Abstract

The recent Nobel prize for neutrino oscillations has brought this field under the spotlight. A number of seminal experiments first discovered and then confirmed the presence of this quantum mechanical effect.

The MINOS experiment has been the workhorse of the FNAL neutrino program and over the last 7 years has contributed to a number of seminal measurements of neutrino oscillation parameters. MINOS+, a new phase of the experiment, has been taking data for 2 years now to search for any-new-effect-it-can-find in the neutrino oscillation spectrum, but will also continue to contribute to the "standard parameter" measurements worldwide. Looking to the future, the NOVA experiment has started taking data and the initial results could point to an optimal line up of the parameters for this experiment’s success. If we are to learn about CP violation in the neutrino sector in the coming decade, and possibly explain the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe NOVA could be augmented with a new experiment in the NuMI beam: CHIPS is one such experiment, a novel water Cherenkov detector using a unique body of water in the path of the NuMI beam to reduce costs of its mechanical structure. Its other unique feature is the use of good timing and position of small PMTs to reduce the total photo-cathode coverage to make it even more cost effective. Work has been ongoing on the design and prototyping over the last two years.

About the speaker

Prof Jennifer Thomas received her BSc in physics from Bedford College London in 1981 and PhD in Particle Physics from Oxford University in 1983. She joined Imperial College in 1983 and then became a CERN fellow from 1985-1989 where she worked on the Time Projection Digitizer (TPC) for ALEPH. She was at Max Planck Institute, Munich, from 1989-1991 and later took up a Staff Scientist position at the Superconducting Super Collider Laboratory in Dallas, Texas. In 1994, Prof Thomas joined Oxford University as a Research Officer working on the MINOS proposed experiment and went to University College London in 1997. She is currently the Professor of Physics.

Prof Thomas’s research focuses on the MINOS long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment. This sends a beam of muon neutrinos through the earth from the Fermi National Accelerator Center (FNAL) to the Soudan Iron Mine in Northern Minnesota. The beam is measured at FNAL and at Soudan and differences in the flavor content and energy spectrum are measured. She is also contributing to a new neutrinoless double beta decay experiment called SuperNEMO. Looking for this very rare process is the only way to ascertain whether neutrinos are Dirac particles (their anti-particle is distinct from their particle like all the other fermions) or Majorana particles (the anti-particle and particle are the same).

For attendees’ attention

The lecture is free and open to all. Seating is on a first come, first served basis.

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