APS » Phys. Rev. D » Volume 73 » Issue 7

P. Adamson,^11,33,29 T. Alexopoulos,³⁶ W. W. M. Allison,²³ G. J. Alner,²⁵ K. Anderson,¹¹ C. Andreopoulos,^25,2 M. Andrews,¹¹ R. Andrews,¹¹ C. Arroyo,²⁸ S. Avvakumov,²⁸ D. S. Ayres,¹ B. Baller,¹¹ B. Barish,⁵ M. A. Barker,²³ P. D. Barnes, Jr.,²⁰ G. Barr,²³ W. L. Barrett,³⁴ E. Beall,^1,21 B. R. Becker,²¹ A. Belias,²⁵ T. Bergfeld,²⁷ R. H. Bernstein,¹¹ D. Bhattacharya,²⁴ M. Bishai,⁴ A. Blake,⁶ V. Bocean,¹¹ B. Bock,²² G. J. Bock,¹¹ J. Boehm,¹² D. J. Boehnlein,¹¹ D. Bogert,¹¹ P. M. Border,²¹ C. Bower,¹⁴ S. Boyd,²⁴ E. Buckley-Geer,¹¹ A. Byon-Wagner,¹¹ A. Cabrera,²³ J. D. Chapman,⁶ T. R. Chase,²¹ S. K. Chernichenko,¹⁵ S. Childress,¹¹ B. C. Choudhary,^11,5 J. H. Cobb,²³ J. D. Cossairt,¹¹ H. Courant,²¹ D. A. Crane,¹ A. J. Culling,⁶ J. W. Dawson,¹ D. M. DeMuth,²¹ A. De Santo,²³ M. Dierckxsens,⁴ M. V. Diwan,⁴ M. Dorman,^33,25 G. Drake,¹ R. Ducar,¹¹ T. Durkin,²⁵ A. R. Erwin,³⁶ C. O. Escobar,⁷ J. Evans,²³ O. D. Fackler,²⁰ E. Falk Harris,²⁹ G. J. Feldman,¹² N. Felt,¹² T. H. Fields,¹ R. Ford,¹¹ M. V. Frohne,³ H. R. Gallagher,^32,23,1,21 M. Gebhard,¹⁴ A. Godley,²⁷ J. Gogos,²¹ M. C. Goodman,¹ Yu. Gornushkin,¹⁸ P. Gouffon,²⁶ E. Grashorn,²² N. Grossman,¹¹ J. J. Grudzinski,¹ K. Grzelak,²³ V. Guarino,¹ A. Habig,²² R. Halsall,²⁵ J. Hanson,⁵ D. Harris,¹¹ P. G. Harris,²⁹ J. Hartnell,^25,23 E. P. Hartouni,²⁰ R. Hatcher,¹¹ K. Heller,²¹ N. Hill,¹ Y. Ho,¹⁰ C. Howcroft,^5,6 J. Hylen,¹¹ M. Ignatenko,¹⁸ D. Indurthy,³¹ G. M. Irwin,²⁸ C. James,¹¹ L. Jenner,³³ D. Jensen,¹¹ T. Joffe-Minor,¹ T. Kafka,³² H. J. Kang,²⁸ S. M. S. Kasahara,²¹ J. Kilmer,¹¹ H. Kim,⁵ G. Koizumi,¹¹ S. Kopp,³¹ M. Kordosky,^33,31 D. J. Koskinen,^33,22 M. Kostin,³¹ D. A. Krakauer,¹ S. Kumaratunga,²¹ A. S. Ladran,²⁰ K. Lang,³¹ C. Laughton,¹¹ A. Lebedev,¹² R. Lee,¹² W. Y. Lee,¹⁰ M. A. Libkind,²⁰ J. Liu,³¹ P. J. Litchfield,^21,25 R. P. Litchfield,²³ N. P. Longley,²¹ P. Lucas,¹¹ W. Luebke,¹³ S. Madani,²⁵ E. Maher,²¹ V. Makeev,^11,15 W. A. Mann,³² A. Marchionni,¹¹ A. D. Marino,¹¹ M. L. Marshak,²¹ J. S. Marshall,⁶ J. McDonald,²⁴ A. McGowan,^1,21 J. R. Meier,²¹ G. I. Merzon,¹⁹ M. D. Messier,^14,12 D. G. Michael,⁵ R. H. Milburn,³² J. L. Miller,^17,14 W. H. Miller,²¹ S. R. Mishra,^27,12 P. S. Miyagawa,²³ C. Moore,¹¹ J. Morfín,¹¹ R. Morse,²⁹ L. Mualem,²¹ S. Mufson,¹⁴ S. Murgia,²⁸ M. J. Murtagh,⁴ J. Musser,¹⁴ D. Naples,²⁴ C. Nelson,¹¹ J. K. Nelson,^35,11,21 H. B. Newman,⁵ F. Nezrick,¹¹ R. J. Nichol,³³ T. C. Nicholls,²⁵ J. P. Ochoa-Ricoux,⁵ J. Oliver,¹² W. P. Oliver,³² V. A. Onuchin,¹⁵ T. Osiecki,³¹ R. Ospanov,³¹ J. Paley,¹⁴ V. Paolone,²⁴ A. Para,¹¹ T. Patzak,^9,32 Z. Pavlovich,³¹ G. F. Pearce,²⁵ N. Pearson,²¹ C. W. Peck,⁵ C. Perry,²³ E. A. Peterson,²¹ D. A. Petyt,^21,25,23 H. Ping,³⁶ R. Piteira,⁹ A. Pla-Dalmau,¹¹ R. K. Plunkett,¹¹ L. E. Price,¹ M. Proga,³¹ D. R. Pushka,¹¹ D. Rahman,²¹ R. A. Rameika,¹¹ T. M. Raufer,²³ A. L. Read,¹¹ B. Rebel,^11,14 D. E. Reyna,¹ C. Rosenfeld,²⁷ H. A. Rubin,¹³ K. Ruddick,²¹ V. A. Ryabov,¹⁹ R. Saakyan,³³ M. C. Sanchez,^12,32 N. Saoulidou,^11,2 J. Schneps,³² P. V. Schoessow,¹ P. Schreiner,³ R. Schwienhorst,²¹ V. K. Semenov,¹⁵ S.-M. Seun,¹² P. Shanahan,¹¹ P. D. Shield,²³ W. Smart,¹¹ V. Smirnitsky,¹⁶ C. Smith,^33,29,5 P. N. Smith,²⁹ A. Sousa,³² B. Speakman,²¹ P. Stamoulis,² A. Stefanik,¹¹ P. Sullivan,²³ J. M. Swan,²⁰ P. A. Symes,²⁹ N. Tagg,²³ R. L. Talaga,¹ E. Tetteh-Lartey,³⁰ J. Thomas,^33,23,11 J. Thompson,²⁴ M. A. Thomson,⁶ J. L. Thron,¹ R. Trendler,¹¹ J. Trevor,⁵ I. Trostin,¹⁶ V. A. Tsarev,¹⁹ G. Tzanakos,² J. Urheim,^14,21 P. Vahle,^33,31 M. Vakili,³⁰ K. Vaziri,¹¹ C. Velissaris,³⁶ V. Verebryusov,¹⁶ B. Viren,⁴ L. Wai,²⁸ C. P. Ward,⁶ D. R. Ward,⁶ M. Watabe,³⁰ A. Weber,^23,25 R. C. Webb,³⁰ A. Wehmann,¹¹ N. West,²³ C. White,¹³ R. F. White,²⁹ S. G. Wojcicki,²⁸ D. M. Wright,²⁰ Q. K. Wu,²⁷ W. G. Yan,⁸ T. Yang,²⁸ F. X. Yumiceva,³⁵ J. C. Yun,¹¹ H. Zheng,⁵ M. Zois,² and R. Zwaska³¹

(MINOS Collaboration)

¹Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA
²Department of Physics, University of Athens, GR-15771 Athens, Greece
³Physics Department, Benedictine University, Lisle, Illinois 60532, USA
⁴Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York 11973, USA
⁵Lauritsen Lab, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA
⁶Department of Physics, Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HE, United Kingdom
⁷Universidade Estadual de Campinas, IF-UNICAMP, CP 6165, 13083-970, Campinas, SP, Brazil
⁸Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, China
⁹APC–Collège de France, 11 Place Marcelin Berthelot, F-75231 Paris Cedex 05, France
¹⁰Physics Department, Columbia University, New York, New York 10027, USA
¹¹Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Batavia, Illinois 60510, USA
¹²High Energy Physics Lab, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA
¹³Physics Division, Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois 60616, USA
¹⁴Physics Department, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, USA
¹⁵Institute for High Energy Physics, Protvino, Moscow Region RU-140284, Russia
¹⁶High Energy Experimental Physics Department, Institute of Theoretical and Expermental Physics, B. Cheremushkinskaya, 25, 117218 Moscow, Russia
¹⁷Physics Department, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia 22807, USA
¹⁸Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, Moscow Region, RU-141980, Russia
¹⁹Nuclear Physics Department, Lebedev Physical Inst., Leninsky Prospect 53, 117924 Moscow, Russia
²⁰Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94550, USA
²¹University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA
²²Department of Physics, University of Minnesota–Duluth, Duluth, Minnesota 55812, USA
²³Sub-deptartment of Particle Physics, University of Oxford, Denys Wilkinson Bldg, Keble Road, Oxford OX1 3RH, United Kingdom
²⁴Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, USA
²⁵Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Chilton, Didcot, Oxfordshire, OX11 0QX, United Kingdom
²⁶Instituto de Física, Universidade de São Paulo, CP 66318, 05315-970, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
²⁷Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina 29208, USA
²⁸Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305, USA
²⁹Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sussex, Falmer, Brighton BN1 9QH, United Kingdom
³⁰Physics Department, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843, USA
³¹Department of Physics, University of Texas, 1 University Station, Austin, Texas 78712, USA
³²Physics Department, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts 02155, USA
³³Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
³⁴Physics Department, Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington 98225, USA
³⁵Department of Physics, College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia 23187, USA
³⁶Physics Department, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA

The complete 5.4 kton MINOS far detector has been taking data since the beginning of August 2003 at a depth of 2070 meters water-equivalent in the Soudan mine, Minnesota. This paper presents the first MINOS observations of nu_µ and [overline nu ]_µ charged-current atmospheric neutrino interactions based on an exposure of 418 days. The ratio of upward- to downward-going events in the data is compared to the Monte Carlo expectation in the absence of neutrino oscillations, giving R_up/down^data/R_up/down^MC=0.62_-0.14^+0.19(stat.)±0.02(sys.). An extended maximum likelihood analysis of the observed L/E distributions excludes the null hypothesis of no neutrino oscillations at the 98% confidence level. Using the curvature of the observed muons in the 1.3 T MINOS magnetic field nu_µ and [overline nu ]_µ interactions are separated. The ratio of [overline nu ]_µ to nu_µ events in the data is compared to the Monte Carlo expectation assuming neutrinos and antineutrinos oscillate in the same manner, giving R_{[overline nu ][sub mu]/nu[sub mu]}^data/R_{[overline nu ][sub mu]/nu[sub mu]}^MC=0.96_-0.27^+0.38(stat.)±0.15(sys.), where the errors are the statistical and systematic uncertainties. Although the statistics are limited, this is the first direct observation of atmospheric neutrino interactions separately for nu_µ and [overline nu ]_µ.

©2006 The American Physical Society

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