New Results from the MINOS Experiment - EPS 2011 conference proceedings

Abstract

The MINOS experiment is a long-baseline neutrino experiment designed to study neutrino behaviour, in particular the phenomenon of neutrino oscillations. MINOS sends the NuMI neutrino beam through two detectors, a Near Detector 1 km downstream from the beam source at Fermilab, and a Far Detector 735 km away in the Soudan Mine in Minnesota. MINOS has been taking beam data since 2005. This document summarises recent neutrino oscillations results, with particular emphasis on electron neutrino appearance, which probes the angle $\theta_{13}$ of the neutrino mass mixing matrix. For an exposure of 8.2$\times 10^{20}$ protons on target, MINOS finds that $\sin^{2}(2\theta_{13})<0.12$ for the normal mass hierarchy, and $<0.20$ for the inverted mass hierarchy at the 90% C.L., if the CP-violating phase $\delta=0$.