The Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search (MINOS) experiment uses an accelerator-produced neutrino beam to perform precision measurements of the neutrino oscillation parameters in the "atmospheric neutrino" sector associated with muon neutrino disappearance. This long-baseline experiment measures neutrino interactions in Fermilab's NuMI neutrino beam with a near detector at Fermilab and again 735 km downstream with a far detector in the Soudan Underground Laboratory in northern Minnesota. The two detectors are magnetized steel-scintillator tracking calorimeters. They are designed to be as similar as possible in order to ensure that differences in detector response have minimal impact on the comparisons of event rates, energy spectra and topologies that are essential to MINOS measurements of oscillation parameters. The design, construction, calibration and performance of the far and near detectors are described in this paper.

This Letter reports results from the MINOS experiment based on its initial exposure to neutrinos from the Fermilab NuMI beam. The rates and energy spectra of charged current nu(mu) interactions are compared in two detectors located along the beam axis at distances of 1 and 735 km. With 1.27 x 10(20) 120 GeV protons incident on the NuMI target, 215 events with energies below 30 GeV are observed at the Far Detector, compared to an expectation of 336+/-14 events. The data are consistent with nu(mu) disappearance via oscillations with |Delta(m)2/32|=2.74 +0.44/-0.26 x10(-3)eV(2) and sin(2)(2theta(23))>0.87 (68% C.L.).

The complete 5.4 kton MINOS far detector has been taking data since the beginning of August 2003 at a depth of 2070 meters water-equivalent in the Soudan mine, Minnesota. This paper presents the first MINOS observations of muon neutrino and muon anti-neutrino charged-current atmospheric neutrino interactions based on an exposure of 418 days. The ratio of upward to downward-going events in the data is compared to the Monte Carlo expectation in the absence of neutrino oscillations giving: R_data(up/down)/R_MC(up/down) = 0.62^{+0.19}_{-0.14} (stat.) +- 0.02 (sys.). An extended maximum likelihood analysis of the observed L/E distributions excludes the null hypothesis of no neutrino oscillations at the 98 % confidence level. Using the curvature of the observed muons in the 1.3 T MINOS magnetic field muon neutrino and muon anti-neutrino interactions are separated. The ratio of muon neutrino to muon anti-neutrino events in the data is compared to the Monte Carlo expectation assuming neutrinos and anti-neutrinos oscillate in same manner giving: R_data(numubar/numu)/R_MC(numubar/numu) = 0.96^{+0.38}_{-0.27} (stat.) +- 0.15 (sys.), where the errors are the statistical and systematic uncertainties. Although the statistics are limited, this is the first direct observation of atmospheric neutrino interactions separately for muon neutrinos and muon anti-neutrinos.

Neutrino‐electron elastic scattering was observed at LAMPF with a 15‐ton fine‐grained tracking calorimeter exposed to electron‐neutrinos from muon decay at rest. The measured νee−→νee− elastic scattering cross section, 10.0±1.5(stat)±0.09(syst)×10−45 cm−2×(Eν(MeV)), gives a model independent measurement of the strength of the destructive interference between the charged and neutral currents, I=−1.07±0.21, that agrees well with the standard model (SM) prediction I=−1.08. The agreement between the measured electroweak parameters and SM expectations is used to place limits on neutrino properties, such as neutrino flavor‐changing neutral currents and neutrino electromagnetic moments, and on the masses of hypothetical new bosons that would interact with leptons.

A daily search for emission of ultra-high-energy radiation from astrophysical point sources using the CYGNUS extensive air shower array is described. The data set spans the period from 1986 April 4 to 1992 June 22. Fifty-one astrophysical objects have been examined, including Cyg X-3, Her X-1, the Crab, a number of gamma-ray and X-ray sources from the COS B and the fourth Uhuru catalogs, and several cataclysmic variables, nearby galaxies, and radio pulsars. The observed daily number of events from the source directions are consistent with expected statistical fluctuations of the number of events from background cosmic rays.

Neutrino-electron elastic scattering was observed with a 15-ton fine-grained tracking calorimeter exposed to electron neutrinos from muon decay at rest. The measured nu(e)e- --> nu(e)e- elastic scattering rate of 236 +/- 35 events yields the total elastic scattering cross section 10.0 +/- 1.5(stat) +/- 0.9(syst) x 10(-45) cm2 x [E(nu) (MeV)], and a model-independent measurement of the strength of the destructive interference between the charged and neutral currents, I = -1.07 +/- 0.21, that agrees well with the standard model (SM) prediction I = -1.08. The agreement between the measured electroweak parameters and SM expectations is used to place limits on neutrino properties, such as neutrino flavor-changing neutral currents and neutrino electromagnetic moments. Limits are placed on the masses of new bosons that interact with leptons: for a neutral tensor boson, M(T) > 105 GeV; for a neutral (pseudo)scalar boson, M(P,S) > 47 GeV; for a charged Higgs boson, M(x+) > 87 GeV; and for a purely left-handed charged (neutral) vector boson, M(x) > 239 (119) GeV.

The CYGNUS extensive air-shower experiment is described. The design criteria, construction and operation details, and performance characteristics are presented. A discussion of the data analysis techniques is given. Finally, several enhancements and improvements in the apparatus are described.

The muon content of extensive air showers observed by the CYGNUS experiment are measured by a well-shielded apparatus, originally used for accelerator neutrino detection. Primary identification and counting of muons relies on a 44 m2 array of multiwire proportional counters that has operated continuously since the experiment's inception to the present time. During the experiment's first 20 months, the central detector, consisting of flash-tube chambers, was used for high-resolution reconstruction of muon trajectories for a limited subsample of air showers. The ability to distinguish individual muons in the tracking device enabled verification and calibration of the muon counting by the proportional-counter system. The tracking capability was also used to verify the systematic pointing accuracy of the extensive air-shower arrival direction, as determined by the CYGNUS array, to better than 0.5°.

From a measurement of the absolute cross section in nu(e)e- elastic scattering we have set a limit on flavor-changing neutral currents in the neutrino sector. We find that an off-diagonal, flavor-changing coupling is limited to 1 - f(ee) < 0.35 (90% C.L.).

Data from an extensive air shower detector of ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays shows shadowing of the cosmic-ray flux by the Moon and the Sun with significance of 4.9 standard deviations. This is the first observation of such shadowing. The effect has been used to determine that the angular resolution of the detector is 0.75-degrees-0.09-degrees+0.13-degrees.

The 11 ‘‘in‐phase’’ source events from the 1986 muon‐rich bursts associated with Hercules X‐1 (previously reported by this group) have been studied for indications of further anomalous behavior. The most significant effect observed resulted from an analysis of the showerfront time‐structures of these events. This analysis was then applied a priori to the rest of the source day, where an additional ∼9 signal events are expected to remain. The same effect was observed at a chance probability level of ∼0.1%.

We report here the preliminary results of our observations of the sporadic X‐binary system 4U0115+63. The CYGNUS air shower array has been collecting data since April 1986. No significant excess is seen from the direction of this source, nor any correlation with its 24‐day orbital period. A 90% confidence‐level upper limit on the flux from 4U0115+63 is 2.8×10−13 cm−2 s−1 above 50 TeV. This flux limit is considerably lower than those reported by other UHE experiments. Search for periodicity at the neutron star frequency is in progress.