897 research outputs found
Neutrino Physics: Status and Prospects
This pedagogical overview will cover the current status of neutrino physics
from an experimentalist's point of view, focusing primarily on oscillation
studies. The evidence for neutrino oscillations will be presented, along with
the prospects for further refinement of observations in each of the indicated
regions of two-flavor oscillation parameter space. The next steps in
oscillation physics will then be covered (under the assumption of three-flavor
mixing): the quest for , mass hierarchy and, eventually, leptonic
CP violation. Prospects for non-oscillation aspects of neutrino physics, such
as kinematic tests for absolute neutrino mass and double beta decay searches,
will also be discussed briefly.Comment: 30 pages, lectures presented at Lake Louise Winter Institute 200
Prospects for measuring coherent neutrino-nucleus elastic scattering at a stopped-pion neutrino source
Rates of coherent neutrino-nucleus elastic scattering at a high-intensity
stopped-pion neutrino source in various detector materials (relevant for novel
low-threshold detectors) are calculated. Sensitivity of a coherent
neutrino-nucleus elastic scattering experiment to new physics is also explored.Comment: 9 pages, 14 figures; minor modifications for publicatio
Coherent Neutrino Scattering in Dark Matter Detectors
Coherent elastic neutrino- and WIMP-nucleus interaction signatures are
expected to be quite similar. This paper discusses how a next generation
ton-scale dark matter detector could discover neutrino-nucleus coherent
scattering, a precisely-predicted Standard Model process. A high intensity
pion- and muon- decay-at-rest neutrino source recently proposed for oscillation
physics at underground laboratories would provide the neutrinos for these
measurements. In this paper, we calculate raw rates for various target
materials commonly used in dark matter detectors and show that discovery of
this interaction is possible with a 2 tonyear GEODM exposure in an
optimistic energy threshold and efficiency scenario. We also study the effects
of the neutrino source on WIMP sensitivity and discuss the modulated neutrino
signal as a sensitivity/consistency check between different dark matter
experiments at DUSEL. Furthermore, we consider the possibility of coherent
neutrino physics with a GEODM module placed within tens of meters of the
neutrino source.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure
Measuring Active-to-Sterile Neutrino Oscillations with Neutral Current Coherent Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering
Light sterile neutrinos have been introduced as an explanation for a number
of oscillation signals at eV. Neutrino oscillations at
relatively short baselines provide a probe of these possible new states. This
paper describes an accelerator-based experiment using neutral current coherent
neutrino-nucleus scattering to strictly search for active-to-sterile neutrino
oscillations. This experiment could, thus, definitively establish the existence
of sterile neutrinos and provide constraints on their mixing parameters. A
cyclotron-based proton beam can be directed to multiple targets, producing a
low energy pion and muon decay-at-rest neutrino source with variable distance
to a single detector. Two types of detectors are considered: a germanium-based
detector inspired by the CDMS design and a liquid argon detector inspired by
the proposed CLEAR experiment.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure
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