Upcoming Particle Seminars
March 13
Speaker: Georgia Karagiorgi, Columbia University
Title: "Neutrino Physics at the Dawn of the Liquid Argon TPC Era"
Abstract:
A tremendous amount of progress has been made in the field of neutrino
physics over the past decade. However, the questions of (1) sterile
neutrinos, (2) leptonic CP violation, and (3) neutrino mass hierarchy
still remain and form three of the most pressing issues in the field.
MicroBooNE is the first in line of next-generation experiments that aim
to address those questions. I will discuss the MicroBooNE liquid argon
time projection chamber (TPC) experiment and its physics reach, and pay
particular focus to its ability to address, within the next 3-5 years,
the recent experimental hints for the existence of sterile neutrinos.
Finally, I will describe other ongoing efforts--both theoretical and
experimental--which aim to further investigate the global picture of
sterile neutrinos.
March 27
Speaker: Josh Spitz, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Title: “A new probe of the sterile neutrino”
Abstract:
A number of observed anomalies in neutrino oscillation experiments can
be explained by the existence of a new fundamental particle called the
sterile neutrino. A definitive experiment is needed in order to
determine if such a particle exists or not. A detector placed ~100 m
from an intense source of >3 GeV protons can be used to search for
electron neutrino appearance with the monoenergetic 235.5 MeV muon
neutrino flux from charged kaon decay-at-rest. Such an observation would
be consistent with the existence of at least one sterile neutrino. The
detector can also be used to concurrently search for the appearance and
disappearance of neutrinos and antineutrinos from pion/muon
decay-at-rest as well. The combination of these measurements would be a
definitive probe of the sterile neutrino with neutrinos and
antineutrinos and in both appearance and disappearance channels. I will
present the kaon decay-at-rest sterile neutrino search idea and the
possibility of experimentally pursuing it in the near future.
April 3
Speaker: Manel Martinez, IFAE Barcelona, Spain
Title: "VHE gamma-ray astronomy: from experiments to observatories"
Abstract:
The last decade has witnessed the down of VHE gamma ray astronomy thanks
to the present generation of Imaging Air Cherenkov Telescopes. These
instruments are running as experiments but the worldwide community is
already well advanced in preparing a qualitative step: building the two
Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) observatories. In this talk, as an
example of present generation experiments, the recent upgrade of MAGIC
will be described and some physics highlights will be reported. Then
the status and plans of the CTA project will be discussed.
April 10
Speaker: Aaron Angerami, Columbia University
Title: “Results on Jet Quenching from ATLAS”
Abstract:
Jets produced in relativistic heavy ion collisions may lose energy or
suffer modification of their parton showers through the phenomena of jet
quenching. Thus jets provide an important tool to study the properties
of the medium of deconfined, strongly-interacting quarks and gluons
produced in these collisions. Conversely, medium-induced modifications
to the nominal vacuum parton shower constitute a new domain in the study
of jet phenomenology. In general, these jets provide a unique
opportunity to study the universal physical phenomena of radiation and
diffusion in a fundamental theory. Indirect measurements related to jet
quenching have been performed at RHIC, however measurements of fully
reconstructed jets in heavy ion collisions have only become tractable in
the LHC era. In this talk, I will summarize the first series of jet
measurements from the ATLAS experiment and discuss the implications of
these results on our current understanding of the quenching mechanism.
April 16 **CANCELED** / 2:30PM at Mansion House, Nevis Labs
Speaker: Jose Alonso, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Title: "Pushing the Envelope of Cyclotron Technology: from Medical Applications to Neutrino Sources"
Abstract:
The Cyclotron, patented by E.O. Lawrence in 1934, has traditionally been
a tool for nuclear physicists to study properties of nuclei. Even from
the earliest days, however, applications of the beams from these
machines in other fields have played an important role. Glenn Seaborg,
in 1938 proposed the first use of an iodine isotope he discovered at the
27” cyclotron as a medical tracer, and in that same year Ernest’s
brother John Lawrence developed a program of treating tumors with
neutrons from cyclotron beams hitting beryllium targets.
Today cyclotrons are in widespread use: for radioisotope production, for
cancer therapy with proton beams, and for increasingly-diversified
programs in nuclear and particle physics research.
This talk will cover the range of applications, and the evolution of
machines optimized for each, and will explore new developments, from
compact superconducting machines tailored for medical uses, up to and
including a new project for development of very high-current cyclotrons
as compact, cost-effective neutrino sources.
April 24
Speaker: Chris Sachrajda, University of Southampton
Title: "Prospects for Lattice Calculations of Rare Kaon Decay Amplitudes"
Abstract:
Precision Flavour Physics in general, and processes mediated by Flavour
Changing Neutral Currents (FCNC) in particular, offer a particularly
promising tool for exploring the limits of the standard model and
searching for signatures of new physics in a way which is complementary
to the high-energy searches being undertaken at the LHC. The very
significant recent progress in lattice simulations is enabling the
hadronic effects (non-perturbative QCD effects) to be quantified for
many processes, allowing us to extract fundamental information from
experimental measurements. In this talk I will discuss the prospects of
applying recently developed techniques to an important class of FCNC
processes, rare kaon decays K -> pi + leptons, where the kaon and the
pion have the same electric charge. I will discuss both the
phenomenology of such processes and the theoretical framework necessary
for the evaluation of the amplitudes. The calculations are feasible but
challenging and a dialogue with both the experimental and non-lattice
theoretical communities will be helpful to proceed in the most effective
way.
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