Antielectron neutrinos at high-energy neutrino experiments: Identification strategies and physics potential

Most existing and proposed high-energy neutrino experiments have excellent muon charge identification capabilities, enabling the distinction of <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <a:msub> <a:mi>ν</a:mi> <a:mi>μ</a:mi> </a:msub> </a:math> and <c:math xmlns:c="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <c:msub> <c:mover accent="true"> <c:mi>ν</c:mi> <c:mo stretchy="false">¯</c:mo> </c:mover> <c:mi>μ</c:mi> </c:msub> </c:math> charged current interactions. In contrast, distinguishing electrons and positrons from <g:math xmlns:g="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <g:msub> <g:mi>ν</g:mi> <g:mi>e</g:mi> </g:msub> </g:math> and <i:math xmlns:i="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <i:msub> <i:mover accent="true"> <i:mi>ν</i:mi> <i:mo stretchy="false">¯</i:mo> </i:mover> <i:mi>e</i:mi> </i:msub> </i:math> interactions is typically impossible, as they quickly interact within the characteristically dense detector material and fail to reach the spectrometer. In this letter, we propose a compact and cost-effective plastic target, placed right before the spectrometer, to maximize the rate of electrons and positrons that reach the spectrometer before interacting. We demonstrate that, when installed at the FASER experiment, the Forward Physics Facility, or SHiP, this setup could enable the first separate measurement of <m:math xmlns:m="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <m:msub> <m:mi>ν</m:mi> <m:mi>e</m:mi> </m:msub> </m:math> and <o:math xmlns:o="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <o:msub> <o:mover accent="true"> <o:mi>ν</o:mi> <o:mo stretchy="false">¯</o:mo> </o:mover> <o:mi>e</o:mi> </o:msub> </o:math> cross sections at high energy. Additionally, this setup opens new opportunities to study forward particle production at collider neutrino experiments, such as constraining forward <s:math xmlns:s="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <s:mi mathvariant="normal">Λ</s:mi> </s:math> hyperon production, and, by reducing flux uncertainties, significantly improve limits on nonstandard neutrino interactions in neutral currents.