New constraints on muon-neutrino to electron-neutrino transitions in MINOS

Abstract

This letter reports results from a search for muon-neutrino to electron-neutrino transitions by the MINOS experiment based on a 7x10^20 protons-on-target exposure. Our observation of 54 candidate electron-neutrino events in the Far Detector with a background of 49.1+/-7.0(stat.)+/-2.7(syst.) events predicted by the measurements in the Near Detector requires 2sin^2(2theta_{13})sin^2(theta_{23})<0.12 (0.20) at the 90% C.L. for the normal (inverted) mass hierarchy at delta_cp=0. The experiment sets the tightest limits to date on the value of theta_{13} for nearly all values of delta_cp for the normal neutrino mass hierarchy and maximal sin^2(2theta_{23}).