Precision Studies of Neutrino Interactions and Neutrino Mixing

中微子相互作用和中微子混合的精确研究

• 批准号: 1205884
• 负责人: Jeffrey Nelson
• 金额: $ 93.2万
• 依托单位: College of William and Mary
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-06-01 至 2016-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1205884&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Precision; Studies; Neutrino; Interactions; Mixing

The possibility of charge parity (CP) violation in the neutrino sector may be crucial to understanding the evolution and matter dominance of the Universe. Neutrino oscillations are of fundamental interest, probing new phenomena at both subatomic and cosmological scales. The William and Mary particle physics group is heavily invested in the neutrino program at Fermilab, and active on MINOS, MINERvA, and NOvA experiments. While the data taking phase of MINOS will come to a close in the near term, analysis will continue for the first year of this grant. MINOS will make a final statement on compelling problems in neutrino physics, such as thesearch for muon neutrino to electron neutrino transitions, the value of the neutrino oscillation parameters, and the existence of sterile neutrinos. As the statistical precision of these measurements improves, the ultimate precision of MINOS, other current experiments, and the optimal design of future experiments, is hampered by the poor understanding of neutrino interactions. The William and Mary group will continue to exploit its investment in MINERvA to measure neutrino reactions across a wide energy range. Furthermore, the William and Mary group has adopted a strong role in NOνA, the next generation experiment designed to study muon neutrino to electron neutrino transitions. Indications of a potentially large value of theta_13 from the Daya Bay Experiment imply that the NOvA physics program will indeed be rich, perhaps able to resolve the neutrino mass hierarchy. Finally, the William and Mary group will capitalize on the opportunity to run the MINOS detectors in the NOvA era. The neutrino flux in the new beam configuration will peak at energies above the oscillation maximum, but the high rates will enable sensitive studies of the energy dependence of the oscillation probability.On broader impacts, William and Mary is committed to engaging undergraduates in research as a vital component of their education. The group's program provides summer research opportunities for undergraduates and enables senior research thesis topics. Beyond promoting science education, the group will team-teach an Emerging Scholars program at a local elementary school. The debut of this program will be in winter 2012 and will consist of ten weekly after-school sessions. An inherent goal of the after-school program is to expose students from historically underrepresented communities to the sciences and to practicing physicists and exciting science activities. The program will be developed in collaboration with the Coordinator for Gifted and Talented Students of the Williamsburg-James City County schools, and specialists will base assessment on feedback from follow-up discussions with the students and notes from in-session observations.

中微子扇区中电荷宇称（CP）破坏的可能性可能对理解宇宙的演化和物质主导至关重要。中微子振荡具有根本的意义，可以在亚原子和宇宙尺度上探索新的现象。威廉和玛丽粒子物理小组在费米实验室的中微子计划中投入了大量资金，并积极参与MINOS，MINERvA和NOvA实验。 虽然MINOS的数据收集阶段将在近期内结束，但分析工作将在赠款的第一年继续进行。MINOS将对中微子物理学中引人注目的问题作最后陈述，如μ中微子到电子中微子跃迁的时间、中微子振荡参数的值以及无菌中微子的存在。随着这些测量的统计精度的提高，MINOS的最终精度，其他当前的实验，以及未来实验的最佳设计，都受到对中微子相互作用理解不足的阻碍。威廉和玛丽小组将继续利用其在MINERvA上的投资，在很宽的能量范围内测量中微子反应。此外，威廉和玛丽小组在NO #957;A中发挥了重要作用，这是下一代实验，旨在研究μ中微子到电子中微子的跃迁。 大亚湾实验中的θ_13值可能很大，这意味着NOvA的物理计划确实很丰富，也许能够解决中微子质量等级。最后，威廉和玛丽集团将利用这个机会在NOvA时代运行MINOS探测器。在新的光束配置的中微子通量将在振荡最大值以上的能量达到峰值，但高速率将使振荡概率的能量依赖性的敏感研究。在更广泛的影响，威廉和玛丽致力于从事研究的本科生作为他们的教育的重要组成部分。该小组的计划为本科生提供夏季研究机会，并使高级研究论文的主题。除了促进科学教育，该组织还将在当地一所小学开展一个新兴学者项目的团队教学。该计划将于2012年冬季首次推出，将包括每周十次的课后课程。课后计划的一个内在目标是让来自历史上代表性不足的社区的学生接触科学，接触实践物理学家和令人兴奋的科学活动。该计划将与威廉斯堡-詹姆斯市县学校的天才学生协调员合作开发，专家将根据与学生的后续讨论反馈和会议观察记录进行评估。