Measurement of the Velocity of Neutrinos from the CNGS Beam with the Large Volume Detector

Abstract

We report the measurement of the time of flight of ∼17 GeV ν[subscript μ] on the CNGS baseline (732 km) with the Large Volume Detector (LVD) at the Gran Sasso Laboratory. The CERN-SPS accelerator has been operated from May 10th to May 24th 2012, with a tightly bunched-beam structure to allow the velocity of neutrinos to be accurately measured on an event-by-event basis. LVD has detected 48 neutrino events, associated with the beam, with a high absolute time accuracy. These events allow us to establish the following limit on the difference between the neutrino speed and the light velocity: -3.8×10[superscript -6]<(vν-c)/c<3.1×10[superscript -6] (at 99% C.L.). This value is an order of magnitude lower than previous direct measurements.