Search for νμ→ντ oscillations in appearance mode in the OPERA experiment

The OPERA experiment at the underground Gran Sasso Laboratory (LNGS) has to perform the first detection of neutrino oscillations in appearance mode through the direct observation of νμ→ντ. The apparatus consists of a lead/emulsion-film target complemented by electronic detectors. It is placed in the high-energy, long-baseline CERN neutrino beam (CNGS) 730 km away from the neutrino source. Runs with CNGS neutrinos were successfully carried out in 2008–2009 with the first candidate event νμ→ντ recently detected.