RUI: Neutrino Oscillations with DUNE and MicroBooNE

RUI：使用 DUNE 和 MicroBooNE 进行中微子振荡

• 批准号: 2011333
• 负责人: Nathaniel Tagg
• 金额: $ 19.56万
• 依托单位: Otterbein College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2020-06-01 至 2021-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2011333&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RUI; Neutrino; Oscillations; DUNE; MicroBooNE

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. A primary area 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 (BSM) and are the subject of this investigation. This research will involve the work of undergraduate students at Otterbein University, a RUI. This award will support the neutrino physics group at Otterbein University to work on two experiments, MicroBooNE and DUNE, both of which use large-scale liquid Argon time-projection chamber (TPC) technology. The DUNE experiment will send a high-intensity broad-band neutrino beam from Fermilab to a liquid argon TPC in the Homestake mine in South Dakota. DUNE will make precise measurements of neutrino oscillations and support an extensive astrophysics program. On MicroBooNE, the Otterbein group will continue to work on data analysis, particularly regarding measurements of low-level data quality and detector properties relevant for calibration and systematic errors. The group is the sole support for the MicroBooNE online monitor and event display systems. On DUNE, the group is just starting the first steps and are exploring opportunities in wire plane (APA) manufacturing databases, cryogenic instrumentation and slow control, trigger systems and event displays. All of this work will enable the crucial measurements that both experiments will make regarding the nature of neutrinos. A special contribution of this award and an exciting broader impact of this research program is the development and implementation of 3D visualization tools to guide the physics analyses of the experiments and to render visible to students and the public the nature of neutrino interactions as recorded and studied by scientists.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.

世纪的主要学术成就之一是粒子物理学标准模型（SM）的发展。该模型成功地将当时已知的所有基本粒子分类为具有相似量子特性的组的层次结构。到目前为止，这个模型的有效性被欧洲核子研究中心大型强子对撞机上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的价值以及为什么宇宙中没有反物质等基本问题。对于这些和其他关于宇宙的开放性问题，宇宙是如何形成的，为什么会是这样，寻找答案的一个主要领域是专注于中微子性质的研究，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针。中微子是那些基本粒子，在宇宙中几乎不与其他任何东西相互作用。它们不带电荷，曾经被认为是无质量的。像其他基本粒子一样，它们被认为有一个反物质对应物，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，它们可以通过不同的相互作用来区分，无论何时发生相互作用。但是最近的测量已经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，它们实际上可以从一种类型变成另一种类型。这些变化的详细测量，沿着其他当前的中微子实验，形成了探索超越标准模型（BSM）的新物理学的最有前途的方法之一，也是本研究的主题。这项研究将涉及奥特本大学（RUI）本科生的工作。该奖项将支持Otterbein大学的中微子物理小组开展两项实验，MicroBooNE和DUNE，这两项实验都使用了大型液体氩时间投影室（TPC）技术。DUNE实验将从费米实验室向位于南达科他州的Homestake矿的液态氩TPC发送高强度宽带中微子束。DUNE将对中微子振荡进行精确测量，并支持一个广泛的天体物理学计划。关于MicroBooNE，Otterbein小组将继续进行数据分析，特别是关于低水平数据质量的测量以及与校准和系统误差相关的探测器特性。该集团是MicroBooNE在线监控和事件显示系统的唯一支持。在DUNE上，该集团刚刚开始迈出第一步，正在探索线刨（阿帕）制造数据库、低温仪器和慢速控制、触发系统和事件显示的机会。所有这些工作将使这两个实验对中微子性质的关键测量成为可能。该奖项的一个特殊贡献以及该研究计划令人兴奋的更广泛影响是3D可视化工具的开发和实施，以指导实验的物理分析，并使学生和公众能够看到科学家记录和研究的中微子相互作用的性质。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的评估被认为值得支持知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。