Accelerator-Based Experimental Neutrino Physics

基于加速器的实验中微子物理

• 批准号: 1404535
• 负责人: David Schmitz
• 金额: $ 46.5万
• 依托单位: University of Chicago
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-05-15 至 2017-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1404535&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Accelerator; Based; Experimental; Neutrino; Physics

One of the major intellectual achievements of the 20th century was the development of the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics. This model succeeded in classifying all of the elementary particles known at the time into a hierarchy of groups having similar quantum properties. The validity of this model to date was recently confirmed by the discovery of the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. However, the Standard Model as it currently exists leaves open many questions about the universe, including such fundamental questions as to why the Higgs mass has the value it has and why there is no antimatter in the universe. One of the primary areas to search for answers to these and other open questions about the universe, how it came to be and why it is the way it is, is to focus on a study of the properties of neutrinos and to use what we know and can learn about neutrinos as probes of science beyond the Standard Model. Neutrinos are those elementary particles that interact with practically nothing else in the universe. They have no electric charge and were once thought to be massless. Like other elementary particles, they were believed to have an antimatter counterpart, the antineutrino. Moreover, the Standard Model predicted that there were actually three different kinds of neutrinos that were distinguishable through the different interactions that they did undergo whenever there was an interaction. But recent measurements have totally changed our picture of neutrinos. We now know that neutrinos do have a mass and because they do, they can actually change from one type to another. Detailed measurements of these changes, along with other current neutrino experiments, form one of the most promising ways to probe for new physics beyond the Standard Model. There have also been hints in various experiments of new types of neutrinos and clarifying these "hints" is one of the main thrusts of the work in this project. The work proposed here will be to further analyze data from the MINERvA experiment and contribute to the development of the Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) technology for use in neutrino physics as part of the LArIAT test beam program and the MicroBooNE experiment. These three neutrino experiments are all located at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL). The main focus for the period of this project will be on the development of the LArTPC detector for MicroBooNE. MicroBooNE is currently under construction and will begin collecting neutrino data in 2014, so a large focus of the group over the next three years will be on detector commissioning, calibration, and analysis of MicroBooNE data. This experiment should significantly increase the physics reach toward answering the important question of whether predicted "sterile" neutrinos exist and resolving the anomalies in recent neutrino experiments.In addition to the contribution to the fundamental neutrino physics mentioned above, this research will serve as an invaluable proving ground for the calibration, reconstruction and analysis techniques that will be needed to make future experiments a success.The Broader Impact in this proposal involves bringing current techniques in high energy physics to the broader local community. The south side neighborhoods surrounding the UChicago campus are largely populated with underrepresented groups in STEM fields, and this project aims to build a program within the Department of Physics that connects university students with local elementary and middle school children to introduce them to concepts in physics with the aid of fun, interactive demonstrations.

20世纪最重要的智力成就之一是粒子物理学标准模型（SM）的发展。这个模型成功地将当时已知的所有基本粒子划分为具有相似量子特性的等级。到目前为止，这个模型的有效性最近被欧洲核子研究中心大型强子对撞机发现的希格斯玻色子所证实。然而，目前存在的标准模型留下了许多关于宇宙的问题，包括为什么希格斯质量具有它所具有的价值以及为什么宇宙中没有反物质等基本问题。寻找这些和其他关于宇宙的开放性问题的答案的主要领域之一，它是如何形成的，为什么它是这样的，就是把重点放在中微子的特性研究上，并利用我们所知道的和可以学到的关于中微子的知识作为标准模型之外的科学探测器。中微子是一种基本粒子，它几乎不与宇宙中任何其他物质相互作用。它们不带电荷，一度被认为是无质量的。像其他基本粒子一样，它们被认为有一种反物质，即反中微子。此外，标准模型预测，实际上有三种不同的中微子，它们在相互作用时所经历的不同相互作用可以区分开来。但是最近的测量完全改变了我们对中微子的认识。我们现在知道中微子确实有质量，正因为如此，它们实际上可以从一种类型转变为另一种类型。对这些变化的详细测量，以及其他当前的中微子实验，形成了探索超越标准模型的新物理的最有希望的方法之一。在各种实验中也有关于新型中微子的线索，澄清这些“线索”是本项目工作的主要重点之一。这里提出的工作将是进一步分析MINERvA实验的数据，并为液态氩时间投影室（LArTPC）技术的发展做出贡献，该技术用于中微子物理，作为LArIAT测试束计划和MicroBooNE实验的一部分。这三个中微子实验都位于费米国家加速器实验室（FNAL）。该项目期间的主要重点将放在MicroBooNE的LArTPC探测器的开发上。MicroBooNE目前正在建设中，将于2014年开始收集中微子数据，因此该小组未来三年的重点将放在探测器调试、校准和分析MicroBooNE数据上。这个实验将显著增加物理学的研究范围，以回答预测的“无菌”中微子是否存在的重要问题，并解决最近中微子实验中的异常现象。除了对上面提到的基本中微子物理学的贡献之外，这项研究将作为校准、重建和分析技术的宝贵试验场，这些技术将使未来的实验取得成功。该提案的更广泛影响包括将当前的高能物理技术引入更广泛的当地社区。芝加哥大学校园周围的南侧社区大多是STEM领域的弱势群体，该项目旨在在物理系内建立一个项目，将大学生与当地的中小学生联系起来，通过有趣的互动演示向他们介绍物理概念。