RUI: Neutrino Oscillation Studies Using the MINOS and Super-Kamiokande Experiments

这份来自明尼苏达大学德卢斯分校（UMD）的提案要求资助使用MINOS（主注入中微子振荡搜索）和Super-Kamiokande （Super-K）探测器研究中微子振荡。Super-K项目过去的研究结果利用宇宙射线在高层大气中相互作用产生的中微子表明，能量从几百MeV到几百TeV不等的μ子中微子在穿越地球到达探测器的过程中会振荡成tau中微子。这意味着中微子具有质量，这一发现对粒子物理学和天体物理学都具有根本性的重要性。MINOS实验旨在明确地证实这一结果，并利用费米实验室产生的强烈的、校准良好的中微子束精确测量振荡参数，并瞄准明尼苏达州东北部的苏丹地下物理实验室。中微子将被费米实验室的探测器观测到，并在到达苏丹735公里后由类似的探测器观测到。研究人员还希望继续参与超级k探测器的运行，收集更多数据以提高其统计意义，同时改进分析技术以更好地理解它。参与开发的学生将有机会获得宝贵的硬件经验，并获得开发控制和监测实验系统所需的软件技能。这两个实验的本科生参与度都很高，极大地增强了这些未来的工程师和物理学家学习科学的经验。苏丹地下实验室定期为K-12科学班的实地考察和公众举办参观活动。马里兰大学将继续大力参与此类外展计划，去年约有6000人参观了MINOS实验以了解中微子。

This proposal from the University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) requests funding to study neutrino oscillations using the MINOS (Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search) and Super-Kamiokande (Super-K) detectors. Past results from Super-K have used neutrinos produced by cosmic ray interactions in the upper atmosphere to show that muon neutrinos of energies from a few hundred MeV to hundreds of TeV oscillate to tau neutrinos as they travel the tens to thousands of kilometers through the earth to the detector. This implies that neutrinos have mass, a finding of fundamental importance to both particle physics and astrophysics. The MINOS experiment aims to both unambiguously confirm this result and precisely measure the oscillation parameters using an intense, well-calibrated beam of neutrinos generated at Fermilab and aimed toward the Soudan Underground Physics Laboratory in northeastern Minnesota. The neutrinos will be observed by a detector near their origin at Fermilab and by a similar detector after traveling 735 km to Soudan. The researchers also wish to continue their participation in the operation of the Super-K detector, gathering more data to improve its statistical significance while improving analysis techniques in order to better understand it. The students contributing to this development will have the opportunity to gain valuable hardware experience and will gain the software skills needed to develop the systems to control and monitor the experiment. Undergraduate participation in both experiments has been strong, greatly enhancing these future engineers' and physicists' experiences in learning science. The Soudan Underground Lab regularly hosts tours for both K-12 science class field trips and the general public. UMD will continue to be heavily involved in such outreach programs, which last year saw approximately 6000 people visit the MINOS experiment to learn about neutrinos.