006
    6. HEPAP presentation February 22-23,2007
    7. Presentations to FNAL PAC March 29, 2007
    8. Presentations to ISS study, March 30, 2007
    9. Fermilab Wine and Cheese, June 29, 2007
    10. NuSAG final report to HEPAP, July 13-14, 2007
  4. Documents
    1. Note on Physics Goals
    2. Preliminary cost and design for 300kT Water Cherenkov detector in Homestake
    3. Proton Intensity at FNAL
    4. High Intensity Targets
    5. Calculations of Event rates
    6. Simulation of a water Cherenkov detector with a wide band beam and first attempt to suppress background to acceptable levels
    7. Study of the FNAL to DUSEL Long Baseline Neutrino Oscillation experiment with a Large Water Cherenkov Detector
    8. Physics sensitivity with a water Cherenkov detector and a wide band beam
    9. First attempt to compare the sensitivities.
    10. Long paper to compare sensitivities of various approaches.
    11. Sensitivity of the NuMI Off axis program
    12. Liquid Argon detector development
      1. Resolution and Background Rejection
      2. Cosmic ray rates
      3. Underground Cryostat for a LArTPC
      4. Purging a tank with Ar gas
      5. LArTPC R&D plan and cost and schedule estimate
      6. FNAL work on long electron drift times.
      7. Cellular design for a liquid argon time projection chamber"
    13. Documents we would like to have
  5. Other supporting materials and reports
    6. Items covered here include: Detector depth versus physics, Oscillation animations, Report on stability of large caverns, The FLARE proposal for a LArTPC, Design for a neutrino beam from the BNL AGS, Links to the FNAL LArTPC group.
  6. FNAL proton accelerator links
  7. Links to other neutrino related work

Participants

We have made a list of people who participated by contributing written material, presentation, or discussion. Here is a list of participants in this effort. The advisory group for the study can be found here .

To join the study please send email to Gina Rameika (rameika@fnal.gov). The mailing lists for the study are

LBSTUDY_AUTHORS@fnal.gov

LBSTUDY_CONTRIBUTORS@fnal.gov

LBSTUDY_INFORMATION@fnal.gov

Preamble

This study emerged out of two parallel efforts. A meeting was held between principals of various components of the future plans of Fermilab and counterparts in BNL with the intent of exploring avenues of mutual interest and potential collaboration. This meeting was on November 14, 2005. The agenda of the meeting is here.

Later the study aquired sharper focus out of the need to address the charge given to the neutrino scientific advisory group (NuSAG). NUSAG is a subpanel of HEPAP intended to advise the agencies on neutrino physics and projects.

This study is intended to help NuSAG with their new charge concerning next generation neutrino beams and detectors. The charge letter issued on March 3, 2006 can be found here .

The chairs of the study are Sally Dawson (BNL) and Hugh Montgomery (FNAL). They charged us with this job: the job

We broke up the work into various pieces. The organization is in this email

The advisory group for the study can be found here .

Meetings and presentations

First meeting of group. March 5,6, 2006

The first meeting of this study group was at FNAL on March 5-6, 2006. It was very successful. Much new work was reported. All the slides are here .

Presentations to NuSAG. May 20, 2006

NuSAG called us to talk to them. And so we went and gave a bunch of presentations. There was a lot of new material. These presentations are here.

We set a few deadlines after the NuSAG workshop. We decided to pull an interim report together by July 15, 2006. This report would consist of individual reports addressing various parts of the charge. These reports would be delivered to NuSAG with a brief summary. At the same time NuSAG sent us a bunch of suggestions to consider for the report. To discuss these suggestions and assess our progress we met again at FNAL.

Mini workshop at FNAL, June 27-28, 2006

The presentations and commentary on the discussion is placed here

HEPAP presentation from Peter Meyers

Based on the input at this stage Peter Meyers (co-chair of NUSAG) made a presentation to HEPAP. It is here

Meeting of this study group at FNAL, Sep 16-17, 2006.

As we entered the report writing phase of this working group, we decided to have a meeting at FNAL. Various teaching and travel schedules restricted the meeting to be on a weekend. Participation was intense and the quality of work superb.

Special thanks go to Gina Rameika for the organization and anticipating various needs. We are especially grateful to Crae for coming on a weekend and making it all run smoothly.

The meeting was arranged in 3 sections: On Saturday morning we had brief reviews of the charge to the study group, and the accomplishments so far. Saturday afternoon we saw new work. We spent Sunday morning looking through the contents of the report. Gina and Milind took notes that will be used to edit the report. Agenda and presentations from Sep-16-17 meeting. here

Peter Meyers presentation to the HEPAP meeting, February 22-23, 2007.

Here

Presentations to the FNAL PAC March 29, 2007

Link to PAC agenda is here

Gina Rameikas's slides are here

Milind Diwan's slides are here 1 and here 2

PAC charge is here

Comments from the PAC are here

Presentations to the CERN ISS study March 29, 2007

Mary Bishai's slides are here

Niki Soulidou's slides are here

FNAL Wine and Cheese presentation on June 29, 2007

PDF slides

NuSAG final report presentation to HEPAP

The NuSAG report was presented by Peter Meyers. The report was approved unanimously by HEPAP. A few questions were asked concerning the size of the water Cherenkov detector that could be built at Homestake. AKM and NS raised concern about waiting for the value of theta_13 before proceeding with contruction.

At this same HEPAP meeting the DUSEL site selection by NSF was announced. This talk is by Jon Kotcher who described the process that was followed to reach the decision for Homestake.

HEPAP site

Documents prepared for this study.

This area is in constant state of change as new documents are written.

1.

Brief note on the physics goals of a phase II program. Bill Marciano and Zohreh Parsa, PDF

2.

Preliminary design, cost, and schedule of a 300 kT water Cherenkov detector array is discussed in "Proposal for an Experimental Program in Neutrino Physics and Proton Decay in the Homestake Laboratory," Collaboration: BNL, Brown University, UC/Berkeley, LBNL, University of Pennsylvania, Princeton University, UCLA, University of Wisconsin, University of Kansas, University of Colorado. July 12, 2006. BNL-76798-2006-IR. a modified copy without some figures is at hep-ex/0608023

A budget and project plan for the above is being developed.

This plan tries to get the entire 300kT as soon as possible plan-dec16-budget. plan-dec16-schedule.

Review of the cost of the cavern construction RESPEC review.

The plan is summarized in a talk to the NSAC long ranging planning meeting in Chicago, Jan. 2007. Talk in PDF.

3.

A plan for increasing the proton intensity at FNAL in described in "Fermilab Proton Projections for Long-Baseline Neutrino Beams," Robert Zwaska for the SNuMI planning group, July 17, 2006. local pdf. and FNAL-Beams-DOC-2393

4.

This document is still in revision. It describes the technical requirements and feasibility for a solid target with a ~1MW capability. "Target System for a Long Baseline Neutrino Beam," N. Simos, H. Kirk, J. Gallardo, S. Kahn, N. Mokhov. June 26, 2006. DOC.

5.

Design, simulation, and event yields from a new intense wide band neutrino beam from FNAL is discussed in "Simulation of a Wide-band Low-Energy Neutrino Beam for Very Long Baseline Neutrino Oscillation Experiments," M. Bishai, J. Heim, C. Lewis, A. D. Marino, B. Viren, F. Yumiceva, July 20, 2006 BNL-76997-2006-IR.

Calculation of the beam spectra and event rates for various off-axis locations on the NuMI beamline is calculated in "Event Rates for Off Axis NuMI Experiments," B. Viren, June 8, 2006. BNL-76869-2006-IR or hep-ex/0608059

For the offaxis scenario this is a summary of the most recent beam fluxes and event rates for a nominal detector - Gina Rameika, Oct 23, 2006. This document is still preliminary. A longer document is being prepared. PDF.

The interaction rate summary tables for different NuMI off axis and WBLE beams. This also contains plots of spectra and NC single pi0 interaction spectra. This assumes no detector models. Mary Bishai and Brett Viren, Oct 11, 2006. PDF. See the updated (Dec. 6, 2006) version with anti-neutrinos also. PDF.

There is an associated website with many more spectra plotted WEBSITE. These can be selected and viewed in your browser.

6.

A simulation of water Cherenkov detector with a wide band neutrino beam and the first attempt to suppress showering events background to acceptable levels is described in "Background Rejection Study in a water Cherenkov detector," C. Yanagisawa, C. K. Jung, P.T. Le, B. Viren, July 18, 2006. pdf.

7.

An independent study was performed of the background rejection and resolutions that can be obtained, "Study of the FNAL to DUSEL Long Baseline Neutrino Oscillation Experiment with a Large Water Cherenkov Detector," F. Dufour, E. Kearns, May 23, 2007 pdf.

8.

For the wide band beam and water Cherenkov detector option we have calculated the physics sensitivity taking into account all correlations and degeneracies as well as estimates for systematic uncertainties. This work is reported in "Precision physics with a wide band super neutrino beam," V. Barger, M. Dierckxsens, M. Diwan, P. Huber, C. Lewis, D. Marfatia, B. Viren, Jul 17, 2006 hep-ph/0607177 for a local copy BNL-76797-2006-JA pdf.

Christine Lewis prepared a host of plots during the study that led to the writing of hep-ph/0607177. These plots are here. http://www.phy.bnl.gov/~clewis She has attempted to label each plot with the assumptions and parameters used.

Mark Dierckxsens prepared a set of sensitivity plots for the final report. These plots were done with the final detector performance numbers from work of the StonyBrook UNO group and with a beam from FNAL using 120 GeV protons. These plots and spectra can be found at Mark's plots If something is unclear please contact us (mdier@bnl.gov) and we will provide further information.

9.

This is an attempt to compare the sensitivity of various approachs to oscillation physics. V. Barger, Patrick Huber, Danny Marfatia, Walter Winter, (This paper used a 28 GeV proton based wide band spectrum with higher backgrounds than expected for the wide band beam) hep-ph/0610301 Local copy PDF.

10.

This is a long version of the above paper that uses the more appropriate 120 GeV spectrum for comparing the reach of a WBLE beam to a Off-axis. V. Barger, Patrick Huber, Danny Marfatia, Walter Winter, hep-ph/0703029 Local copy PDF.

11.

Niki Soulidou's work on sensitivity of a detector placed off axis in the NuMI beamline. Niki's plots

12. Items below are notes on liquid argon detector development

A. Resolution and Background Rejection in a Liquid Argon TPC. "Monte Carlo study of a liquid Ar time projection chamber for long baseline neutrino experiments." A. Curioni, August 10, 2006. pdf.

B. Cosmic ray rates on a surface liquid argon TPC, David Gerstle and Stephen Pordes, August 21, 2006, local pdf. and DOCDB document

C. Deep Underground Cryostat for a LArTPC, Carl Bromberg, September 12, 2006, pdf. or doc.

D. Purging a tank with Argon gas. This becomes important as the size of the detector becomes large. DOCDB document

E. Here is a a report on liquid argon detectors focused on the R&D needed to build and cost a large detector -- 50-100 kt if that is what is required to do the science. NUSAG asked for an R&D plan - what technical progress must be made and how long do you plan for each step to take. And an idea of the cost of the R&D plan and estimates of the cost of the full scale detector if either of these costs is available. -- This summary report was produced by Steve Pordes Oct 23, 2006. report.

F. Work performed at FNAL to achieve long electron drift lifetime in liquid argon. D. Finley, W. Jaskierny, C. Kendziora, J. Krider, S. Pordes, P.A. Rapidis, T. Tope, Oct 23, 2006 local PDF.and DOCDB 216

G. Cellular Design for a Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber by David Gerstle (Yale) and Hans Jostlein (FNAL). May 30, 2007. DOCDB 263

13. Items that we would like to have

We would like to have a document describing the possible construction of a new beam towards DUSEL from FNAL.

We would also like to have a document describing a conceptual design for a water Cherenkov detector in the Henderson mine.

If I have left anything out, please remind me.

Other supporting materials

The detector depth is extremely important when considering various alternatives. Hank Sobel has made a summary of the various issues and limitations in his presentation at the International Workshop on a Far Detector in Korea. Hank Sobel, Nov 18, 2005 PDF.

Scott Menary's neat animated plots are linked in this email

INITIAL STABILITY STUDY OF LARGE OPENINGS FOR THE NATIONAL UNDERGROUND SCIENCE LABORATORY AT THE HOMESTAKE MINE, LEAD, SD Doug Tesarik, Jeff Johnson, Karl Zipf, Jr., Kenneth Lande. NARMS - TAC 2002: Mining and Tunnelling Innovation and Opportunity, Vol. 1, pp 157-163 R. Hammah et al Eds.,Toronto, University of Toronto Press PDF or Local PDF

FLARE, Fermilab liquid argon experiments: Letter of intent. L. Bartoszek et al. FERMILAB-PROPOSAL-0942, Aug 2004. 74pp. e-Print Archive: hep-ex/0408121 or local copy

"The AGS-Based Super Neutrino Beam Facility Conceptual Design Report," J. Alessi, et al., October 1, 2004, BNL-73210-2004-IR

Some cosmic ray work by the Fermilab LARTPC group. Link to DOCDB

Homestake PAC report. PDF

FNAL proton accelerator links

Proton Plan Public Page

CDR prepared for SNuMI upgrade. CDR

Proton Plan Internal Page

SNuMI Internal Page

High Intensity Neutrino Source

Other links

NuMI program

BNL neutrino working group

FNAL NOvA program

DUSEL project

Cascades Proposal

International Scoping Study

LARTPC group at FNAL

Bonnie's workshop on LARTPC at Yale, July 11, 2006

Milind Diwan
Last modified: Sun Jun 3 21:45:08 EDT 2007