Study of Neutrino Oscillations

Stanford University, Stanford CA

Investigators

Abstract

The proposed research at Stanford University aims to provide new understanding of the underlying causes for a fundamental property of nature known as neutrino oscillations. One of the unexpected results in particle physics during the last decade has been the discovery that neutrinos have mass, that they have the ability to change from one species to another as they travel through space or matter, and that the extent of these transformations (mixing angles) is surprisingly large. Neutrinos are fundamental constituents of our universe and, together with photons are the most numerous. Yet, neutrinos are poorly understood compared to other fundamental constituents and further studies are required to understand many significant issues in cosmology and astrophysics, to probe physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics, and to resolve the mystery of matter-antimatter asymmetry in our universe. The proposed program consists of the MINOS experiment and planning for an off-axis neutrino experiment with the neutrino beam currently being completed at Fermilab. The MINOS experiment is in its final stages of construction. The far detector of MINOS, located in the Soudan Mine in northern Minnesota was completed in August 2003 and has begun taking data on cosmic rays. The neutrino beam and other related construction efforts at Fermilab are expected to be complete by the end of 2004 and data taking with accelerator neutrinos should commence shortly thereafter. The MINOS experiment will significantly improve our knowledge of neutrino oscillation parameters in the atmospheric neutrino energy region; will search for subdominant oscillation modes into electron and/or sterile neutrinos; and will observe oscillatory behavior of muon neutrino disappearance, thus providing a conclusive test of the oscillation origin of that phenomenon. The broader impact of the research will occur at several levels: (a) Understanding how matter is constructed and how the forces of nature shape it into the myriad observed forms is a long standing question that resonates with scientists and non-scientists alike; (b) The research program poses a set of questions through which students and postdoctoral fellows will learn not only to frame crisp tests of the fundamental construction of matter, but also to devise innovative methods and tools for conducting them. Attacking such problems provides the rigorously educated young people that our society desperately needs; and (c) the proposal includes elements of outreach to the broader community.