Observation of an excess of ν e , ν e events in a beam dump experiment at 400 GeV

A beam dump experiment has been performed at CERN in Gargamelle using the neutrino facility to look for penetrating particles produced either directly in the beam interaction or by prompt decay of new particles. A total of 32 interactions with a visible energy greater than 10 GeV has been found, classified, aftercorrections, into 18 charged current ν μ or ν μ , 5.1 neutral current and 8.9 ν e or ν e charged current events. An excess of ν e events remains after all subtractions from any established sources. Results are presented in terms of the product of the cross section and the leptonic decay branching ratio of the possible source.