## Tentative Schedule

### March 21

Speaker: Jiajie Ling, Brookhaven National Laboratory

Abstract:

The Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment has measured a non-zero value for the neutrino mixing angle theta13 with a significance of 5.2 standard deviations.  Antineutrinos from six nuclear reactors were detected in six antineutrino detectors deployed in two near and one far underground experimental halls. With 55 days of data, 10416 (80376) electron antineutrino candidates were detected at the far hall (near halls).  The ratio of the observed to expected number of antineutrinos at the far hall is R=0.940 +- 0.011(stat) +- 0.004(syst).  A rate-only analysis finds sin^22theta13=0.092 +- 0.016(stat) +- 0.005(syst) in a three-neutrino framework.

In this seminar we will discuss the first results of Daya Bay experiment.

### April 11

Speaker: Kendall Mahn, Triumf

Abstract:

Neutrino oscillations have been observed and confirmed at two mass splittings ($\Delta m^2$), which is consistent with three generations of neutrinos and an unitary mixing (PMNS) matrix. Despite the rapid progress in understanding neutrino oscillations in the last decade, further study of the large mixing in the leptons (as compared to the quark CKM matrix) may give additional insight into the nature of neutrinos. If $\theta_{23}$ is maximal (2$\theta_{23}=90$ degrees) and/or $\theta_{13}=0$, then the PMNS matrix has a symmetry, indicative of underlying physics. If, however, $\theta_{13}$ is non-zero, and sufficiently large,  then a programme to study CP violation with neutrinos is possible, such as the proposed LongBaseline Neutrino experiment in the US (LBNE) or Hyper-Kamiokande experiment in Japan. In this case, CP violation with light neutrinos
may have some relationship to the CP violation in the decay of a hypothetical heavy neutrino partner and to the development of the early universe.

The Tokai-To-Kamioka (T2K) long baseline neutrino experiment is designed to precisely measure $\nu_{\mu}$ disappearance ($\Delta m^2_{23}$, $\theta_{23}$) and search for $\nu_e$ appearance ($\theta_{13}$). A beam of muon neutrinos is generated at the J-PARC facility in Tokai-mura, Japan, and is sampled by two near detectors, ND280 and INGRID, before reaching the Super-Kamiokande detector, 295km away. This talk will report updated results from T2K on $\nu_{\mu}$ disappearance and $\nu_e$ appearance. Future prospects for T2K and long baseline neutrino physics will also be discussed.

### April 18

Speaker: Craig Dukes, Virginia University

Abstract:

Although there is great excitement in particle physics these days, with the inauguration of the Large Hadron Collider and the great discoveries we hope it will bring, for the first time in some seventy years there are no plans for any new accelerators to take us to the next energy regime.  Hence, in order to find out what may be lurking beyond what we can directly produce in collisions at particle accelerators we will need to look for indirect signs such as rare and forbidden particle decays.  There is a long history of such searches, a history that predates particle physics itself.  I will show how such searches can probe mass scales unobtainable by direct searches at any conceivable particle accelerator and describe an experiment, Mu2e, that intends to use a novel technique to search for new physics through lepton flavor violation in muon decays with sensitivities a factor of 10,000 over existing limits.

### April 25

Speaker: Vladimir Vassiliev, University of California, Los Angeles

Abstract:

The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is proposed as a next-generation ground-based gamma-ray observatory for very high energy astronomy (>10 GeV) and is expected to start operation in the current decade. CTA will consist of a hybrid array of several types of Cherenkov telescopes, planning to (a) provide coverage from a few tens of GeV to beyond 100 TeV, (b) increase sensitivity by an order of magnitude at around 1 TeV (c) significantly improve angular resolution and enable morphological studies of sources, (d) increase field of view which together with large photon detection area facilitates unparalleled research of transient phenomena at high energies, and (e) enhance the all sky survey capability. In this talk I plan to briefly review the status of research in two areas of astrophysics, indirect detection of dark matter and intergalactic magnetic fields, which is currently being conducted by VERITAS, H.E.S.S., MAGIC, and Fermi observatories. I will then illustrate the physics potential of CTA to further advance these studies and overview CTA technology and the status of the project focusing on the development of novel Schwarzschild‐Couder Telescope design which is being developed by the CTA-US members of the CTA consortium.

### May 16 (Nevis Labs)

Speaker: Alex Penson, Columbia University

Abstract:

Merged' jets result from the hadronic decay of high pT Z bosons. They can be used to extend limits on gravitons which decay to a pair of Z bosons, especially in modern Randall-Sundrum models in which Standard Model particles propagate in the five dimensional bulk.