MiniBooNE
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MiniBooNE is an experiment at Fermilab designed to observe neutrino oscillations (BooNE is an acronym for the Booster Neutrino Experiment). A neutrino beam consisting primarily of muon neutrinos is directed at a detector filled with 800 tons of mineral oil and lined with 1,280 photomultiplier tubes. An excess of electron neutrino events in the detector would support the neutrino oscillation interpretation of the LSND result.
[edit] History and motivation
Experimental observation of solar neutrinos and atmospheric neutrinos provided evidence for neutrino oscillations, implying that neutrinos have masses. Recent data from the LSND experiment at Los Alamos National Laboratory are controversial since they are not compatible with the oscillation parameters measured by other neutrino experiments in the framework of the Standard Model. Either there must be an extension to this model, or one of the experimental results must have a different explanation. Moreover, the KARMEN experiment in England examines a region similar to the LSND experiment, but sees no indications of neutrino oscillations. This experiment is less sensitive than LSND, and both could be right. MiniBooNE has been designed to unambiguously verify or refute these controversial results.
