Unlocking the mysteries of the neutrino and its mass through the nucleus

通过原子核解开中微子及其质量的奥秘

• 批准号: ST/V003631/1
• 负责人: Cheryl Patrick
• 金额: $ 69.23万
• 依托单位: University of Edinburgh
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ST%2FV003631%2F1
• 关键词: Unlocking; mysteries; neutrino; its; mass

Neutrinos are everywhere! The most abundant massive particles in the universe, they come from all sorts of places: the Sun, the Earth, and outer space. Trillions of them pass harmlessly through our bodies every second. However, they are extremely hard to detect, meaning that neutrinos remain some of the most mysterious particles in the universe - and the only ones whose behaviour can't be fully explained by the Standard Model, the complicated equation describing all the fundamental particles in the universe.Because they are electrically neutral, neutrinos are invisible to particle detectors, which are sensitive to electric charge. We can only detect them when they interact with matter, and produce their charged partners - particles like electrons - with one of three "flavours". Neutrinos are predicted to have zero mass - like photons, the particles of light - but we now know that they have (tiny) masses and that they "oscillate", changing flavour in flight. This raises questions - what are their masses and how do they correspond to the flavours, how do they acquire mass, and do neutrinos and their antiparticles behave differently?Experiments investigating these questions use many different approaches, typically involving huge particle detectors, built deep underground. However, they all face a common challenge: interpreting their measurements requires understanding how neutrinos interact with atomic nuclei. This is extremely complicated, depending on subtleties of nuclear structure and myriad interaction mechanisms that mimic each other in detectors. Nevertheless, without better interaction models, next-generation neutrino experiments will not be able to achieve the precision they need to make new physics discoveries.This fellowship proposes a novel, integrated approach, studying how nuclear effects manifest in different experiment types. We'll use data from SuperNEMO, located under the French Alps and seeking the rare neutrinoless double-beta decay, a never-observed process that could help explain our matter-dominated universe. We'll add precision electron-scattering measurements from CLAS, at Jefferson Lab in Virginia; and use neutrino-scattering data from SBND, a liquid-argon-based detector at Fermilab in Illinois, to test and improve nuclear models. We'll implement them for DUNE, a next-generation oscillation experiment with huge investment from the UK and beyond, which will study a beam of neutrinos travelling from Fermilab to the SURF lab, in a former gold mine in South Dakota. With a unique background studying both neutrino interactions and neutrinoless double-beta decay, this fellowship will give me the chance to bring all of these ideas, data and opportunities together, and bring us closer to understanding the mystery of the neutrino and its mass.

中微子无处不在！它们是宇宙中最丰富的巨大颗粒，它们来自各种各样的地方：太阳，地球和外太空。他们中的一万亿每秒都会无害地通过我们的身体。但是，它们很难检测到，这意味着中微子仍然是宇宙中最神秘的颗粒 - 唯一无法通过标准模型完全解释的行为，而复杂的方程式描述了宇宙中所有基本粒子的复杂方程。我们只能在与物质相互作用时检测到它们，并用三种“风味”之一产生带电的伙伴（如电子等粒子）。预测中微子的质量为零 - 如光子，光的颗粒 - 但我们现在知道它们具有（微小的）质量，并且它们“振荡”，改变飞行中的风味。这提出了问题 - 他们的质量是什么，它们如何与口味相对应，他们如何获得质量，并做中微子及其反粒子的行为不同？调查这些问题的实验使用了许多不同的方法，通常涉及巨大的粒子探测器，建造了深层地下的巨大粒子探测器。但是，他们都面临着一个普遍的挑战：解释其测量需要了解中微子如何与原子核相互作用。这是极其复杂的，具体取决于核结构的微妙之处以及在探测器中相互模仿的无数相互作用机制。然而，如果没有更好的相互作用模型，下一代中微子实验将无法达到使新物理发现所需的精度。该研究金提出了一种新颖的综合方法，研究核效应如何在不同的实验类型中表现出来。我们将使用位于法国阿尔卑斯山的Supernemo的数据，并寻求稀有的中性s中性双β衰变，这是一个从未观察到的过程，可以帮助解释我们以物质为主的宇宙。我们将在弗吉尼亚州的杰斐逊实验室（Jefferson Lab）添加CLAS的精确电子散片测量值；并使用来自伊利诺伊州Fermilab的基于液体 - 阿贡的检测器SBND的中微子散射数据来测试和改善核模型。我们将对Dune实施，这是一项由英国及其他地区进行巨额投资的下一代振荡实验，它将研究一束中微子，从菲尔米拉布（Fermilab）到南达科他州的一家金矿中。通过研究中微子相互作用和中微子双β衰减的独特背景，该奖学金将使我有机会将所有这些想法，数据和机会融合在一起，并使我们更加了解中微子及其质量的奥秘。

项目成果

Status of SuperNEMO and Analysis of First Data

SuperNEMO现状及第一批数据分析

• DOI: 10.22323/1.441.0217
• 发表时间: 2024
• 作者: Patrick C

Measurement of the double-$$\varvec{\beta }$$ decay of $$\varvec{^{150}}$$Nd to the 0$$\varvec{^+_1}$$ excited state of $$\varvec{^{150}}$$Sm in NEMO-3

测量 $$varvec{^{150}}$$Nd 到 $$varvec 的 0$$varvec{^ _1}$$ 激发态的双 $$varvec{eta }$$ 衰减

• DOI: 10.1140/epjc/s10052-023-12227-x
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: The European Physical Journal C
• 作者: Aguerre X