Coherent Captain Mills: The Search for Sterile Neutrinos
Faculty Mentor Name
Darrel Smith
Document Type
Presentation
Location
Jim and Linda Lee Planetarium
Start Date
4-10-2019 2:10 PM
End Date
4-10-2019 2:20 PM
Abstract
A neutrino is a subatomic particle that is very similar to an electron, but has no electrical charge and a very small mass. They are some of the most abundant particles in the universe but have almost no interactions with matter, aside from the weak force and gravity. The observation of neutrino oscillations confirms that the active neutrinos (νe , νμ , ντ) are comprised of three mass eigenstates with ∆m2 values between 10-3 to 10-5 eV2. However, a persistent phenomenon has been observed at LSND, MiniBooNE and other short-baseline experiments (SBE) where the mass difference ∆m2 ~ 1eV2 is not compatible with the current mixing between mass eigenstates. However, a 4th neutrino, a sterile neutrino (νs) that doesn’t participate in weak interactions could explain the phenomena observed as SBE’s. An experiment has been constructed at TA-53 at Los Alamos National Laboratory to investigate this large ∆m2~ 1eV2 and determine conclusively whether or not this large ∆m2 is due to a “new” sterile neutrino.
Coherent Captain Mills: The Search for Sterile Neutrinos
Jim and Linda Lee Planetarium
A neutrino is a subatomic particle that is very similar to an electron, but has no electrical charge and a very small mass. They are some of the most abundant particles in the universe but have almost no interactions with matter, aside from the weak force and gravity. The observation of neutrino oscillations confirms that the active neutrinos (νe , νμ , ντ) are comprised of three mass eigenstates with ∆m2 values between 10-3 to 10-5 eV2. However, a persistent phenomenon has been observed at LSND, MiniBooNE and other short-baseline experiments (SBE) where the mass difference ∆m2 ~ 1eV2 is not compatible with the current mixing between mass eigenstates. However, a 4th neutrino, a sterile neutrino (νs) that doesn’t participate in weak interactions could explain the phenomena observed as SBE’s. An experiment has been constructed at TA-53 at Los Alamos National Laboratory to investigate this large ∆m2~ 1eV2 and determine conclusively whether or not this large ∆m2 is due to a “new” sterile neutrino.