SBN experiments

The Short-Baseline Neutrino (SBN) Program at Fermilab consists of three liquid argon neutrino detectors sitting in the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB): SBND, MicroBooNE and ICARUS. 

The Short-Baseline Near Detector (SBND) is a 112 ton-active mass liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) to be located only 110 m from the BNB neutrino source. The detector is currently under construction and is anticipated to begin operation in 2024. SBND will record over a million neutrino interactions per year. By providing such a high statistics measurement of the un-oscillated content of the Booster neutrino beam, SBND is a critical element in performing searches for neutrino oscillations at the Fermilab Short-Baseline Program. The huge data sample, the largest number of neutrino-argon interactions ever recorded, will also allow studies of neutrino interactions in the GeV energy range with unprecedented precision. The understanding and modeling of these interactions is an important element of current and future neutrino experiments that will employ the LArTPC technology, such as the long-baseline Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). The close location to the neutrino source also grants SBND a high sensitivity to any new physics produced in the beam.

The CIEMAT neutrino group is involved in the simulation and reconstruction of the light signals in SBND with the X-ARAPUCA detectors, the technology chosen for DUNE, as well as in searches of physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM).

MicroBooNE was a 85 ton-active mass LArTPC located at a similar baseline as the MiniBooNE experiment in order to investigate the nature of the excess of events observed in MiniBooNE. In addition, MicroBooNE physics program includes measuring neutrino-argon cross-sections with both BNB and NuMI neutrino beams, searches for Beyond Standard Model physics, and developing the LArTPC technology and the reconstruction and analysis techniques for current and future LArTPC experiments. The MicroBooNE detector took data between 2015 and 2020 but the data analysis is still ongoing. At CIEMAT we are part of the Publications Committee and the Readout/Trigger System Leader.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 892933.