Dual baseline search for muon antineutrino disappearance at 0.1 eV[superscript 2]<Δm[superscript 2]<100 eV[superscript 2]

Abstract

The MiniBooNE and SciBooNE collaborations report the results of a joint search for short baseline disappearance of ν̅[subscript μ] at Fermilab’s Booster Neutrino Beamline. The MiniBooNE Cherenkov detector and the SciBooNE tracking detector observe antineutrinos from the same beam, therefore the combined analysis of their data sets serves to partially constrain some of the flux and cross section uncertainties. Uncertainties in the ν[subscript μ] background were constrained by neutrino flux and cross section measurements performed in both detectors. A likelihood ratio method was used to set a 90% confidence level upper limit on ν̅[subscript μ] disappearance that dramatically improves upon prior limits in the Δm[superscript 2]=0.1–100 eV[superscript 2] region.