Department
Eligible to Supervise
Physics and Astronomy Graduate Program
Email
Research Interests
Experimental Neutrino Physics
My research focuses on experimental programs trying to better understand a nearly massless particle called the neutrino. These particles are incredibly abundant and come from a large number of sources: the sun, supernovae, cosmic ray interactions in the atmosphere, human-produced particle beams, etc. However, as they interact through the so-called weak force, they are difficult to detect. Yet, as we have studied them they continually surprise us. Neutrinos undergo type “oscillations:” a produced muon-type neutrino may later be found to be an electron- or tau-type neutrino. The exact evolution of this “oscillation” is a combination of multiple factors that experiments aim to measure precisely. For example, one such parameter encodes the possibility for differences in the oscillation for neutrinos versus anti-neutrinos and is an important parameter to be measured by the next generation of neutrino oscillation experiment.
The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a premier next-generation neutrino oscillation experiment that aims to perform precision measurements of neutrino oscillation. It will use a beam of neutrinos produced at Fermilab (near Chicago in the United States), with a “near” detector close to the beam to study the beam and an underground “far” detector ~1300 km away, with tens of thousands of tons of liquified argon (using the Liquid Argon Time-Projection Chamber or LAr TPC technology) to study the oscillation. A major component of my research program will be realizing DUNE and ultimately using it to study neutrinos. (Such a large, sensitive detector, along with a sensitive near detector near a powerful neutrino beam will enable a large number of additional studies with this program on top of the primary oscillation goals as well.)
The other portion of my research program in the near term focuses on the detectors in the Short Baseline Neutrino (SBN) program at Fermilab. While there is evidence that the electron-, muon-, and tau-type neutrinos are the only active neutrinos, previously anomalous results at short distances unexplainable by standard oscillation have raised the possibility that there is more to the picture (for example, additional “sterile” neutrinos). The SBN program aims to clarify this by placing multiple smaller LAr TPC detectors at Fermilab close to neutrino beam(s). The smaller LAr TPCs at Fermilab are important in the realization of DUNE as well, for examples via the experience gained in operating and analyzing these detectors and via the analysis of neutrino interactions in these detectors (which can be a pesky source of uncertainty in precision oscillation measurements). As a postdoctoral researcher, especially ICARUS and to some extent SBND – two of the smaller LAr TPCs at Fermilab and the currently operating SBN Program – were the main focus of my research program. I intend to continue research with these detectors in the short term as well, especially in ways that are complementary to realizing the DUNE project.