CERN Accelerating science

CMS Note
Report number	arXiv:1903.06564 ; CMS-NOTE-2019-001 ; CERN-CMS-NOTE-2019-001
Title	Physics Potential of an Experiment using LHC Neutrinos
Author(s)	Beni, N. (CERN ; Debrecen, Inst. Nucl. Res.) ; Brucoli, M. (CERN) ; Buontempo, S. (INFN, Naples ; Naples U.) ; Cafaro, V. (INFN, Bologna ; U. Bologna, DIFA) ; Dallavalle, G.M. (INFN, Bologna ; U. Bologna, DIFA) ; Danzeca, S. (CERN) ; De Lellis, G. (CERN ; INFN, Naples ; Naples U.) ; Di Crescenzo, A. (INFN, Naples ; Naples U.) ; Giordano, V. (INFN, Bologna ; U. Bologna, DIFA) ; Guandalini, C. (INFN, Bologna ; U. Bologna, DIFA) ; Lazic, D. (Boston U.) ; Lo Meo, S. (INFN, Bologna ; ENEA, Bologna) ; Navarria, F.L. (INFN, Bologna ; U. Bologna, DIFA) ; Szillasi, Z. (CERN ; Debrecen, Inst. Nucl. Res.)
Publication	2019-10-11
Imprint	05 Mar 2019
Number of pages	19
Published in:	J. Phys. G 46 (2019) 115008
DOI	10.1088/1361-6471/ab3f7c
Subject category	Detectors and Experimental Techniques ; physics.ins-det ; hep-ex ; Particle Physics - Experiment
Accelerator/Facility, Experiment	CERN LHC ; CMS
Keywords	General
Abstract	Production of neutrinos is abundant at LHC. Flavour composition and energy reach of the neutrino flux from proton-proton collisions depend on the pseudorapidity $\eta$. At large $\eta$, energies can exceed the TeV, with a sizeable contribution of the $\tau$ flavour. A dedicated detector could intercept this intense neutrino flux in the forward direction, and measure the interaction cross section on nucleons in the unexplored energy range from a few hundred GeV to a few TeV. The high energies of neutrinos result in a larger $\nu$N interaction cross section, and the detector size can be relatively small. Machine backgrounds vary rapidly while moving along and away from the beam line. Four locations were considered as hosts for a neutrino detector: the CMS quadruplet region ( 25 m from CMS Interaction Point (IP)), UJ53 and UJ57 (90 and 120 m from CMS IP), RR53 and RR57 (240 m from CMS IP), TI18 (480 m from ATLAS IP). The potential sites are studied on the basis of (a) expectations for neutrino interaction rates, flavour composition and energy spectrum, (b) predicted backgrounds and in-situ measurements, performed with a nuclear emulsion detector and radiation monitors. TI18 emerges as the most favourable location. A small detector in TI18 could measure, for the first time, the high-energy $\nu$N cross section, and separately for $\tau$ neutrinos, with good precision, already with 300 fb$^{-1}$ in the LHC Run3.
Other source	Inspire
Copyright/License	preprint: (License: arXiv nonexclusive-distrib 1.0) publication: © 2019 IOP Publishing Ltd. (License: CC-BY-3.0)