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First measurement of electron- and muon-neutrino interaction rates at the highest energy ever detected from an artificial source

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Researchers have made the first measurement of electron- and muon-neutrino interaction rates at the highest energy ever detected from an artificial source. The neutrinos detected in the study had energies in the teraelectronvolts range the highest ever detected from an artificial source.

The results, published in the journal Physical Review Letters, could help scientists better understand the fundamental properties of neutrinos and their role in the universe.

Neutrinos are subatomic particles that are created in nuclear reactions. They are very difficult to detect because they interact with matter very weakly.

In the study, researchers used the T2K experiment in Japan to study neutrinos produced by a particle accelerator. The T2K experiment is a long-baseline neutrino experiment that sends a beam of neutrinos from the J-PARC accelerator to the Super-Kamiokande detector, which is located 295 kilometers away.

The researchers analyzed data from the T2K experiment and found that the interaction rates of electron- and muon-neutrinos were different at the highest energies. This difference could be due to the fact that electron-neutrinos and muon-neutrinos have different masses.

The results of the study could help scientists better understand the fundamental properties of neutrinos and their role in the universe.

Conclusion

The first results of the study of high-energy electron neutrino and muon neutrino charged-current interactions in the emulsion-tungsten calorimeters of the T2K experiment are presented. The electron neutrino and muon neutrino charged-current interaction rates are measured in the energy range from 2 to 10 GeV. The ratio of the electron neutrino and muon neutrino charged-current interaction rates is measured to be 0.497 ± 0.015 (stat.) ± 0.010 (syst.) at the mean neutrino energy of 6.5 GeV. This result is consistent with the Standard Model prediction of 0.500.