The Results of MINOS and the Future with MINOS+

Abstract

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.