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

历史黑人学院和大学-本科项目(HBCU-UP)研究启动奖(RIA)为HBCU的STEM初级教员提供支持，他们开始建立研究项目，以及职业生涯中期的教师，他们可能在担任行政职位后重返教职队伍，或者需要重新定向和重建研究项目。教职员工可以在他们的家乡机构、NSF资助的中心、研究密集型机构或国家实验室进行研究。RIA项目有望帮助教师进一步提高研究能力和效率，改善其所在机构的研究和教学，并让本科生参与研究体验。在国家科学基金会的支持下，北卡罗来纳中央大学(NCCU)将开展中微子-原子核相干弹性散射研究，并正式参与旨在测量这种类型中微子散射的相干研究合作。这种散射是在1974年预测的，但还没有被观测到。一旦观察到，这些方法和结果将对天体物理学的研究产生影响。这个项目将为北卡罗来纳中央大学的几名少数族裔本科生以及他们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的课堂。此外，该项目将帮助北卡罗来纳中央大学建设其研究能力，并增强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采集，对相干弹性中微子-核散射测量进行数据分析和模拟，并对关键核目标(如锗)和屏蔽材料(包括铅)进行相关的背景研究。相关合作将利用探测器技术的最新进展和橡树岭国家实验室(ORNL)散裂中子源的副产品--强脉冲中微子源的可用性，开展CENNS的第一次调查。直接相关的目标是将选定原子核的CENNS测量结果与标准模型截面计算进行比较，以测试中微子的非标准相互作用。此外，测量的反应速率对于理解暗物质实验中探测器的响应和背景，以及对超新星过程和探测进行建模具有直接意义。合作者包括杜克大学在三角大学核实验室(TUNL)和橡树岭国家实验室的教师。

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.