The T2K experiment has observed electron neutrino appearance in a muon neutrino beam produced 295 km from the Super-Kamiokande detector with a peak energy of 0.6 GeV. A total of 28 electron neutrino events were detected with an energy distribution consistent with an appearance signal, PRL 112, 061802 (2014) P H Y S I C A L R E V I E W L E T T E R Sweek ending 14 FEBRUARY 2014 061802-2 corresponding to a significance of 7.3σ when compared to 4.92 AE 0.55 expected background events. In the Pontecorvo-Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata mixing model, the electron neutrino appearance signal depends on several parameters including three mixing angles θ 12 , θ 23 , θ 13 , a mass difference Δm 2 32 and a CP violating phase δ CP . In this neutrino oscillation scenario, assuming jΔm 2 32 j ¼ 2.4 × 10 −3 eV 2 , sin 2 θ 23 ¼ 0.5, and Δm −0.037 ) is obtained at δ CP ¼ 0. When combining the result with the current best knowledge of oscillation parameters including the world average value of θ 13 from reactor experiments, some values of δ CP are disfavored at the 90% C.L. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.061802 PACS numbers: 14.60.Pq, 14.60.Lm, 25.30.Pt, 29.40.Ka Introduction.-The discovery of neutrino oscillations using atmospheric neutrinos was made by SuperKamiokande in 1998 [1]. Since then, many other experiments have confirmed the phenomenon of neutrino oscillations through various disappearance modes of flavor transformations. However, to date, there has not been an observation of the explicit appearance of a different neutrino flavor from neutrinos of another flavor through neutrino oscillations. In 2011, the T2K collaboration published the first indication of electron neutrino appearance from a muon neutrino beam at 2.5σ significance based on a data set corresponding to 1.43 × 10 20 protons on target (POT) [2,3]. This result was followed by the publication of further evidence for electron neutrino appearance at 3.1σ in early 2013 [4]. This Letter presents new results from the T2K experiment that establish, at greater than 5σ, the observation of electron-neutrino appearance from a muon-neutrino beam.In a three-flavor framework, neutrino oscillations are described by the Pontecorvo-Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata (PMNS) matrix [5,6] which is parametrized by three mixing angles θ 12 , θ 23 , θ 13 , and a CP violating phase δ CP . In this framework, the probability for ν μ → ν e oscillation can be expressed [7] as where L is the neutrino propagation distance and E is the neutrino energy. The measurement of ν μ → ν e oscillations is of particular interest because this mode is sensitive to both θ 13 and δ CP . The first indication of nonzero θ 13 was published by T2K [3] based on the measurement of ν μ → ν e oscillations. More recently, indications of ν μ → ν e oscillations were also reported by the MINOS experiment [8]. The value of θ 13 is now precisely known to be 9.1°AE 0.6°from measurements ofν e disappearance in reactor neutrino experiments [9][10][11][12]. Using the reactor measurement of θ 13 , the ν μ → ν e appearance mode can be used to ...

The Tokai-to-Kamioka (T2K) experiment studies neutrino oscillations using an off-axis muon neutrino beam with a peak energy of about 0.6 GeV that originates at the J-PARC accelerator facility. Interactions of the neutrinos are observed at near detectors placed at 280 m from the production target and at the far detector -Super-Kamiokande (SK) -located 295 km away. The flux prediction is an essential part of the successful prediction of neutrino interaction rates at the T2K detectors and is an important input to T2K neutrino oscillation and cross section measurements. A FLUKA and GEANT3 based simulation models the physical processes involved in the neutrino production, from the interaction of primary beam protons in the T2K target, to the decay of hadrons 3 and muons that produce neutrinos. The simulation uses proton beam monitor measurements as inputs. The modeling of hadronic interactions is re-weighted using thin target hadron production data, including recent charged pion and kaon measurements from the NA61/SHINE experiment. For the first T2K analyses the uncertainties on the flux prediction are evaluated to be below 15% near the flux peak. The uncertainty on the ratio of the flux predictions at the far and near detectors is less than 2% near the flux peak.

New data from the T2K neutrino oscillation experiment produce the most precise measurement of the neutrino mixing parameter θ23. Using an off-axis neutrino beam with a peak energy of 0.6 GeV and a data set corresponding to 6.57 × 10 20 protons on target, T2K has fit the energydependent νµ oscillation probability to determine oscillation parameters. The 68% confidence limit 3 on sin 2 (θ23) is 0.514−0.056 (0.511 ± 0.055), assuming normal (inverted) mass hierarchy. The bestfit mass-squared splitting for normal hierarchy is ∆m 2 32 = (2.51 ± 0.10) ×10 −3 eV 2 /c 4 (inverted hierarchy: ∆m 2 13 = (2.48 ± 0.10) ×10 −3 eV 2 /c 4 ). Adding a model of multinucleon interactions that affect neutrino energy reconstruction is found to produce only small biases in neutrino oscillation parameter extraction at current levels of statistical uncertainty.

The T2K collaboration reports evidence for electron neutrino appearance at the atmospheric mass splitting, |∆m 2 32 | ≈ 2.4 × 10 −3 eV 2 . An excess of electron neutrino interactions over background is observed from a muon neutrino beam with a peak energy of 0.6 GeV at the Super-Kamiokande (SK) detector 295 km from the beam's origin. Signal and background predictions are constrained by data from near detectors located 280 m from the neutrino production target. We observe 11 electron neutrino candidate events at the SK detector when a background of 3.3 ± 0.4(syst.) events is expected. The background-only hypothesis is rejected with a p-value of 0.0009 (3.1σ), and a 3 fit assuming νµ → νe oscillations with sin 2 2θ23=1, δCP =0 and |∆m 2 32 | = 2.4 × 10 −3 eV 2 yields sin 2 2θ13=0.088+0.049 −0.039 (stat.+syst.).

The Tokai-to-Kamioka (T2K) experiment studies neutrino oscillations using an off-axis muon neutrino beam with a peak energy of about 0.6 GeV that originates at the J-PARC accelerator facility. Interactions of the neutrinos are observed at near detectors placed at 280 m from the production target and at the far detector -Super-Kamiokande (SK) -located 295 km away. The flux prediction is an essential part of the successful prediction of neutrino interaction rates at the T2K detectors and is an important input to T2K neutrino oscillation and cross section measurements. A FLUKA and GEANT3 based simulation models the physical processes involved in the neutrino 3 production, from the interaction of primary beam protons in the T2K target, to the decay of hadrons and muons that produce neutrinos. The simulation uses proton beam monitor measurements as inputs. The modeling of hadronic interactions is re-weighted using thin target hadron production data, including recent charged pion and kaon measurements from the NA61/SHINE experiment. For the first T2K analyses the uncertainties on the flux prediction are evaluated to be below 15% near the flux peak. The uncertainty on the ratio of the flux predictions at the far and near detectors is less than 2% near the flux peak.