First measurement of neutrino and antineutrino oscillation at T2K

Description

This thesis reports the measurement of muon neutrino and antineutrino disappearance and electron neutrino and antineutrino appearance in a muon neutrino and antineutrino beam using the T2K experiment. It describes a result in neutrino physics that is a pioneering indication of charge-parity (CP) violation in neutrino oscillation; the first to be obtained from a single experiment. Neutrinos are some of the most abundant—but elusive—particles in the universe, and may provide a promising place to look for a potential solution to the puzzle of matter/antimatter imbalance in the observable universe. It has been firmly established that neutrinos can change flavour (or ‘oscillate’), as recognised by the 2015 Nobel Prize. The theory of neutrino oscillation allows for neutrinos and antineutrinos to oscillate differently (CP violation), and may provide insights into why our universe is matter-dominated. Bayesian statistical methods, including the Markov Chain Monte Carlo fitting technique, are used to simultaneously optimise several hundred systematic parameters describing detector, beam, and neutrino interaction uncertainties as well as the six oscillation parameters. Front Matter ....Pages i-xv Preamble (Kirsty Elizabeth Duffy)....Pages 1-3 Introduction to Neutrino Oscillation (Kirsty Elizabeth Duffy)....Pages 5-29 The T2K Experiment (Kirsty Elizabeth Duffy)....Pages 31-56 Bayesian Inference and the Markov Chain Monte Carlo Method (Kirsty Elizabeth Duffy)....Pages 57-79 Joint \(\nu \)+\(\bar{\nu }\) Oscillation Analysis: Framework and Validations (Kirsty Elizabeth Duffy)....Pages 81-119 Joint \(\nu \)+\(\bar{\nu }\) Oscillation Analysis: Results (Kirsty Elizabeth Duffy)....Pages 121-143 Conclusions and Outlook (Kirsty Elizabeth Duffy)....Pages 145-147 Back Matter ....Pages 149-172