Study of neutrino physics in MicroBooNE

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Previous neutrino experiments have observed an unexpected excess of events, potentially indicating a new type of neutrino - the sterile neutrino. If confirmed, this new particle would be definite proof of physics beyond the Standard Model and finding new physics has been the holy grail of all particle physicists. The Short-Baseline Neutrino (SBN) programme at Fermilab in the US has been designed to directly address these anomalies and will have a definite answer to this long-lasting puzzle. MicroBooNE is the first detector of the SBN programme. The 170t liquid argon detector started to record neutrino data in the Fall 2015 and the collaboration is now working on data analysis. The excellent image resolution of the MicroBooNE detector offers great efficiency for neutrino detection, but also poses some image analysis challenges. Image reconstruction techniques are at the heart of the current efforts dedicated to these state-of-the-art detectors. The physics programme of MicroBooNE is broad, oscillation physics, interaction studies, exotic physics searches... However, the main goal is to search for neutrino oscillations that could demonstrate the presence of the proposed sterile neutrinos. This project will aim at studying neutrinos with MicroBooNE, with a focus on the electron-neutrino interactions. Electron neutrinos are the key to MicroBooNE's main physics analysis and they represent a considerable challenge for event reconstruction. While significant progress have been recently achieved regarding electron reconstruction, a lot of work remains to be done to accomplish the flagship analysis. Many cutting-edge reconstruction techniques have been proposed to overcome the electron reconstruction challenges and the student will implement and study the impact of some of this techniques. This work, to be performed early in the student's training, will offer a unique opportunity to participate in the sterile neutrino search, which will have tremendous impact in the physics community. In addition to addressing the mystery of the previously observed excess of events, this project will have considerable impact on the large-scale DUNE project, being built in the US. Electron neutrinos will be the main signal analysed by the DUNE collaboration and this project will lay some groundwork in electron reconstruction that will be highly valuable for DUNE analyses. In more details, the student will get familiar with the MicroBooNE experiment and software and will be required to take regular "data taking shifts". After being involved in the electron reconstruction software development, the student will perform the electron-neutrino analysis. Since MicroBooNE and DUNE are both part of the STFC Particle Physics strategic plan, this work is in perfect alignment with the UK priorities. In addition, liquid argon detectors are used in many different experiments (MicroBooNE, SBND, protoDUNE and DUNE) and many other fields of particle physics, such as Dark Matter searches and Neutrinoless double-beta decay experiments, use similar detector technologies. The skills that the student will learn will be directly transferable to these current and future projects. Finally, computing and hardware techniques developed for the project will also be highly relevant to the industries doing pattern recognition software development or medical instrument development.