The Results of MINOS and the Future with MINOS+

The MINOS experiment took data from 2005 up until 2012. The MINOS experiment took data from 2005 up until 2012, continuing beyond that as the MINOS+ experiment. The experiment is a two-detector, on-axis, long-baseline experiment, sending neutrinos from Fermilab to the Soudan Underground Laboratory in northern Minnesota. By searching for the deficit of muon neutrinos at the Far Detector, MINOS/MINOS+ is sensitive to the atmospheric neutrino oscillation parametersΔm322andθ23. By using the full MINOS data set looking at bothνμdisappearance andνeappearance in both neutrino and antineutrino configurations at the NuMI beam along with atmospheric neutrino data recorded at the FD, MINOS has made the most precise measurement ofΔm322. Using a full three-flavour framework and searching forνeappearance, MINOS/MINOS+ gains sensitivity toθ13, the mass hierarchy, and the octant ofθ23. Exotic phenomenon is also explored with the MINOS detectors looking for nonstandard interactions and sterile neutrinos. The current MINOS+ era goals are to build on the previous MINOS results improving the precision on the three-flavour oscillation parameter measurements and strengthening the constraints placed on the sterile neutrino parameter space.

A BRIEF REVIEW OF MINOS NEUTRINO OSCILLATION RESULTS

The MINOS long-baseline experiment is using the NuMI neutrino beam to make precise measurements of neutrino flavor oscillations in the "atmospheric" neutrino sector. MINOS observes the νμ disappearance oscillations seen in atmospheric neutrinos, tests possible disappearance to sterile ν by measuring the neutral current flux, and extends our reach towards the so far unseen θ13 by looking for νe appearance in this νμ beam. The magnetized MINOS detectors also allow tests of CPT conservation by discriminating between neutrinos and anti-neutrinos on an event-by-event basis. The intense, well-understood NuMI neutrino beam created at Fermilab is observed 735 km away at the Soudan Mine in Northeast Minnesota. High-statistics studies of the neutrino interactions themselves and the cosmic rays seen by the MINOS detectors have also been made. MINOS started taking beam data in May 2005 and is now nearing the end of its five-year run. This paper reviews results published based on the first several years of data.