Experimental HEP Seminar

Results and Prospects for the T2K Neutrino Oscillation Experiment

Mark Hartz

University of Toronto

Neutrino oscillations have been a hot topic in recent decades, as experiments have revealed large mixing in the neutral lepton sector. T2K is a long baseline high intensity neutrino oscillation experiment employing an off-axis beam to search for the as yet unobserved appearance of electron neutrinos (ν_e) in a muon neutrino (ν_μ) beam. The neutrino beam originates at the J-PARC facility in Tokai, Japan, and the beam composition is measured by the Super-Kamiokande (SK) detector, located at a distances 295 km. The SK data is searched for an excess of ν_e, which constrains sin²(2θ₁₃), the parameter governing the amplitude of oscillation from ν_μ to ν_e. This amplitude is of particular interest since it scales CP violating terms from the lepton mixing matrix. T2K will also measures δ m²₂₃ and sin²(2θ₂₃), the parameters that govern the disappearance of ν_μ. In this talk, I will present results from the first T2K physics run in 2010 with 3.23x10¹⁹ protons on target, and prospects for future results as T2K progresses towards a world's best sensitivity to θ₁₃.