Search for: All records

We present results from the Jefferson Lab E08-014 experiment, investigating short-range correlations (SRC) through measurements of inclusive quasi-elastic scattering from 2H, 3He, 4He, 12C, 40Ca, and 48Ca. The kinematics were selected to isolate scattering from SRCs, yielding a plateau in the A/2H cross-section ratios due to the universal two-body structure of the 2N-SRCs in light and heavy nuclei. We observe approximate plateaus in the A/2H ratios and provide the first extractions of the A/2H ratio for 40Ca and 48Ca. We also examine the A/3He ratio, aiming to identify three-nucleon SRCs (3N-SRCs). Following the approach for isolating 2N-SRCs, searching for 3N-SRC dominance involved measuring the A/3He cross section ratio at modest-to-large 𝑄2 values and looking for a plateau ratios for 𝑥>∼2.5. This was not observed in the data, and in fact increasing 𝑄2 values moved the data further away from the predicted plateau. We show here that, when analyzed in terms of the struck nucleon’s light-cone momentum, the data exhibited the expected trend, progressively approaching the predicted 3N-SRC plateau. These observations suggest that future measurements at higher energies may facilitate a definitive isolation and identification of 3N-SRCs. 

Super-Kamiokande (SK) has observed ${}^8\mathrm{B}$ solar neutrino elastic scattering at recoil electron kinetic energies ( $E_{\mathrm{kin}}$ ) as low as 3.49 MeV to study neutrino flavor conversion within the Sun. At SK-observable energies, these conversions are dominated by the Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein effect. An upturn in the electron neutrino survival probability in which vacuum neutrino oscillations become dominant is predicted to occur at lower energies, but radioactive background increases exponentially with decreasing energy. New machine learning approaches provide substantial background reduction below 3.49 MeV such that statistical extraction of solar neutrino interactions becomes feasible. This article presents an analysis of the solar neutrino interaction rate at $E_{\mathrm{kin}}<3.49\mathrm{MeV}$ with the full SK-IV period, using data from a wideband intelligent trigger when available and with a boosted decision tree for event selection. A solar neutrino signal is observed between $2.99\mathrm{MeV}<E_{\mathrm{kin}}<3.49\mathrm{MeV}$ with $2.76\sigma$ significance and a data to unoscillated Monte Carlo ratio of ${0.307}_{-0.111}^{+0.112}$ . These additional low-energy data have a negligible effect on the $1\sigma$ intervals of the fits to the solar neutrino energy spectrum but have a noticeable effect on the best fit when using the exponential parametrization. 

We present the results of searches for nucleon decays via $p\to \nu {\pi }^{+}$ and $n\to \nu {\pi }^0$ using a $0.484\mathrm{Mt}·\mathrm{yr}$ exposure of Super-Kamiokande I-V data covering the entire pure water phase of the experiment. Various improvements on the previous 2014 nucleon decay search [], which used an exposure of $0.173\mathrm{Mt}·\mathrm{yr}$ , are incorporated. The physics models related to pion production and nuclear interaction are refined with external data, and a more comprehensive set of systematic uncertainties, now including those associated with the atmospheric neutrino flux and pion production channels, is considered. Also, the fiducial volume has been expanded by 21%. No significant indication of a nucleon decay signal is found beyond the expected background. Lower bounds on the nucleon partial lifetimes are determined to be $3.5\times {10}^{32}\mathrm{yr}$ for $p\to \nu {\pi }^{+}$ and $1.4\times {10}^{33}\mathrm{yr}$ for $n\to \nu {\pi }^0$ at 90% confidence level. 

In recent neutrino detectors, neutrons produced in neutrino reactions play an important role. Muon capture on oxygen nuclei is one of the processes that produce neutrons in water Cherenkov detectors. We measured neutron multiplicity in the process using cosmic ray muons that stop in the gadolinium-loaded Super-Kamiokande detector. For this measurement, neutron detection efficiency is obtained with the muon capture events followed by gamma rays to be ${50.2}_{-2.1}^{+2.0}\%$ . By fitting the observed multiplicity considering the detection efficiency, we measure neutron multiplicity in muon capture as $P\left(0\right)=24\pm 3\%$ , $P\left(1\right)=70_{-2}^{+3}\%$ , $P\left(2\right)=6.1\pm 0.5\%$ , $P\left(3\right)=0.38\pm 0.09\%$ . This is the first measurement of the multiplicity of neutrons associated with muon capture on oxygen without neutron energy threshold. 

We searched for bound neutron decay via $n\to \overline{\nu }+K^0$ predicted by the grand unified theories in $0.401\mathrm{Mton}·\mathrm{years}$ exposure of all pure water phases in the Super-Kamiokande detector. About 4.4 times more data than in the previous search have been analyzed by a new method including a spectrum fit to kaon invariant mass distributions. No significant data excess has been observed in the signal regions. As a result of this analysis, we set a lower limit of $7.8\times {10}^{32}\mathrm{years}$ on the neutron lifetime at a 90% confidence level. 

Abstract In 2024, a failed supernova (SN) candidate, M31-2014-DS1, was reported in the Andromeda galaxy (M31), located at a distance of approximately 770 kpc. In this Letter, we search for neutrinos from this failed SN using data from Super-Kamiokande (SK). Based on the estimated time of black hole formation inferred from optical and infrared observations, we define a search window for neutrino events in the SK data. Using this window, we develop a dedicated analysis method for failed SNe and apply it to M31-2014-DS1, by conducting a cluster search using the timing and energy information of candidate events. No significant neutrino excess is observed within the search region. Consequently, we place an upper limit on the time-integrated electron antineutrino luminosity from M31-2014-DS1 and discuss its implications for various failed SN models and their neutrino emission characteristics. Despite the 18 MeV threshold adopted to suppress backgrounds, the search remains sufficiently sensitive to constrain the Shen-TM1 equation of state, in a more optimistic emission scenario with progenitor stars of 40M_⊙and relatively high mean electron-antineutrino energies of about 23.2 MeV, yielding a 90% confidence level upper limit of 1.76 × 10⁵³erg on the time-integrated electron antineutrino luminosity, moderately above the expected value of 1.35 × 10⁵³erg. 

Measurement of the branching ratio of 16N, 15C, 12B, and 13B isotopes through the nuclear muon capture reaction in the Super-Kamiokande detector 

We present measurements of total neutron production from atmospheric neutrino interactions in water, analyzed as a function of electron-equivalent visible energy over a range of 30 MeV to 10 GeV. These results are based on 4,270 days of data collected by Super-Kamiokande, including 564 days with 0.011 wt% gadolinium added to enhance neutron detection. Neutron signal selection is based on a neural network trained on simulation, with its performance validated using an Am/Be neutron point source. The measurements are compared to predictions from neutrino event generators combined with various hadron-nucleus interaction models, which include an intranuclear cascade model and a nuclear deexcitation model. We observe significant variations in the predictions depending on the choice of hadron-nucleus interaction model. We discuss key factors that contribute to describing our data, such as in-medium effects in the intranuclear cascade and the accuracy of statistical evaporation modeling. 

Abstract This paper presents the expected sensitivity to the neutrino oscillation parameters of the Hyper-Kamiokande long-baseline program. The Hyper-Kamiokande experiment, currently under construction in Japan, will measure the oscillations of accelerator-produced neutrinos with thousands of selected events per sample: this corresponds to an increase of statistics of a factor 25–100 with respect to recent results from the currently-running long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment in Japan, T2K. In the most favorable scenario we will achieve the discovery of Charge-Parity (CP) violation in neutrino oscillation at$$5\sigma $$ $5\sigma$ C.L. in less than 3 years. With 10 years of data-taking, and assuming a neutrino : antineutrino beam running ratio of 1:3, a CP violation discovery at$$5\sigma $$ $5\sigma$ C.L. is possible for more than 60% of the actual values of the CP-violating phase,$$\delta _{CP}.$$ ${\delta }_{\mathrm{CP}}.$ Moreover, we will measure$$\delta _{CP}$$ ${\delta }_{\mathrm{CP}}$ with a precision ranging from 20$$^{\circ },$$ $_{}^{\circ },$ in the case of maximal CP violation, to 6$$^{\circ },$$ $_{}^{\circ },$ in the case of CP conservation. We aim to achieve a 0.5% resolution on the$$\Delta m^2_{32}$$ $\Delta m_{32}^2$ parameter, and a resolution between 3% and 0.5% on the$$\sin ^2\theta _{23}$$ ${sin}^2{\theta }_{23}$ parameter, depending on its true value. These results are obtained by extending the analysis methods of T2K with dedicated tuning to take into account the Hyper-Kamiokande design: the larger far detector, the more powerful beam, the upgraded near detector ND280, and the planned additional Intermediate Water Cherenkov Detector.