CAREER: Optimization of a large water Cherenkov detector for the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。中微子可能在宇宙起源时留下了行动的印记，这些行动决定了今天世界的性质。人们希望中微子能揭示的最重要的问题是“为什么今天的宇宙是由物质主导的”？用未来的强流束研究中微子振荡将有助于检验标准中微子模型和中微子质量的起源。研究质子衰变可以直接探测大统一尺度下的能量尺度，而对银河系超新星的观测将提供宝贵的数据，可以测试粒子、核和天体物理学中的模型。该奖项将资助一个&研发计划，利用超级神冈探测器的数据和蒙特卡罗方法，优化位于DUSEL的50万吨级水切伦科夫（WC）探测器，基线中微子振荡研究，沿着质子衰变和天体物理中微子的搜索。通过利用PI在过去十年中与世界上唯一的数千吨级WC探测器合作所获得的知识，他计划优化未来大型探测器的设计，最大限度地提高质量和物理范围，同时最大限度地减少所需资源。该项目的更广泛影响包括涉及本科生，他们将接受大粒子天体物理探测器所用技术的前沿培训。建议扩大杜克校园的TUNL核实验室非常成功的物理REU计划的范围，也为参加该计划的学生提供高能物理项目。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). Neutrinos may hold the imprint of actions in the beginning of the universe that determined the properties of the world today. Foremost among the questions it is hoped neutrinos may shed light on is 'Why is today's universe dominated by matter'? Studying neutrino oscillation with future powerful beams will allow testing the standard neutrino model and the origin of neutrino mass. Studying proton decay can directly probe energy scales at the Grand Unified Scale, and the observation of a galactic supernova would supply a treasure trove of data which would test models in particle, nuclear and astrophysics.This award will fund an R&D program to use data and Monte Carlo from the Super-Kamiokande detector to optimize a 500-kiloton scale water Cherenkov (WC) detector sited at DUSEL for long-baseline neutrino oscillation studies, along with searches for proton decay and astrophysical neutrinos. By leveraging the knowledge the PI has gained in the last decade of working with the world's only multi kiloton-scale WC detector, he plans to optimize the design of a large future detector, maximizing the mass and physics reach while minimizing the resources needed. The Broader Impacts of this project include involving undergraduate students who will be trained on the cutting edge of techniques used in large particle-astrophysics detectors. It is proposed to extend the scope of the extremely successful physics REU program at the TUNL nuclear laboratory on the Duke campus to also offer high energy physics projects to the students who are attending the program.