Electron Neutrinos at ICARUS

The ICARUS experiment, currently in commissioning, has observed electron neutrino candidates from the NuMI beamline. Graduate student Ryan Howell found this candidate event while scanning data. A projection roughly transverse to the beam at top right (“H view”) shows an electron shower to the left recoiling against a track which is likely a proton or charged pion. The two tracks overlap in the perpendicular view at the bottom right (“U view”).

The NuMI beam at ICARUS has a large fraction of electron neutrinos because it views the beam at an angle. Electron neutrino searches in the “on axis” booster neutrino beam are a key element of ICARUS’s physics program.