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The OPERA neutrino experiment was designed to perform a unique vτ appearance measurement in the vμ CNGS beam to confirm the oscillation mechanism in the atmospheric sector vμ → vτ. The detection of vτ leptons produced in vτ CC interactions and of their decays is accomplished exploiting the high spatial resolution of nuclear emulsions. Five vτ candidate events have been detected in the full data sample from 2008-2012 CNGS runs, with an expected background of 0.25 events. The background only hypothesis is rejected with a significance larger than 5 σ. The analysis of the tau neutrino sample in the framework of the 3+1 neutrino model is also presented. Furthermore OPERA good capabilities in detecting electron neutrino interactions allow setting limits on the vμ → ve oscillation channel.

The OPERA experiment observed νμ → ντ oscillations in the atmospheric sector. To this purpose the hybrid OPERA detector was exposed to the CERN Neutrinos to Gran Sasso beam from 2008 to 2012, at a distance of 730 km from the neutrino source. Charged-current interactions of ντ were searched for through the identification of τ lepton decay topologies. The five observed ντ interactions are consistent with the expected number of events in the standard three neutrino framework. Based on this result, new limits on the mixing parameters of a massive sterile neutrino may be set. Preliminary results of the analysis performed in the 3+1 neutrino framework are here presented.

Direct Dark Matter searches are nowadays one of the most exciting research topics. Several experimental efforts are concentrated on the development, construction, and operation of detectors looking for the scattering of target nuclei with Weakly Interactive Massive Particles (WIMPs). The measurement of the direction of WIMP-induced nuclear recoils is a challenging strategy to extend dark matter searches beyond the neutrino floor and provide an unambiguous signature of the detection of Galactic dark matter. Current directional experiments are based on the use of gas TPC whose sensitivity is strongly limited by the small achievable detector mass. We present an innovative directional experiment based on the use of a solid target made by newly developed nuclear emulsions and read-out systems reaching a position resolution of the order of 10 nm.

A bstract Heavy Neutral Leptons (HNLs) are hypothetical particles predicted by many extensions of the Standard Model. These particles can, among other things, explain the origin of neutrino masses, generate the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry in the Universe and provide a dark matter candidate. The SHiP experiment will be able to search for HNLs produced in decays of heavy mesons and travelling distances ranging between O (50 m) and tens of kilometers before decaying. We present the sensitivity of the SHiP experiment to a number of HNL’s benchmark models and provide a way to calculate the SHiP’s sensitivity to HNLs for arbitrary patterns of flavour mixings. The corresponding tools and data files are also made publicly available.

A stochastic model to describe the vertical motions in the Campi Flegrei volcanic region is proposed herein, consisting of a Brownian motion process driven by a generalized telegraph process. Knowledge on the probability law of this process enables quantitative investigation of some basic parameters regulating the inflation/deflation processes, such as velocities and time constants. Statistical analysis was carried out based on linear regression with constraints. Predictions of ground displacements and their changing tendency at future time instants were also made. Finally, a statistical test on the Brownian component of the process confirmed the goodness of the model.

As proposed by Ebrahimi, uncertainty in the residual lifetime distribution can be measured by means of the Shannon entropy. In this paper, we analyse a dual characterization of life distributions that is based on entropy applied to the past lifetime. Various aspects of this measure of uncertainty are considered, including its connection with the residual entropy, the relation between its increasing nature and the DRFR property, and the effect of monotonic transformations on it.

After rapid approval and installation, the SND@LHC Collaboration was able to gather data successfully in 2022 and 2023. Neutrino interactions from νμs originating at the LHC IP1 were observed. Since muons constitute the major background for neutrino interactions, the muon flux entering the acceptance was also measured. To improve the rejection power of the detector and to increase the fiducial volume, a third Veto plane was recently installed. The energy resolution of the calorimeter system was measured in a test beam. This will help with the identification of νe interactions that can be used to probe charm production in the pseudo-rapidity range of SND@LHC (7.2 < η < 8.4). Events with three outgoing muons have been observed and are being studied. With no vertex in the target, these events are very likely from muon trident production in the rock before the detector. Events with a vertex in the detector could be from trident production, photon conversion, or positron annihilation. To enhance SND@LHC’s physics case, an upgrade is planned for HL-LHC that will increase the statistics and reduce the systematics. The installation of a magnet will allow the separation of νμ from ν¯μ

For the M/M/1 queue in the presence of catastrophes the transition probabilities, densities of the busy period and of the catastrophe waiting time are determined. A heavy-traffic approximation to this discrete model is then derived. This is seen to be equivalent to a Wiener process subject to randomly occurring jumps for which some analytical results are obtained. The goodness of the approximation is discussed by comparing the closed-form solutions obtained for the continuous process with those obtained for the M/M/1 catastrophized queue. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]

The OPERA experiment has discovered the tau neutrino appearance in the CNGS muon neutrino beam, in agreement with the 3 neutrino flavour oscillation hypothesis. The OPERA neutrino interaction target, made of Emulsion Cloud Chambers, was particularly efficient in the reconstruction of electromagnetic showers. Moreover, thanks to the very high granularity of the emulsion films, showers induced by electrons can be distinguished from those induced by π$^{0}$s, thus allowing the detection of charged current interactions of electron neutrinos. In this paper the results of the search for electron neutrino events using the full dataset are reported. An improved method for the electron neutrino energy estimation is exploited. Data are compatible with the 3 neutrino flavour mixing model expectations and are used to set limits on the oscillation parameters of the 3+1 neutrino mixing model, in which an additional mass eigenstate m$_{4}$ is introduced. At high Δm$_{41}^{2}$ (≳0.1 eV$^{2}$), an upper limit on sin$^{2}$ 2θ$_{μe}$ is set to 0.021 at 90% C.L. and Δm$_{41}^{2}$  ≳ 4 × 10$^{− 3}$ eV$^{2}$ is excluded for maximal mixing in appearance mode.

The first-passage-time problem for a Brownian motion with alternating infinitesimal moments through a constant boundary is considered under the assumption that the time intervals between consecutive changes of these moments are described by an alternating renewal process. Bounds to the first-passage-time density and distribution function are obtained, and a simulation procedure to estimate first-passage-time densities is constructed. Examples of applications to problems in environmental sciences and mathematical finance are also provided. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]