MRI Consortium: Development of a Time Projection Chamber to Measure Neutrino Interactions in the LAr1 Near Detector

MRI 联盟：开发时间投影室来测量 LAr1 近探测器中的中微子相互作用

• 批准号: 1429454
• 负责人: Bonnie Fleming
• 金额: $ 56.45万
• 依托单位: Yale University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2014
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2014-09-01 至 2019-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1429454&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: MRI; Consortium; Development; Time; Projection

One of the major intellectual achievements of the 20th century was the development of the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics. This model has succeeded in classifying all of the elementary particles known into a hierarchy of groups having similar quantum properties. The validity of this model to date has been recently confirmed by the discovery of the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. However, the Standard Model as it currently exists leaves open many questions, for example why there is a preponderance of matter over antimatter in the universe. One of the primary areas to search for answers to such open questions about the universe, how it came to be and why it is the way it is, is to focus on a study of the properties of neutrinos and to use what we know and can learn about neutrinos as probes of science beyond the Standard Model. Neutrinos are elementary particles that barely interact with anything else in the universe. They have no electric charge and were once thought to be massless. Moreover, the Standard Model predicted that there were actually three different kinds of neutrinos that were distinguishable through the different interactions that they would undergo whenever they would interact with matter. But recent measurements have totally changed our picture of neutrinos. We now know that neutrinos do have a mass and because they do, they can actually change from one type to another. Detailed measurements of these changes, along with other current neutrino measurements, form one of the most promising ways to probe for new physics beyond the Standard Model. There have also been possible hints in various experiments of new types of neutrinos (called sterile neutrinos), and building the critical instruments to clarify such "hints" is one of the main thrusts of the work in this project. Intellectual Merit: The work proposed here is to develop a Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LAr TPC) for the LAr1-ND Experiment. This detector technique is powerful in that it allows the experimenter to distinguish between electrons and photons, important for the understanding of the character of neutrino interactions and neutrino oscillations. At Fermilab, the LAr1-ND experiment, along with a companion experiment called MicroBooNE, should significantly increase the physics reach toward answering the important question of whether hypothesized "sterile" neutrinos exist and resolving the anomalies in recent neutrino experiments. Broader Impact: This research program will serve as an invaluable proving ground for LAr TPC technology and in the reconstruction and analysis techniques that will be needed to make future experiments a success. The construction effort at the three collaborating institutions Yale, Syracuse and Chicago will enable students and postdocs at each institution to participate and acquire invaluable hands-on experience with advanced detector technology that is a vital component of training scientists in the field of high-energy physics.

20世纪的主要知识成就之一是粒子物理学标准模型（SM）的发展。该模型成功地将已知的所有基本粒子分为具有相似量子特性的组的层次结构。迄今为止，该模型的有效性最近通过在CERN的大型强子对撞机上发现了Higgs玻色子。但是，目前存在的标准模型留下了许多问题，例如为什么宇宙中反物质的物质优先。 寻找有关宇宙的开放问题的主要领域之一，它是如何实现的以及为什么是这样，是专注于研究中微子的特性，并使用我们所知道的知识并可以学习中微子的知识，并了解中微子作为标准模型以外的科学探索。中微子是基本颗粒，几乎与宇宙中的其他任何事物相互作用。他们没有电荷，曾经被认为是无质量的。 此外，标准模型预测，实际上有三种不同类型的中微子可以通过与物质相互作用时会进行的不同相互作用来区分。但是最近的测量已完全改变了我们对中微子的情况。我们现在知道中微子确实有质量，并且因为它们确实可以从一种类型变为另一种类型。这些变化的详细测量以及其他当前的中微子测量值构成了探究标准模型以外的新物理学的最有希望的方法之一。在新型中微子（称为无菌中微子）的各种实验中，也有可能提示，并构建关键工具以阐明这种“提示”是该项目中作品的主要力量之一。智力优点：这里提出的工作是为LAR1-ND实验开发液体氩时间投影室（LAR TPC）。 该检测器技术的功能强大，因为它允许实验者区分电子和光子，这对于理解中微子相互作用和中微子振荡的特征很重要。 在费米拉布（Fermilab），LAR1-ND实验以及一个称为Microboone的伴侣实验应显着提高物理学，以回答一个重要的问题，即在最近的中性粉实验中是否存在假设的“无菌”中微子并解决异常。更广泛的影响：该研究计划将成为LAR TPC技术以及重建和分析技术的宝贵遗嘱，这将是使未来实验成功的必要条件。 耶鲁大学，锡拉丘兹和芝加哥的三个合作机构的建设工作将使每个机构的学生和博士后参与并获得高级探测器技术的宝贵动手经验，这是高能量物理学领域培训科学家的重要组成部分。