MINOS Results, Progress and Future Prospects

Abstract

The MINOS long baseline experiment has been collecting neutrino beam data since March 2005 and has accumulated 3 x 10^{20} protons-on-target (POT) to date. MINOS uses Fermilab's NuMI neutrino beam which is measured by two steel-scintillator tracking calorimeters, one at Fermilab and the other 735 km downstream, in northern Minnesota. By observing the oscillatory structure in the neutrino energy spectrum, MINOS can precisely measure the neutrino oscillation parameters in the atmospheric sector. From analysis of the first year of data, corresponding to 1.27 x 10^{20} POT, these parameters were determined to be |\Delta m^2_{32}|=2.74^{+0.44}_{-0.26} x 10^{-3} eV^2 and sin^2(2\theta_{23})>0.87 (68% C.L.). MINOS is able to measure the neutrino velocity by comparing the arrival times of the neutrino beam in its two detectors. Using a total of 473 Far Detector events, (v-c)/c = (5.1 +/- 2.9) x 10^{-5} (68% C.L.) was measured. In addition, we report recent progress in the analysis of neutral current events and give an outline of experimental goals for the future.