Wednesday 02 December 2009

Speaker:   Flavio Cavanna   (Physics Dep.t - University of l'Aquila)

Title:   ArgoNeuT: Liquid Argon TPC response to a Neutrino Beam

Abstract:

ArgoNeuT is a ~175 liter Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) funded by DOE/NSF. After the
technical commissioning on surface at FERMILAB in summer 2008, it has been moved underground in the
NuMI beam line, in front of MINOS near detector (to aid in muon reconstruction).

ArgoNeuT is starting now to provide samples of neutrino and anti-neutrino events from a (liquid) Argon
target, for the 1st time ever in a low-Energy beam. The main goal is to measure the  charged-current
cross-section in the 1-10GeV range, with particular interest on the full reconstruction of quasi-elastic
topologies including recoil proton kinematics and any additional activity associated to the interaction
vertex.

Real data/experience is invaluable in improving LArTPC technique, in particular to demonstrate e/?
separation, i.e. superior background rejection, important for CC ?e appearance vs NC ?0 background.

Extended running experience with a LArTPC on neutrino beam and development of accurate event
reconstruction techniques are at the base of all future LArTPC experiments.