While neutrino physics enters precision era, several important unknowns remain. Atmospheric neutrinos allow to simultaneously test key oscillation parameters, with Super-Kamiokande experiment playing a central role. We discuss results from atmospheric neutrino oscillation analysis of the full dataset from Super-Kamiokande I-IV phases. Further, we discuss tests of non-standard neutrino interactions with atmospheric neutrinos in Super-Kamiokande.
The Super-Kamiokande experiment has collected more than 11 live-years of atmospheric neutrino data. Atmospheric neutrinos cover a wide phase space in both energy and distance travelled, the parameters relevant for studying neutrino oscillations. We present here recent measurements of the three-flavor neutrino oscillation parameters using this atmospheric neutrino data, as well as new limits on mixing with a fourth sterile neutrino state.
New atmospheric neutrino results from Super-Kamiokande are presented. Results from Kamiokande on upward going muons are also presented. All these data, together with the Kamiokande atmospheric neutrino data give evidence for neutrino oscillations. Two flavor nu_mu <-> nu_tau oscillations, with large sin^2(2theta) and Delta-m^2 in the region of 10^-3 to 10^-2, explain all these data.
In 1998, the Super-Kamiokande announced evidence for the observation of neutrino oscillations based on measurements of the atmospheric neutrino flux. This paper presents the updated results for fully and partially-contained events with 736 days of data, as well as upward-going muon results and a global analysis. Preliminary interpretations of the results in terms of various two-flavor oscillation hypotheses are presented.
Recent results from a 282 kiloton-year exposure of the Super-Kamiokande detector to atmospheric neutrinos are presented. The data when fit both by themselves and in conjunction with constraints from the T2K and reactor neutrino experiments show a weak, though insignificant, preference for the normal mass hierarchy at the level of ~1 sigma. Searches for evidence of oscillations into a sterile neutrino have resulted in limits on the parameters governing their mixing, |U_mu4}|^2 <0.041 and |U_tau4|^2 < 0.18 at 90% C.L. A similar search for an indication of Lorentz-invariance violating oscillation…
Atmospheric neutrino and solar neutrino data from the first phase of Super-Kamiokande (SK-I) are presented. The observed data are used to study atmospheric and solar neutrino oscillations. Zenith angle distributions from various atmospheric neutrino data samples are used to estimate the neutrino oscillation parameter region. In addition, a new result of the $L/E$ measurement is presented. A dip in the $L/E$ distribution was observed in the data, as predicted from the sinusoidal flavor transition probability of neutrino oscillation. The energy spectrum and the time variation such as day/night a…
In the previous paper (Part~1), we have verified that the SK assumption on the direction does not hold in the analysis of neutrino events occurred inside the SK detector. We have made four possible L/E analyses, L_nu/E_nu, L_nu/E_mu, L_mu/E_nu and L_mu/E_mu. Among four kinds of L/E analyses, we have shown that only L_nu/E_nu analysis can give the signature of maximum oscillations clearly, while the L_mu/E_mu analysis which are really done by Super-Kamiokande Collaboration cannot give the maximum oscillation at all. It is thus concluded that Super-Kamiokande type experiment cannot find the maxi…
A variety of new physics scenarios allow for neutrinos to up-scatter into a heavy neutral lepton state. For a range of couplings and neutrino energies, the heavy neutrino may travel some distance before decaying to visible final states. When both the up-scattering and decay occur within the detector volume, these "double bang" events produce distinctive phenomenology with very low background. In this work, we first consider the current sensitivity at Super-Kamiokande via the atmospheric neutrino flux, and find current data may already provide new constraints. We then examine projected future s…
We present a combined analysis of fully-contained, partially-contained and upward-going muon atmospheric neutrino data from a 1489 day exposure of the Super--Kamiokande detector. The data samples span roughly five decades in neutrino energy, from 100 MeV to 10 TeV. A detailed Monte Carlo comparison is described and presented. The data is fit to the Monte Carlo expectation, and is found to be consistent with neutrino oscillations of $ν_μ\leftrightarrow ν_τ$ with $\sin^22θ> 0.92$ and $1.5\times 10^{-3} < Δm^2 < 3.4\times 10^{-3}{\rm eV}^2$ at 90% confidence level.
We present atmospheric neutrino results from a 79 kiloton year (1289 days) exposure of the Super-Kamiokande detector. Our data are well explained by $ν_μ \to ν_τ$ 2-flavor oscillations. We have been attempting to discriminate between the possible oscillating partners of the muon neutrino as being either the tau neutrino or the sterile neutrino. Pure $ν_μ\toν_s$ oscillation is disfavored at 99% C.L.. Moreover, we performed the appearance search for charged current tau neutrino interactions in the upward-going samples. Our data is consistent with $ν_τ$ appearance at roughly the two-sigma level.
We consider the oscillations of atmospheric neutrinos in the earth in the three-neutrino scheme with a $Δm^2$ hierarchy and a small admixture of the electron neutrino in the heavy mass eigenstate characterized by the mixing angle $θ_{13}$. We show that for $Δm^2 \simeq (0.5 - 3) \times 10^{-3}$ eV$^2$ indicated by the Super-Kamiokande data and $\sin^2 2θ_{13} \aprle 0.2$, the oscillations of multi-GeV neutrinos in the subdominant $ν_μ \leftrightarrow ν_e$ mode are enhanced by the MSW and parametric resonances. The parametric resonance, which occurs when the neutrinos cross the core of the eart…
We consider a muonphilic axion-like-particle (ALP), denoted as $a$, lighter than twice the muon mass. ALPs of this mass range dominantly decay into a pair of photons, induced by a triangular muon loop. Such light muonphilic ALPs are naturally long-lived. At the atmosphere, the ALPs are copiously produced from charged-meson decays in air showers, such as $π^\pm \to μ^\pm νa$, via the ALP-muon coupling $g_{aμμ}$. After propagating tens of kilometers, the ALPs decay with $a\to γγ$ inside large-volume Cherenkov detectors near the Earth's surface, such as Super-Kamiokande (SK). We find the present …
We report on the results of a three-flavor oscillation analysis using Super-Kamiokande~I atmospheric neutrino data, with the assumption of one mass scale dominance ($Δm_{12}^2$$=$0). No significant flux change due to matter effect, which occurs when neutrinos propagate inside the Earth for $θ_{13}$$\neq$0, has been seen either in a multi-GeV $ν_e$-rich sample or in a $ν_μ$-rich sample. Both normal and inverted mass hierarchy hypotheses are tested and both are consistent with observation. Using Super-Kamiokande data only, 2-dimensional 90 % confidence allowed regions are obtained: mixing angles…
Recent results show that atmospheric $ν_μ$ oscillate with $δm^2 \simeq 3 \times 10^{-3}$ eV$^2$ and $\sin^2{2θ_{atm}} \simeq 1$, and that conversion into $ν_e$ is strongly disfavored. The Super-Kamiokande (SK) collaboration, using a combination of three techniques, reports that their data favor $ν_μ\to ν_τ$ over $ν_μ\to ν_{sterile}$. This distinction is extremely important for both four-neutrino models and cosmology. We propose that neutrino-proton elastic scattering ($ν+ p \to ν+ p$) in water Čerenkov detectors can also distinguish between active and sterile oscillations. This was not previou…
A strong body of evidence now exists for atmospheric nu_mu disappearance oscillations. Such disappearance could be explained by oscillations to either nu_tau or a ``sterile'' neutrino (nu_s). Super-Kamiokande uses three different methods to distinguish between these two scenarios. First, matter effects would suppress the nu_mu <-> nu_s oscillation amplitude at high energy. Second, oscillation to nu_s would reduce the overall neutral-current neutrino interaction rate. Third, the smoking gun of nu_mu <-> nu_tau oscillations would be the observation of tau appearance resulting from charged-curren…
We consider muon neutrino to tau neutrino oscillations in the context of the Mass Varying Neutrino (MaVaN) model, where the neutrino mass can vary depending on the electron density along the flight path of the neutrino. Our analysis assumes a mechanism with dependence only upon the electron density, hence ordinary matter density, of the medium through which the neutrino travels. Fully-contained, partially-contained and upward-going muon atmospheric neutrino data from the Super--Kamiokande detector, taken from the entire SK--I period of 1489 live days, are compared to MaVaN model predictions. W…
The recent results from Super-Kamiokande (SK) are reported. On atmospheric neutrino analysis, we have performed a full 3-flavor oscillation analysis with SK-I+II+III data. A CPT violation study on atmospheric neutrino is also done with SK-I+II+III data. On solar neutrino analysis, a 3-flavor oscillation analysis with SK-III data is performed.
It is said that the finding of the maximum oscillation in neutrino oscillation by Super-Kamiokande is one of the major achievements of the SK. In present paper, we examine the assumption made by Super-Kamiokande Collaboration that the direction of the incident neutrino is approximately the same as that of the produced lepton, which is the cornerstone in their L/E analysis and we find this approximation does not hold even approximately. In the Part 2 of the subsequent paper, we apply the results from Figures 12, 13 and 14 to L/E analysis and conclude that one cannot obtain the maximum oscillati…
Super-Kamiokande atmospheric neutrino data were fit with an unbinned maximum likelihood method to search for the appearance of tau leptons resulting from the interactions of oscillation-generated tau neutrinos in the detector. Relative to the expectation of unity, the tau normalization is found to be $1.42 \pm 0.35 \ (stat) {\}^{+0.14}_{-0.12}\ (syst) $ excluding the no-tau-appearance hypothesis, for which the normalization would be zero, at the 3.8$σ$ level. We estimate that $180.1 \pm 44.3\ (stat) {\}^{+17.8}_{-15.2}\ (syst)$ tau leptons were produced in the 22.5 kton fiducial volume of the …
We investigate the ability of the upcoming Hyper-Kamiokande (Hyper-K) neutrino experiment to detect new physics phenomena beyond the standard, three-massive-neutrinos paradigm; namely the existence of a fourth, sterile neutrino or weaker-than-weak, non-standard neutrino interactions. With both beam-based neutrinos from the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC) and atmospheric neutrinos, Hyper-K is capable of exploring new ranges of parameter space in these new-physics scenarios. We find that Hyper-K has comparable capability to the upcoming Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DU…
We propose the Hyper-Kamiokande (Hyper-K) detector as a next generation un- derground water Cherenkov detector. It will serve as a far detector of a long base- line neutrino oscillation experiment envisioned for the upgraded J-PARC beam, and as a detector capable of observing, far beyond the sensitivity of the Super-Kamiokande (Super-K) detector, proton decays, atmospheric neutrinos, and neutrinos from astro- physical origins. The current baseline design of Hyper-K is based on the highly suc- cessful Super-K detector, taking full advantage of a well-proven technology. Hyper-K consists of two c…
Using data from both solar and atmospheric neutrinos, Super-Kamiokande has provided fundamental information on neutrino flavor mixing and neutrino mass square differences.
High-energy neutrinos from SN1987A were searched for using upward-going muons recorded by the Kamiokande-II experiment and the IMB experiment. Between 1987 August 11 and October 20, and from an angular window of 10 degree radius, two upward-going muon events were recorded by Kamiokande-II, and also two events were recorded by IMB. The probability that these upward-going muons were explained by a chance coincidence of atmospheric neutrinos was calculated to be 0.27%. This shows possible evidence of high-energy neutrinos from SN1987A.
The recent results on the oscillation analyses of solar neutrino and the atmospheric neutrino measurements in Super-Kamiokande are presented. Recent status of the detector is also reported.
Super-Kamiokande is a 50 kiloton water Cherenkov detector located at the Kamioka Observatory of the Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, University of Tokyo. It was designed to study neutrino oscillations and carry out searches for the decay of the nucleon. The Super-Kamiokande experiment began in 1996 and in the ensuing decade of running has produced extremely important results in the fields of atmospheric and solar neutrino oscillations, along with setting stringent limits on the decay of the nucleon and the existence of dark matter and astrophysical sources of neutrinos. Perhaps most cruciall…
In this talk, I will present a snapshot of key results regarding atmospheric neutrinos, as of the summer of 2002. I will review the evidence for neutrino oscillation, dominated by the large sample from Super-Kamiokande, but supported by confirmation from MACRO and Soudan 2. I will then review some of the more detailed inquiries made using Super-Kamiokande data such as alternative scenarios, three-flavor oscillation, and tau neutrino appearance.
If the correct interpretation of the Super-Kamiokande atmospheric neutrino data is ν_μ-> ν_τoscillation, the contained data sample should already have more than 10 tau appearance events. We study the challenging task of detecting the tau, focussing on the decay chain τ^\pm -> ρ^\pm -> π^\pm π^0 in events with quasi-elastic tau production. The background level, which is currently quite uncertain because of a lack of relevant neutral current data, can be measured by the near detector in the K2K experiment. Our estimates of the background suggest that it may be possible to detect tau appearance i…
Neutrino oscillation results from several experiments and sources are discussed. Recent results from solar neutrino measurements by Super-Kamiokande and Borexino, atmospheric neutrino measurements from Super-Kamiokande, and accelerator neutrino measurements by MINOS and OPERA are the main topics of this document.
From an exposure of 25.5~kiloton-years of the Super-Kamiokande detector, 900 muon-like and 983 electron-like single-ring atmospheric neutrino interactions were detected with momentum $p_e > 100$ MeV/$c$, $p_μ> 200$ MeV/$c$, and with visible energy less than 1.33 GeV. Using a detailed Monte Carlo simulation, the ratio $(μ/e)_{DATA}/(μ/e)_{MC}$ was measured to be $0.61 \pm 0.03(stat.) \pm 0.05(sys.)$, consistent with previous results from the Kamiokande, IMB and Soudan-2 experiments, and smaller than expected from theoretical models of atmospheric neutrino production.
A next generation water Cherenkov detector Hyper-Kamiokande to be built in Japan is described. The main goals of this project include a sensitive measurement of CP violation in neutrino oscillations, a search for proton decay and study of solar, atmospherics and astrophysical neutrinos. Key features of the Hyper-Kamiokande detector are described. The main emphasis is put on large photosensors. The recent progress in the development of near neutrino detectors is also presented.
This conference proceeding discusses new results arising from atmospheric neutrino detection in the Super-Kamiokande and IceCube experiments. Super-Kamiokande has measured atmospheric neutrinos in the energy range of 100 MeV-10 TeV and uses this data set to conclusively measure the east-west effect to 8.0 (6.0) $σ$ for electron (muon) neutrinos. IceCube is ideal for measuring high energy atmospheric neutrinos and has explored how different production channels for atmospheric neutrinos contribute to the total overall observed flux. The measurement is consistent with the conventional spectrum, p…
This work presents indirect searches for dark matter (DM) as WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles) using neutrino data recorded by the Super-Kamiokande detector from 1996 to 2014. The results of the search for WIMP-induced neutrinos from the Sun and the Milky Way are discussed. We looked for an excess of neutrinos from the Sun/Milky Way direction compared to the expected atmospheric neutrino background. Event samples including both electron and muon neutrinos covering a wide range of neutrino energies (GeV to TeV) were used, with sensitivity to WIMP masses down to tens of GeV. Various W…
This talk reports the latest indications of an anomaly in the measurements of atmospheric neutrinos. New results from Soudan-2 and Super-Kamiokande provide evidence that the ratio of nu_mu to nu_e interactions is not as expected. High energy Super-Kamiokande data indicates the cause is a deficit of upward-going nu_mu, and the zenith angle dependence of the effect is consistent with neutrino oscillations. Upward-going muon measurements by several detectors are discussed, but in total they provide inconclusive evidence for the anomaly.
Heavy neutral leptons are predicted in many extensions of the Standard Model with massive neutrinos. If kinematically accessible, they can be copiously produced from kaon and pion decays in atmospheric showers, and subsequently decay inside large neutrino detectors. We perform a search for these long-lived particles using Super-Kamiokande multi-GeV neutrino data and derive stringent limits on the mixing with electron, muon and tau neutrinos as a function of the long-lived particle mass. We also present the limits on the branching ratio versus lifetime plane, which are helpful in determining th…
We discuss a possible test of neutrino oscillation hypothesis by proposing the combined analysis of high energy atmospheric neutrino induced muon events that have been detected around horizontal direction in the Kolar Gold Field (KGF) underground site and below the horizontal direction by many large detectors such as Super-Kamiokande and MACRO. Up/down asymmetry obtained using contained events recorded by detectors at Kamioka site probes low energy region of atmospheric neutrino whereas, the suggested method probes high energy neutrinos. It mainly depends on the observations and it is free of …
In this paper we study non-standard neutrino interactions as an example of physics beyond the standard model using atmospheric neutrino data collected during the Super-Kamiokande I(1996-2001) and II(2003-2005) periods. We focus on flavor-changing-neutral-currents (FCNC), which allow neutrino flavor transitions via neutral current interactions, and effects which violate lepton non-universality (NU) and give rise to different neutral-current interaction-amplitudes for different neutrino flavors. We obtain a limit on the FCNC coupling parameter, varepsilon_{mu tau}, |varepsilon_{mu tau}|<1.1 x 10…
We present limits on sterile neutrino mixing using 4,438 live-days of atmospheric neutrino data from the Super-Kamiokande experiment. We search for fast oscillations driven by an eV$^2$-scale mass splitting and for oscillations into sterile neutrinos instead of tau neutrinos at the atmospheric mass splitting. When performing both these searches we assume that the sterile mass splitting is large, allowing $\sin^2(Δm^2 L/4E)$ to be approximated as $0.5$, and we assume that there is no mixing between electron neutrinos and sterile neutrinos ($|U_{e4}|^2 = 0$). No evidence of sterile oscillations …
Some of the earliest work on neutrino astronomy was accomplished by a class of underground detectors primarily designed for particle physics goals . These detectors used inexpensive water to obtain the large masses needed to observe the very low interaction rates expected from neutrinos. They exploited the relatively large light attenuation length and the index of refraction of the water to get a very inexpensive cost per thousand tons of detector. The results obtained from these pioneering neutrino detectors have included real time observation of solar neutrinos, supernova neutrinos, and atmo…
Many astrophysical models predict a diffuse flux of high-energy neutrinos from active galactic nuclei and other extra-galactic sources. At muon energies above 1 TeV, the upward-going muon flux induced by neutrinos from active galactic nuclei is expected to exceed the flux due to atmospheric neutrinos. We have performed a search for this astrophysical neutrino flux by looking for upward-going muons in the highest energy data sample from the Super-Kamiokande detector using 1679.6 live days of data. We found one extremely high energy upward-going muon event, compared with an expected atmospheric …
Light neutralinos could be copiously produced from the decays of mesons generated in cosmic-ray air showers. These neutralinos can be long-lived particles in the context of R-parity violating (RPV) supersymmetric models, implying that they could be capable of reaching the surface of the earth and decay within the instrumental volume of large neutrino detectors. In this letter, we use atmospheric neutrino data from the Super-Kamiokande experiment to derive novel constraints for the RPV couplings involved in the production of long-lived light neutralinos from the decays of charged $D$-mesons and…
Testing, in a non-trivial, model-independent way, the hypothesis that the three-massive-neutrinos paradigm properly describes nature is among the main goals of the current and the next generation of neutrino oscillation experiments. In the coming decade, the DUNE and Hyper-Kamiokande experiments will be able to study the oscillation of both neutrinos and antineutrinos with unprecedented precision. We explore the ability of these experiments, and combinations of them, to determine whether the parameters that govern these oscillations are the same for neutrinos and antineutrinos, as prescribed b…
We present a search for differences in the oscillations of antineutrinos and neutrinos in the Super-Kamiokande -I, -II, and -III atmospheric neutrino sample. Under a two-flavor disappearance model with separate mixing parameters between neutrinos and antineutrinos, we find no evidence for a difference in oscillation parameters. Best fit antineutrino mixing is found to be at (dm2bar, sin2 2 thetabar) = (2.0x10^-3 eV^2, 1.0) and is consistent with the overall Super-K measurement.
We study the ability of the Hyper-Kamiokande (HyperK) experiment, currently under construction, to constrain a neutrino signal produced via the annihilation of dark matter captured in the Sun. We simulate upward stopping and upward through-going muon events at HyperK, using Super-Kamiokande (SuperK) atmospheric neutrino results for validation, together with fully and partially contained events. Considering the annihilation of dark matter to various standard model final states, we determined the HyperK sensitivity to the dark matter spin-dependent scattering cross-section. We find that HyperK w…
Using 5,326 days of atmospheric neutrino data, a search for atmospheric tau neutrino appearance has been performed in the Super-Kamiokande experiment. Super-Kamiokande measures the tau normalization to be 1.47$\pm$0.32 under the assumption of normal neutrino hierarchy, relative to the expectation of unity with neutrino oscillation. The result excludes the hypothesis of no-tau-appearance with a significance level of 4.6$σ$. The inclusive charged-current tau neutrino cross section averaged by the tau neutrino flux at Super-Kamiokande is measured to be $(0.94\pm0.20)\times 10^{-38}$ cm$^{2}$. The…
Hyper-Kamiokande has been proposed as a next generation neutrino oscillation experiment capable of observing accelerator, atmospheric, solar and astrophysical neutrinos, as well as possible proton decays, providing a rich scientific program. One of the main goals is the study of CP violation in the lepton sector. The Hyper-Kamiokande detector will be an underground water Cherenkov detector with a fiducial mass of 0.56 million metric tons, approximately 25 times larger than that of Super-Kamiokande. With such a large fiducial mass, the Hyper-Kamiokande detector will need a robust trigger and da…
With the 1998 announcement of new evidence for muon neutrino disappearance observed by the Super-Kamiokande experiment, the more than a decade old atmospheric neutrino anomaly moved from a possible indication for neutrino oscillations to an almost inescapable implication. The evidence from all experiments is reviewed, and indications are presented that the oscillations are probably between muon and tau neutrinos with nearly maximal mixing. Implications and future directions in neutrino oscillations research are discussed.
This paper summarizes recent (as of SSI-02, in some cases updated in November, 2002) results from the Super-Kamiokande and K2K experiments. The interpretation of Super-Kamiokande results on atmospheric and solar neutrinos provides strong evidence for neutrino oscillations, hence non-zero neutrino mass. While statistics are still limited, K2K data are consistent with Super-Kamiokande results on neutrino oscillations. The effort to reconstruct Super-Kamiokande following a cascade of phototube implosions in November, 2001 is described. Plans for the future are also discussed.
The current analysis of atmospheric neutrinos by the Super-Kamiokande Collaboration is based only on fully-contained one-ring events and partially contained events. We show that the up-down ratio of fully-contained, inclusive, multi-ring events gives an independent test of the atmospheric neutrino anomaly, without the need for particle identification. Moreover, this class of events is rich in neutral current events and hence gives crucial information for discriminating between oscillations of ν_μinto ν_{e, τ} and ν_s.
A new event reconstruction algorithm based on a maximum likelihood method has been developed for Super-Kamiokande. Its improved kinematic and particle identification capabilities enable the analysis of atmospheric neutrino data in a detector volume 32% larger than previous analyses and increases sensitivity to the neutrino mass hierarchy. Analysis of a 253.9 kton-year exposure of the Super-Kamiokande IV atmospheric neutrino data has yielded a weak preference for the normal hierarchy, disfavoring the inverted hierarchy at 74% assuming oscillations at the best fit of the analysis.
Super-Kamiokande is sensitive to neutrino interactions between 4 and 100MeV via elastic scattering and inverse beta decay. I will present Super-Kamiokande's ongoing measurements of solar neutrinos and its searches for supernova neutrinos.
A search for the appearance of tau neutrinos from \mutau oscillations in the atmospheric neutrinos has been performed using 1489.2 days of atmospheric neutrino data from the Super-Kamiokande-I experiment. A best fit tau neutrino appearance signal of 138 $\pm$ 48 (stat.) $^{+15}_{-32}$ (sys.) events is obtained with an expectation of 78 $\pm$ 26 (sys.). The hypothesis of no tau neutrino appearance is disfavored by 2.4 sigma.
