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Updated: Oct 24, 2025
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Setting Limits on Supersymmetry Using Simplified Models
Published on: November 15, 2013
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OPERA tau neutrino charged current interactions
N Agafonova1, A Alexandrov2, A Anokhina3
1INR - Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.
Scientific Data
|August 13, 2021
Summary
The OPERA experiment confirmed neutrino oscillations by detecting tau neutrinos (vτ) in a muon neutrino (vμ) beam. This discovery, observed through ten candidate interactions, validates fundamental physics principles.
Area of Science:
- Particle Physics
- Neutrino Physics
- Astroparticle Physics
Background:
- Neutrino oscillations, the transformation of one neutrino flavor into another, are a key phenomenon in particle physics.
- The OPERA experiment aimed to provide direct evidence for muon neutrino (vμ) to tau neutrino (vτ) oscillations.
- Detecting vτ is challenging due to their low interaction probability.
Purpose of the Study:
- To discover the appearance of tau neutrinos (vτ) in a muon neutrino (vμ) beam.
- To confirm neutrino oscillations through direct observation of vτ interactions.
- To provide a detailed description of the vτ data sample for community use.
Main Methods:
- Utilized the OPERA detector, a 1.25 kiloton nuclear emulsion/lead target complemented by electronic detectors.
- Exposed the detector to the CERN Neutrinos to Gran Sasso (CNGS) beam from 2008 to 2012.
- Analyzed data for tau neutrino charged-current (CC) interaction candidates.
Main Results:
- Observed ten vτ CC interaction candidates.
- Assessed the discovery of vμ→vτ oscillations with a statistical significance of 6.1 sigma.
- Published the findings and the vτ data sample on the CERN Open Data Portal.
Conclusions:
- The OPERA experiment successfully discovered vμ→vτ oscillations.
- The results provide strong evidence for the phenomenon of neutrino oscillations.
- The detailed data sample enhances accessibility for further scientific research.
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