Speaker:
Prof. Mike Shaevitz, Columbia University
Title:
Neutrino Oscillations and the Double Chooz Reactor Experiment
Abstract:
The recent confirmations of the solar and atmospheric neutrino oscillation
signals have changed this area of particle physics from addressing anomalies to
measuring the properties of neutrinos and their mixings. Several key
questions now need to be answered: Are neutrinos Majorana particles being both
particle and antiparticle? Are there sterile neutrinos that don’t participate
in the standard weak interaction? Does neutrino mixing exhibit CP violation
analogous to the quark mixing? The first question can be investigated by
searching for neutrinoless double beta decay. The second question is
primarily being addressed by the MiniBooNE experiment. For the third
question, the next important step is to measure the unknown mixing angle that
couples the solar and atmospheric mass eigenstates. If this angle is shown
to be greater than about 5 degrees, future long-baseline neutrino experiments
could investigate CP violation. The Double Chooz reactor experiment will
be the first experiment to have sensitivity to probe for oscillations at this
level of mixing. In this talk, I will go over the phenomenology and current
knowledge of neutrino oscillations followed by a plan for future
experiments. The Double Chooz reactor neutrino experiments will then be
described as the next step for neutrino oscillation measurements
Speaker:
Dr. Miguel F. Morales, Harvard University
Title:
Radio Observations of the Epoch of Reionization
Abstract:
Highly redshifted 21 cm neutral hydrogen emission from the Epoch of
Reionization (EOR) is a unique cosmological probe, and planned low frequency
radio observations could revolutionize our understanding of structure formation
and the emergence of the first luminous objects. However, EOR observations are
complicated by strong foreground contamination and stringent instrumental
requirements. In this talk, I will review the observational signatures of the
Epoch of Reionization and how the faint 21 cm emission can be extracted from
the foreground signals, and describe the Mileura Widefield Array - Low
Frequency Demonstrator (MWA-LFD) my colleagues and I are constructing in Western Australia.
Speaker:
Dr. Milind Diwan, Brookhaven National Laboratory
Title:
Progress on a Future U.S. Long Baseline Program
Abstract:
Dr. Diwan will describe progress on a future accelerator based long
baseline program aimed at CP violation in neutrino physics.
Speaker:
Dr. Chad Finley, University of Wisconsin
Title:
IceCube and Neutrino Astronomy at the South Pole
Abstract:
The IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica
is a kilometer-scale detector operating deep within the ice at the geographic
south pole. When completed, it will comprise over 4000 optical modules deployed
between 1.5 km and 2.5 km below the surface, where the Cerenkov radiation of
charged particles created in neutrino interactions can be observed through
clear ice. Its enormous size is dictated by its principal mission: to detect high
energy neutrinos from the extreme astrophysical environments which are known to
produce TeV photons and are suspected of producing EeV cosmic rays. Neutrino
observations of objects such as active galactic nuclei and gamma-ray bursts
will offer unique insights into nature's highest-energy accelerators. In this
talk I will discuss the major physics goals of kilometer-scale neutrino
observatories; results from the predecessor experiment AMANDA; and the status
and outlook for IceCube, which is presently operating and observing neutrinos
with 10% of the detector already deployed.
Speaker:
Amy Connolly
Title:
"Closing in on Ultra-High Energy Neutrinos with the Radio Detection
Technique"
Abstract:
The Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) is a balloon experiment
that aims to detect neutrinos with energies above 1018 eV (1 EeV)
for the first time by detecting the radio Cherenkov signal produced by neutrino
interactions in the Antarctic ice. Neutrinos in this energy regime are expected
to be produced in the interaction of cosmic rays with the cosmic microwave
background. ANITA will fly at the end of this year, during the 2006-2007
Austral summer. I will present results from the ANITA-lite test flight, and
discuss the status of preparations for the upcoming flight. In addition, I will
describe two next-generation radio detection experiments under development, one
in a salt formation and another on the Antarctic Ross Ice Shelf, that are
designed to move beyond the discovery stage and measure a sample of ultra-high
energy neutrinos that is large enough to study their rich properties.
Speaker:
Dr. Andy Haas, Columbia
University
Title:
"Search for Split SUSY using Stopped Gluinos at the D0
Experiment"
Abstract:
A generic prediction of Split Supersymmetry is a long-lived gluino. Some of
these new particles will lose enough energy through ionization to actually stop
in the D0 calorimeter. I search for the decay of these stopped gluinos, which
would look like a energetic jet coming from within the calorimeter itself. The
simulation of the signal, estimations of the dominant backgrounds, and results
from ~300 pb-1 of D0 RunII data will be presented.
Speaker:
Prof. Sacha Kopp, University of Texas at Austin
Title:
First Results from the MINOS Neutrino Oscillation Search
Abstract:
The Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search (MINOS) experiment at
Fermilab looks for the disappearance of muon neutrinos across a 735 km baseline
from Fermilab to Soudan, MN. A conventional, horn-focused muon neutrino
beam is delivered to 2 magnetized iron calorimeters, one at Fermilab and one in
Soudan. The experiment has accumulated $1.4 \times 10^{20}$~protons on
target from May, 2005 until February, 2006. The energy spectrum of the
neutrino beam can be varied, allowing a search of oscillation parameters in the
range indicated by atmospheric neutrino experiments. Results, recently
submitted to Physical Review Letters, will be summarized.
Speaker:
Dr. Michael Prouza, Columbia University
Title:
Cosmic rays and Gamma-ray bursts: A proven connection
Abstract:
As the construction of the southern site of the Pierre Auger Observatory
progresses, new links between the physics of ultra-high energy cosmic rays and
some traditional astronomical topics have emerged, and these links are being
used to improve data analysis. Three examples of such astronomical topics will
be discussed in this presentation: the test of the fluorescence camera
alignment using star tracks; the study of previously unobserved variations in
the night sky brightness using the fluorescence cameras; and especially the
discovery of an optical counterpart of Gamma Ray Burst 060117 with FRAM -- a
robotic telescope that is primarily designed for atmospheric monitoring at the
Auger site (A&A 454 (2006) L119). I will also give an update on the status
of the Observatory and summarize recent physics results.
Speaker:
Prof. Tony Zee, U.C. Santa Barbara
Title:
Attempts to Understand the Neutrino Mass Matrix
Speaker:
Dr. John Jones, Imperial College
Title:
Trigger Hardware in CMS - Present & Future
Abstract:
The current CMS trigger architecture is based on a two-tier approach; the
Level-1 trigger controls readout of the detector based on coarse-grained
information about an event, is predominantly hardware-based, using a
combination of custom ASICs and FPGAs and operates with a fixed latency. The
Higher-Level trigger is PC and software based, using a partial reconstruction
approach to filter the data down to the recording rate of 100Hz. In this
seminar the hardware architecture of the Level-1 trigger is introduced,
focusing on trigger throttling in the CMS tracker and the architecture of the
calorimeter trigger. The use of modern programmable logic with high speed
optical links is discussed, emphasising its use for data concentration in the
Global Calorimeter Trigger. Looking forward to Super-LHC, a possible new
architecture of the CMS Level-1 trigger system is discussed, incorporating
additional information from a new pixel detector. Issues with high-speed
reconstruction and on-detector data rate reduction are discussed. Alternative
uses of current trigger hardware are also considered, such as the use of
high-speed processing hardware in medical imaging projects.
Speaker:
Dr. Thomas Gadfort, University of Washington
Title:
Search for single top quark production at D0
Abstract:
A measurement of the single top quark cross section provides the only way to
directly measure the CKM matrix element |Vtb| thereby testing the unitarity of
the CKM matrix. Violations of unitarity would indicate possible new physics
such as a fourth generation of quarks. I will present the latest results from
the D0 single top quark search with 360 pb-1 of RunII data as well as
preliminary results with 1 fb-1 using the matrix element technique to enhance
the expected signal significance. The matrix element analysis technique
attempts to reconstruct each event at the parton level process and then uses
leading order matrix elements to distinguish single top from the W+jets and
ttbar backgrounds. I will also discuss our general search strategy including
online triggering, background estimating using data and Monte Carlo, and b jet identification using a
neural network. Finally, assuming the current analysis sensitivity, I will
comment on the amount of data required for discovery given a Standard Model
cross section.
Speaker:
Dr. Stan Lai, University
of Toronto
Title:
Search for Associated Higgs Production with Top Quark Pairs at CDF
Abstract:
The search for the elusive Higgs boson is an important goal for hadron collider
experiments. The Tevatron at Fermilab collides protons with antiprotons at
energies of 1.96 TeV and is currently the only collider that has the potential
to produce Higgs bosons. I present the first search at a hadron collider of
associated Higgs production with top quark pairs. Though such a signal has a
very small cross section, the final event topology is very distinct, involving
four jets originating from b-quarks. 95% C.L. limits are set on the cross
section for this process. This measurement complements other searches for the
Higgs boson using different production channels at CDF.