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1. Scintillating Bubble Chambers for Rare Event Searches

   https://doi.org/10.3390/universe9080346  

   Ernesto Alfonso-Pita, Edward Behnke (August 2023, Universe)

   Baracchini, Elisabetta (Ed.)

   The Scintillating Bubble Chamber (SBC) collaboration is developing liquid-noble bubble chambers for the detection of sub-keV nuclear recoils. These detectors benefit from the electron recoil rejection inherent in moderately-superheated bubble chambers with the addition of energy reconstruction provided from the scintillation signal. The ability to measure low-energy nuclear recoils allows the search for GeV-scale dark matter and the measurement of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering on argon from MeV-scale reactor antineutrinos. The first physics-scale detector, SBC-LAr10, is in the commissioning phase at Fermilab, where extensive engineering and calibration studies will be performed. In parallel, a functionally identical low-background version, SBC-SNOLAB, is being built for a dark matter search underground at SNOLAB. SBC-SNOLAB, with a 10 kg-yr exposure, will have sensitivity to a dark matter–nucleon cross section of 2×10−42 cm2 at 1 GeV/c2 dark matter mass, and future detectors could reach the boundary of the argon neutrino fog with a tonne-yr exposure. In addition, the deployment of an SBC detector at a nuclear reactor could enable neutrino physics investigations including measurements of the weak mixing angle and searches for sterile neutrinos, the neutrino magnetic moment, and the light Z’ gauge boson. 

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2. First Measurement of ${\nu }_e$ and ${\nu }_{\mu }$ Interaction Cross Sections at the LHC with FASER’s Emulsion Detector

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.021802  

   Abraham, Roshan Mammen; Anders, John; Antel, Claire; Ariga, Akitaka; Ariga, Tomoko; Atkinson, Jeremy; Bernlochner, Florian U; Boeckh, Tobias; Boyd, Jamie; Brenner, Lydia; et al (July 2024, Physical Review Letters)

   The first results of the study of high-energy electron neutrino ( ${\nu }_e$) and muon neutrino ( ${\nu }_{\mu }$) charged-current interactions in the $\mathrm{FASER}\nu$emulsion-tungsten detector of the FASER experiment at the LHC are presented. A 128.8 kg subset of the $\mathrm{FASER}\nu$volume was analyzed after exposure to $9.5{\mathrm{fb}}^{-1}$of $\sqrt{s}=13.6\mathrm{TeV}$ $pp$data. Four (eight) ${\nu }_e$( ${\nu }_{\mu }$) interaction candidate events are observed with a statistical significance of $5.2\sigma$( $5.7\sigma$). This is the first direct observation of ${\nu }_e$interactions at a particle collider and includes the highest-energy ${\nu }_e$and ${\nu }_{\mu }$ever detected from an artificial source. The interaction cross section per nucleon $\sigma /E_{\nu }$is measured over an energy range of 560–1740 GeV (520–1760 GeV) for ${\nu }_e$( ${\nu }_{\mu }$) to be $\left({1.2}_{-0.7}^{+0.8}\right)\times {10}^{-38}{\mathrm{cm}}^2{\mathrm{GeV}}^{-1}$[ $(0.5\pm 0.2)\times {10}^{-38}{\mathrm{cm}}^2{\mathrm{GeV}}^{-1}$], consistent with standard model predictions. These are the first measurements of neutrino interaction cross sections in those energy ranges. Published by the American Physical Society2024 

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3. DarkSide-20k sensitivity to light dark matter particles

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s42005-024-01896-z  

   Acerbi, F; Adhikari, P; Agnes, P; Ahmad, I; Albergo, S; Albuquerque, I_F M; Alexander, T; Alton, A K; Amaudruz, P; Angiolilli, M; et al (December 2024, Communications Physics)

   The dual-phase liquid argon time projection chamber is presently one of the leading technologies to search for dark matter particles with masses below 10 GeV c−2. This was demonstrated by the DarkSide-50 experiment with approximately 50 kg of low-radioactivity liquid argon as target material. The next generation experiment DarkSide-20k, currently under construction, will use 1,000 times more argon and is expected to start operation in 2027. Based on the DarkSide-50 experience, here we assess the DarkSide-20k sensitivity to models predicting light dark matter particles, including Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) and sub-GeV c−2 particles interacting with electrons in argon atoms. With one year of data, a sensitivity improvement to dark matter interaction cross-sections by at least one order of magnitude with respect to DarkSide-50 is expected for all these models. A sensitivity to WIMP–nucleon interaction cross-sections below 1 × 10−42 cm2 is achievable for WIMP masses above 800 MeV c−2. With 10 years exposure, the neutrino fog can be reached for WIMP masses around 5 GeV c−2. 

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4. Measurement of Quasielastic-Like Neutrino Scattering at $$\left< E_\nu \right> \sim 3.5$$~ GeV on a Hydrocarbon Target

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.99.012004  

   Ruterbories, D.; Hurtado, K.; Osta, J.; Akbar, F.; Aliaga, L.; Andrade, D. A.; Ascencio, M. V.; Bashyal, A.; Bercellie, A.; Betancourt, M.; et al (January 2019, Physical review. D.)

   MINERvA presents a new analysis of neutrino induced quasielastic-like interactions in a hydrocarbon tracking target. We report a double-differential cross section using the muon transverse and longitudinal momentum. In addition, differential cross sections as a function of the square of the four-momentum transferred and the neutrino energy are calculated using a quasielastic hypothesis. Finally, an analysis of energy deposited near the interaction vertex is presented. These results are compared to modified genie predictions as well as a NuWro prediction. All results use a data set produced by 3.34×10^20 protons on target creating a neutrino beam with a peak energy of approximately 3.5 GeV. 

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5. First Simultaneous Measurement of Differential Muon-Neutrino Charged-Current Cross Sections on Argon for Final States with and without Protons Using MicroBooNE Data

   https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.041801  

   Abratenko, P; Alterkait, O; Andrade_Aldana, D; Arellano, L; Asaadi, J; Ashkenazi, A; Balasubramanian, S; Baller, B; Barr, G; Barrow, D; et al (July 2024, Physical Review Letters)

   We report the first double-differential neutrino-argon cross section measurement made simultaneously for final states with and without protons for the inclusive muon neutrino charged-current interaction channel. The proton kinematics of this channel are further explored with a differential cross section measurement as a function of the leading proton’s kinetic energy that extends across the detection threshold. These measurements use data collected with the MicroBooNE detector from $6.4\times {10}^{20}$protons on target from the Fermilab booster neutrino beam with a mean neutrino energy of $\sim 0.8\mathrm{GeV}$. Extensive data-driven model validation utilizing the conditional constraint formalism is employed. This motivates enlarging the uncertainties with an empirical reweighting approach to minimize the possibility of extracting biased cross section results. The extracted nominal flux-averaged cross sections are compared to widely used event generator predictions revealing severe mismodeling of final states without protons for muon neutrino charged-current interactions, possibly from insufficient treatment of final state interactions. These measurements provide a wealth of new information useful for improving event generators which will enhance the sensitivity of precision measurements in neutrino experiments. Published by the American Physical Society2024 

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