Colloquium- “Exploring the Standard Model and Beyond with Neutrino Oscillation Experiments” with Prof. Bryce Littlejohn
Physics Colloquium
October 11, 2023
3:00 PM - 4:45 PM
Location
2SES 238
Calendar
Download iCal FileSpeaker: Prof. Bryce Littlejohn, IIT
Title: Exploring the Standard Model and Beyond with Neutrino Oscillation Experiments
Abstract:
While neutrinos are one of the most common particles in the universe, their elusive nature makes it challenging to understand their fundamental properties. Despite the feebleness of their weak interactions, neutrinos play an essential role in processes as small as radioactive decay and as large as the clumping of matter in the universe. Three decades of neutrino experiments have extensively studied one of their unique properties: their ability to transform, or oscillate, between three different flavors as they travel through space and time. By measuring oscillations of neutrinos from terrestrial and astrophysical sources, neutrino physicists have learned more about neutrinos’ tiny masses, and about how neutrinos and antineutrinos behave differently from one another. A deeper understanding of these neutrino properties may provide answers to key questions about the universe, such as the identity of its dark matter and the fate of all of its missing antimatter. In this talk, I will introduce the audience to the interesting world of neutrinos as well as to the sources and tools we have used to produce and study them. I will also discuss recent results from MicroBooNE and PROSPECT, US-based searches for heavy ‘sterile’ neutrinos, popular Standard Model-extending particles that may help to explain enduring anomalies in experimental neutrino physics.
Date posted
Sep 21, 2023
Date updated
Sep 29, 2023