The Smallest and the Biggest: Neutrinos and the Matter Dominated Universe
| Date/Time: | Friday, 23 Jan 2015 from 4:10 pm to 5:00 pm |
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| Location: | Physics 0003 |
| Phone: | 515-294-5441 |
| Channel: | College of Liberal Arts and Sciences |
| Actions: | Download iCal/vCal | Email Reminder |
Abstract: Why we see a universe dominated by matter--as opposed to one with equal matter and anti-matter--is an open problem in physics. I will discuss the motivation for searching for and current experimental constraints on the CP-violating parameter in the neutrino sector, which is one of the necessary (though not sufficient!) conditions for leptons to generate this asymmetry of the universe. I will focus on the T2K experiment, a long-baseline, accelerator-based neutrino experiment measuring both ?? -> ?? and ?? -> ?e oscillations, which gives it sensitivity to the CP-violating parameter, especially in combination with other neutrino oscillation experiments. I will concentrate on the recent results from T2K which have placed some interesting constraints on the value of the CP-violating parameter. Finally, I will also discuss other current, future, and proposed experiments and what the neutrino field must do to search for this effect.
Bio: I first discovered my interest in neutrino physics as an undergraduate at the University of Chicago, working with Ed Blucher on hardware development for neutrino oscillation experiments. I switched to developing novel directional detectors to search for dark matter as a graduate student working with Peter Fisher and Joe Formaggio at MIT, and returned to neutrino physics as current Research Associate at Imperial College London, where I work on the T2K experiment.