A study of neutrino interactions in argon gas
File(s)
Author(s)
Hamilton, Philip
Type
Thesis
Abstract
The T2K (Tokai to Kamioka) experiment uses an intense off-axis muon neutrino beam to study neutrino oscillations through muon neutrino disappearance and electron neutrino appearance. As T2K and other neutrino oscillation experiments move beyond the regime in which they are statistically limited, uncertainties on neutrino-nucleus cross-sections have become increasingly significant as a limiting factor on the precision of these experiments, and on the next generation of detectors. Reducing these uncertainties requires a better understanding of neutrino-nucleus interactions through empirical study. This thesis describes the first ever measurement of neutrino-nucleus interactions on a gaseous target, using the intense T2K beam and the three gaseous argon time-projection chambers in the T2K near detector, ND280. I identify 63 neutrino interaction candidates, and make a comparison of the charged-current muon neutrino differential cross-section with respect to proton multiplicity between data and the simulation packages NEUT and GENIE. This thesis also describes the methods developed to select the gas interactions data sample, which by virtue of the detailed reconstruction available in the ND280 TPCs offers further opportunities to test the predictions of nuclear models than those that are covered by this thesis. Future generations of this analysis are expected to expand both the size of the sample and the range of variables tested.
Version
Open Access
Date Issued
2015-06
Date Awarded
2015-10
Copyright Statement
Attribution NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence (CC BY-ND)
Advisor
Wascko, Morgan
Nash, Jordan
Kaboth, Asher
Sponsor
Science and Technology Facilities Council (Great Britain)
Publisher Department
Physics
Publisher Institution
Imperial College London
Qualification Level
Doctoral
Qualification Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)