Neutrino Discovery with Liquid Argon TPCs

by Joseph Zennamo (University of Chicago)

Tuesday 28 Feb 2017, 12:30 → 13:30 US/Pacific

Madrone (SLAC)

Since their discovery in 1956 neutrinos have remained an enigma, it was not until 1998 that they were discovered to have mass. Today the study of neutrinos is an active area of research due to their peculiar properties, specifically their tendency to oscillate from one leptonic flavor to another as they propagate. Over long distances we can accurately model these neutrino oscillations by using the three known neutrino flavors. This three-neutrino paradigm has been brought into question by anomalous results from experiments studying oscillations at short-baselines. The Fermilab Short-Baseline Neutrino Program plans to definitively address these anomalous results by utilizing three liquid argon time-projection chambers. This scaleable detector technology allows us to make precision measurements of neutrino interactions. This seminar will cover this Program’s ultimate reach and the first detector to begin data taking, MicroBooNE.