Search

Employing an 800 MeV, high-intensity proton beam, the LSND experiment performed a sensitive search for neutrino oscillations and obtained evidence for ν μ → ν e flavor change. Although the KARMEN experiment observed no such evidence, a joint analysis of the two experiments shows that the data sets are compatible with neutrino oscillations occurring either in a band from 0.2 to 1 eV 2 or in a region around 7 eV 2. The MiniBooNE experiment at Fermilab was designed to test the LSND evidence for neutrino oscillations [C. Athanassopoulos et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 75, 2650 (1995); 77, 3082 (1996); 81, 1774 (1998); A. Aguilar et al., Phys. Rev. D 64, 112007 (2001)]. The MiniBooNE oscillation result in neutrino mode [A. Aguilar-Arevalo et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 98, 231801 (2007); A. Aguilar-Arevalo et al. arXiv:0812.2243 ] shows no significant excess of events at higher energies ( E ν > 475 MeV ), although a sizeable excess is observed at lower energies ( E ν 475 MeV ). The lack of a significant excess at higher energies allows MiniBooNE to rule out simple 2 − ν oscillations as an explanation of the LSND signal. However, the low-energy excess is presently unexplained. Additional antineutrino data and NuMI data may allow the collaboration to determine whether the excess is due, for example, to a neutrino neutral-current radiative interaction or to neutrino oscillations involving sterile neutrinos and whether the excess is related to the LSND signal. If the excess is consistent with being due to sterile neutrinos or other new physics, then future experiments at FNAL (MicroBooNE & BooNE) or ORNL (OscSNS) or with the Low-Energy Neutrino Spectrometer (LENS) detector could confirm their existence.

The LSND experiment at Los Alamos has conducted searches for {anti {nu}}{sub {mu}} {r_arrow} {anti {nu}}{sub e} oscillations using {anti {nu}}{sub {mu}} from {mu}{sup +} decay at rest and for {nu}{sub {mu}} {r_arrow} {nu}{sub e} oscillations using {nu}{sub {mu}} from {pi}{sup +} decay in flight. For the {anti {nu}}{sub {mu}} {r_arrow} {anti {nu}}{sub e} search, a total excess of 51.8{sub {minus}16.9}{sup +18.7} {+-} 8.0 events is observed with e{sup +} energy between 20 and 60 MeV, while for the {nu}{sub mu} {r_arrow} {nu}{sub e} search, a total excess of 18.1 {+-} 6.6 {+-} 4.0 events is observed with e{sup {minus}} energy between 60 and 200 MeV. If attributed to neutrino oscillations, these excesses correspond to oscillation probabilities (averaged over the experimental energies and spatial acceptances) of (0.31 {+-} 0.12 {+-} 0.05)% and (0.26 {+-} 0.10 {+-} 0.05)%, respectively. For the future, the BooNE experiment at Fermilab could prove that neutrino oscillations occur and make precision measurements of {Delta}m{sup 2} and sin{sup 2}2{theta}.

A search for {anti v}{sub {mu}} {yields} {anti v}{sub e} oscillations has been made by the Liquid Scintillator Neutrino Detector experiment at LAMPF after an initial month and a half run. The experiment observes eight events consistent with the reaction {anti v}{sub e}p {yields} e{sup +}n followed by np {yields} d{gamma} (2.2 MeV). The total estimated background is 0.9{plus_minus}0.2 events.

In the past several years, a number of experiments have searched for neutrino oscillations, where a neutrino of one type (say {bar {nu}}{sub {mu}}) spontaneously transforms into a neutrino of another type (say {bar {nu}}{sub e}). For this phenomenon to occur, neutrinos must be massive and the apparent conservation law of lepton families must be violated. In 1995 the LSND experiment published data showing candidate events that are consistent with {bar {nu}}{sub {mu}} oscillations. Additional data are reported here which provide stronger evidence for neutrino oscillations.