Building Small, Thinking Fast, Planning Big: New Technologies for Future Neutrino Experiments
| Date/Time: | Monday, 05 Feb 2018 from 4:10 pm to 5:00 pm |
|---|---|
| Location: | Phys 0003 |
| Phone: | 515-294-5441 |
| Channel: | College of Liberal Arts and Sciences |
| Actions: | Download iCal/vCal | Email Reminder |
Abstract: The neutrino physics community faces stark technological tradeoffs between conventional detectors that offer large target volumes but poor resolution, and advanced, high-resolution detector systems with limited scalability. In this talk, I present a third way. By fundamentally reinventing the photodetector, it becomes possible to develop high-resolution Water Cherenkov (WCh) or scintillation-based neutrino detectors capable of more complete event reconstruction using precision measurements of the positions and drift times of optical photons. I will give a brief overview of the Large Area Picosecond Photodetector (LAPPD) project, an effort to develop compact, microchannel plate (MCP) photomultiplier tubes capable of sub-millimeter, sub-nanosecond spatial resolutions and with potential for scalability to large experiments. I will also discuss a first effort to realize LAPPDs in a neutrino experiment at Fermilab: the Atmospheric Neutrino Neutron Interaction Experiment (ANNIE). ANNIE is designed to measure the abundance of final-state neutrons produced by neutrinos in water, an important measurement for future neutrino and proton decay analyses. Finally, I will present some thoughts on the long-term implications of new water and scintillation-based technology for next generation experiments approaching megaton-scales.
Bio: I joined the ISU faculty in 2015, as a new member of the growing neutrino group. I bring a background in electroweak physics, from my graduate studies of W boson properties at U Maryland, and technical experience in instrumentation through my post-doctoral work on the Large Area Picosecond Photodetector Project at Argonne National Lab and University of Chicago. My physics interest is in fundamental properties of neutrinos, with a current focus on better understanding their interactions with matter, a key systematic in neutrino oscillation experiments. My technological interest is in developing next generation water-based neutrino detectors. I am a co-spokesperson for the ANNIE experiment, and a PI on the NOvA and WATCHMAN collaborations.