Precision Studies of Neutrino Oscillations and Interactions

中微子振荡和相互作用的精确研究

• 批准号: 1806600
• 负责人: Jeffrey Nelson
• 金额: $ 145.9万
• 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: 2018
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2018-09-01 至 2022-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1806600&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Precision; Studies; Neutrino; Oscillations; Interactions

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 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 (BSM). 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 as well as others form one of the most promising ways to probe for new physics beyond the Standard Model.The William and Mary Group is searching for evidence of CP Violation (related to the imbalance of matter and antimatter in the universe) with the NOvA experiment and is studying how neutrinos interact in normal matter with the MINERvA experiment. The group is also engaged in R&D for DUNE, the next generation, long baseline neutrino experiment with endpoints at Fermilab in Illinois which provides the neutrino beam and the Sanford Underground Laboratory in South Dakota which is home for the detectors. Presently under test are large detector prototypes called "ProtoDUNEs", which are massive liquid-Argon based detectors called Time Projection Chambers. The testing is underway at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland, and will guide the development of the massive detectors that will be built for DUNE in the next decade.The William and Mary group is committed to engaging undergraduates in research as a vital component of their undergraduate education. Beyond promoting science education at the College, the group operates a successful Emerging Scholars program at a local elementary school. This ten-week, after-school program exposes students who are from communities historically underrepresented in the sciences to practicing physicists and exciting science activities. The program was developed in consultation with the Coordinator for Gifted and Talented Students of the Williamsburg- James City County schools and has grown and been strengthened based on feedback from follow-up discussions with the students and notes from in-session observations by specialists.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

20世纪的主要智力成就之一是粒子物理标准模型(SM)的发展。这个模型成功地将当时已知的所有基本粒子归入具有相似量子性质的群组的层次结构中。在欧洲核子研究中心的大型强子对撞机上发现的希格斯玻色子证实了这个模型到目前为止的有效性。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的价值，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公开问题的答案，它是如何形成的，为什么它是这样的，主要领域之一是专注于中微子的性质的研究，并使用我们所知道和可以了解的中微子作为超越标准模型(BSM)的科学探测器。中微子是那些与宇宙中几乎任何其他东西都不相互作用的基本粒子。它们没有电荷，曾经被认为是无质量的。与其他基本粒子一样，它们被认为有一个反物质的对应物，即反中微子。此外，标准模型预测，实际上有三种不同类型的中微子可以通过不同的相互作用来区分，无论何时发生相互作用，它们都会经历不同的相互作用。但最近的测量完全改变了我们对中微子的看法。我们现在知道中微子确实有质量，因为它们有质量，所以它们实际上可以从一种类型变成另一种类型。对这些变化以及其他变化的详细测量构成了探索超越标准模型的新物理的最有希望的方法之一。威廉和玛丽小组正在通过Nova实验寻找CP破坏(与宇宙中物质和反物质的不平衡有关)的证据，并正在通过Minerva实验研究中微子如何在正常物质中相互作用。该小组还致力于沙丘的研发，这是下一代长基线中微子实验，终点设在伊利诺伊州的费米拉实验室(Fermilab)，提供中微子束，以及南达科他州的桑福德地下实验室(Sanford Underrain Labs)，那里是探测器的所在地。目前正在测试的是被称为“ProtoDUNEs”的大型探测器原型，这是一种被称为时间投影室的大量基于液体Ar的探测器。这项测试正在瑞士日内瓦的欧洲核子研究中心进行，并将指导未来十年为沙丘建造的大型探测器的开发。威廉和玛丽集团致力于让本科生参与研究，将其作为本科教育的重要组成部分。除了在学院推广科学教育外，该组织还在当地一所小学开展了一个成功的新兴学者项目。这项为期十周的课后计划让来自历史上在科学领域代表性不足的社区的学生接触到实践物理学家和令人兴奋的科学活动。该计划是在与威廉斯堡-詹姆斯市县学校资优学生协调员协商后制定的，并根据与学生的后续讨论反馈和专家会议期间的观察记录而得到发展和加强。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

项目成果

Exploring neutrino–nucleus interactions in the GeV regime using MINERvA

• DOI: 10.1140/epjs/s11734-021-00296-6
• 发表时间: 2021-07
• 期刊: The European Physical Journal Special Topics
• 作者: X.-G. Lu;Z. A. Dar;F. Akbar;D. A. Andrade;M. Ascencio;G. Barr;A. Bashyal;L. Bellantoni;A. Bercellie;M. Betancourt;A. Bodek;J. L. Bonilla;H. Budd;G. Caceres;T. Cai;M. Carneiro;H. da Motta;G. A. Dı́az;J. Félix;L. Fields;A. Filkins;R. Fine;A. Gago;H. Gallagher;S. Gilligan;R. Gran;D. Harris;S. Henry;D. Jena;S. Jena;J. Kleykamp;A. Klustová;M. Kordosky;D. Last;A. Lozano;E. Maher;S. Manly;W. A. Mann;C. Mauger;K. McFarland;A. McGowan;B. Messerly;J. Miller;J. Morfín;D. Naples;J. Nelson;C. Nguyen;A. Olivier;V. Paolone;G. Perdue;K. Plows;M. A. Ramírez;R. Ransome;H. Ray;P. Rodrigues;D. Ruterbories;H. Schellman;C. J. S. Salinas;H. Su;M. Sultana;V. Syrotenko;E. Valencia;A. Waldron;D. Wark;A. Weber;K. Yang;L. Zazueta

Supernova neutrino detection in NOvA

NOvA 中的超新星中微子探测

• DOI: 10.1088/1475-7516/2020/10/014
• 发表时间: 2020
• 期刊: Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
• 影响因子: 6.4
• 作者: Acero M

Use of neutrino scattering events with low hadronic recoil to inform neutrino flux and detector energy scale

• DOI: 10.1088/1748-0221/16/08/p08068
• 发表时间: 2021-08-01
• 期刊: JOURNAL OF INSTRUMENTATION
• 影响因子: 1.3
• 作者: Bashyal, A.;Rimal, D.;Zazueta, L.
• 通讯作者: Zazueta, L.

Probing nuclear effects with neutrino-induced charged-current neutral pion production

利用中微子诱导的带电电流中性介子产生来探测核效应

• DOI: 10.1103/physrevd.102.072007
• 发表时间: 2020
• 期刊: Physical Review D
• 影响因子: 5
• 作者: Coplowe, D.;Altinok, O.;Ahmad Dar, Z.;Akbar, F.;Andrade, D. A.;Barr, G. D.;Bashyal, A.;Bercellie, A.;Betancourt, M.;Bodek, A.
• 通讯作者: Bodek, A.

Seasonal variation of multiple-muon cosmic ray air showers observed in the NOvA detector on the surface

• DOI: 10.1103/physrevd.104.012014
• 发表时间: 2021-05
• 期刊: Physical Review D
• 影响因子: 5
• 作者: M. A. Acero;P. Adamson;L. Aliaga;N. Anfimov;A. Antoshkin;E. Arrieta-Díaz;L. Asquith;A. Aurisano;A. Back;C. Backhouse;M. Baird;N. Balashov;P. Baldi;B. Bambah;S. Bashar;K. Bays;R. Bernstein;Vasudha Bhatnagar;B. Bhuyan;J. Bian;J. Blair;A. Booth;R. Bowles;C. Bromberg;N. Buchanan;A. Butkevich;S. Calvez;T. Carroll;E. Catano-Mur;B. Choudhary;A. Christensen;T. Coan;M. Colo;L. Cremonesi;G. Davies;P. Derwent;P. Ding;Z. Djurcic;M. Dolce;D. Doyle;D. D. Tonguino-D.;E. Dukes;H. Duyang;S. Edayath;R. Ehrlich;M. Elkins;E. Ewart;G. Feldman;P. Filip;J. Franc;M. Frank;H. Gallagher;R. Gandrajula;F. Gao;A. Giri;R. Gomes;M. Goodman;V. Grichine;M. Groh;R. Group;B. Guo;A. Habig;F. Hakl;A. Hall;J. Hartnell;R. Hatcher;H. Hausner;K. Heller;J. Hewes;A. Himmel;A. Holin;B. Jargowsky;J. Jarosz;F. Jediný;C. Johnson;M. Judah;I. Kakorin;D. Kalra;D. Kaplan;A. Kalitkina;R. Keloth;O. Klimov;L. Koerner;L. Kolupaeva;S. Kotelnikov;R. Kralik;C. Kullenberg;M. Kubu;A. Kumar;C. Kuruppu;V. Kus;T. Lackey;K. Lang;P. Lasorak;J. Lesmeister;S. Lin;A. Lister;J. Liu;M. Lokajicek;S. Magill;M. Plata;W. A. Mann;M. Marshak;M. Martínez-Casales;V. Matveev;B. Mayes;M. Messier;H. Meyer;T. Miao;W. Miller;S. Mishra;A. Mislivec;R. Mohanta;A. Moren;A. Morozova;W. Mu;L. Mualem;M. Muether;K. Mulder;D. Naples;N. Nayak;J. Nelson;R. Nichol;E. Niner;A. Norman;A. Norrick;T. Nosek;H. Oh;A. Olshevskiy;T. Olson;J. Ott;J. Paley;R. Patterson;G. Pawloski;O. Petrov;R. Petti;D. Phan;R. Plunkett;J. Porter;A. Rafique;V. Raj;M. Rajaoalisoa;B. Ramson;B. Rebel;P. Rojas;V. Ryabov;O. Samoylov;M. Sánchez;S. S. Falero-S.;P. Shanahan;A. Sheshukov;P. Singh;V. Singh;E. Smith;J. Smolík;P. Snopok;N. Solomey;A. Sousa;K. Soustruznik;M. Strait;L. Suter;A. Sutton;S. Swain;C. Sweeney;B. T. Oregui;P. Tas;T. Thakore;R. B. Thayyullathil;J. Thomas;E. Tiras;S. Tognini;J. Tripathi;J. Trokan-Tenorio;Y. Torun;J. Urheim;P. Vahle;Z. Vallari;J. Vasel;P. Vokac;T. Vrba;M. Wallbank;T. Warburton;M. Wetstein;D. Whittington;D. A. Wickremasinghe;S. Wojcicki;J. Wolcott;W. Wu;Y. Xiao;A. Y. Dombara;K. Yonehara;S. Yu;Y. Yu;S. Zadorozhnyy;J. Zálešák;Y. Zhang;R. Zwaska