Neutrinos: window on the Universe

by Kendall Mahn (TRIUMF)

Tuesday 19 Nov 2013, 12:30 → 13:30 US/Pacific

Madrone Conference Room, room 224B (SLAC)

The observation that neutrinos change from one flavor to another as they propagate, or "neutrino oscillation", has been one of the most surprising results in particle physics in the last two decades. Through neutrino oscillation, we now know neutrinos have a small but non-zero mass, which has wide ranging implications for astrophysics, and cosmology. The T2K experiment studies neutrino oscillation by using a>99.5% pure beam of muon neutrinos sent through Japan. This seminar will describe the recent T2K results on electron neutrino appearance and muon neutrino disappearance in a muon neutrino beam, the consequences for the origin of neutrino mass and implications for the future of neutrino physics. The wider T2K physics program, including cross section measurements and dark matter searches, will also be discussed.