Canadian participation in the T2K neutrino oscillation experiment

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In this application we request a three-year grant to support the activities of the Canadian part of the T2K collaboration during the FY2014-2017 period. T2K is a long-baseline neutrino experiment that sends a neutrino beam from J-PARC (Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex) to the Super-Kamiokande water Cerenkov detector located 295km away in Kamioka. The goal of the project is to precisely measure neutrino oscillation parameters by observing both the appearance of electron neutrinos in a muon neutrino beam and the disappearance of muon neutrinos as they oscillate into unobservable flavours. T2K has particular sensitivity to the neutrino mixing angles theta-13, theta-23, and delta-CP, as well as the atmospheric neutrino mass splitting dm^2_32. A three year detector construction and operation grant for the Canadian T2K project was funded in April 2006. The Canadian group has taken responsibility for major parts of the experiment: the time projection chambers (TPC) and fine-grained detectors (FGD) for the off-axis near detector, and the primary proton beam monitor in front of the production target using optical transition radiation (OTR). Detector construction and commissioning was completed in 2009, and the experiment began taking data in 2010. In 2013 T2K was the first experiment to definitively establish the electron neutrino appearance in a long-baseline beam of muon neutrinos, and also has the world's best measurements of theta-23. Measurements over the next several years will begin to probe possible CP violation in the leptonic sector as well as to significantly improve measurements of other neutrino mixing parameters. Canadian T2K members are leading several central analysis efforts and contribute to analysis of near detector data, Super-Kamiokande beam data, and beamline analysis. T2K anticipates operating for at least five more years. The operation grant will support research associates, graduate students, travel costs, and the maintenance costs of the detectors contributed by the Canadian group.