Research Initiation Award: Investigation of Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering

历史上的黑人学院和大学本科生计划（HBCU-UP）研究启动奖（RIAs）为HBCU的STEM初级教师提供支持，他们开始建立研究计划，以及职业生涯中期的教师，他们可能在担任行政职务后返回教师队伍，或者需要重新定向和重建研究计划。教师可以在他们的家乡机构，在NSF资助的中心，在研究密集型机构或在国家实验室进行研究。RIA项目预计将有助于进一步提高教师的研究能力和效率，改善他或她的家乡机构的研究和教学，并让本科生参与研究经验。在美国国家科学基金会的支持下，北卡罗来纳州中央大学将开展相干弹性中微子-核散射研究，并正式参与COHERENT研究合作，其目标是测量这种中微子散射。 这种散射在1974年被预测，但尚未被观察到。一旦观测到，方法和结果将对天体物理学研究产生影响。 该项目将为北卡罗来纳州中央大学的几名少数民族本科生以及在杜克大学的暑期提供宝贵的物理研究经验和指导。 该项目将把尖端的研究和研究技术带入NCCU课堂。此外，该项目将帮助北卡罗来纳州中央大学建立其研究能力，并提高其本科生的教育和研究经验。 该项目的目标是参与探测器系统的部署和数据获取，并对相干弹性中微子-核散射测量进行数据分析和模拟，以及对关键核目标（如锗）和屏蔽材料（包括铅）进行相关背景研究。 COHERENT合作将利用探测器技术的最新进展以及橡树岭国家实验室（ORNL）Spinning中子源的副产品脉冲中微子强源的可用性，进行第一次CENS调查。近期的目标是将CENNS在选定的原子核中的测量结果与标准模型截面计算结果进行比较，以测试中微子的非标准相互作用。此外，测得的反应速率对理解暗物质实验中的探测器响应和背景以及对超新星过程和探测建模有直接影响。合作者包括三角大学核实验室（TUNL）和橡树岭国家实验室的杜克大学教师。

The Historically Black Colleges and Universities-Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP) Research Initiation Awards (RIAs) provide support to STEM junior faculty at HBCUs who are starting to build a research program, as well as for mid-career faculty who may have returned to the faculty ranks after holding an administrative post or who needs to redirect and rebuild a research program. Faculty members may pursue research at their home institution, at an NSF-funded Center, at a research intensive institution or at a national laboratory. The RIA projects are expected to help further the faculty member's research capability and effectiveness, to improve research and teaching at his or her home institution, and to involve undergraduate students in research experiences. With support from the National Science Foundation, North Carolina Central University (NCCU) will conduct research in coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering and formalize participation in the COHERENT research collaboration whose objective is to measure this type of neutrino scattering. This scattering was predicted in 1974, but has not yet been observed. Once observed, the methods and results will have an impact on research in astrophysics. This project will provide valuable physics research experience and mentorship for several minority undergraduate students at North Carolina Central University and also during their summers at Duke University. The project will bring cutting-edge research and research techniques into the NCCU classroom. In addition, the project will help North Carolina Central University build its research capacity and enhance the educational and research experiences of their undergraduate students. The objective of this project is to participate in the deployment and data acquisition of detector systems and to perform data analysis and simulations of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CENNS) measurements and associated background studies on key nuclear targets (such as Germanium) and shielding materials (including lead). The COHERENT collaboration will take advantage of recent advances in detector technology and the availability of an intense source of pulsed neutrinos available as a byproduct of the Spallation Neutron Source at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) to carry out the first CENNS investigation. The immediate COHERENT goal is to compare CENNS measurements in selected nuclei to Standard Model cross section calculations to test for neutrino non-standard interactions. In addition, the measured reaction rates have direct implications for understanding detector response and background in dark-matter experiments, and for modeling supernova processes and detection. Collaborators include Duke University faculty at the Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory (TUNL) and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.