The PA-Supported Neutrino Program at MIT

Massachusetts Institute Of Technology, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

Embedded deep in the ice cap at the South Pole, the IceCube Neutrino Observatory (ICNO) is the world's largest and most sensitive high energy neutrino telescope. It is a 1 billion-ton detector using the Antarctic ice as a detection medium for high energy atmospheric and astrophysical neutrinos. Most of the neutrinos observed by IceCube exhibit energies in the range expected for atmospheric neutrinos originating from decays of particles produced in extensive air showers by cosmic rays coming from nearby sectors of the Milky Way Galaxy. These may be used to measure the fundamental properties of neutrinos. At higher energies, astrophysical neutrinos are key probes of the high-energy universe. Because of their unique properties, neutrinos escape even dense regions, are not deflected by galactic or extra-galactic magnetic fields and traverse the photon-filled universe unhindered. Thus, neutrinos provide direct information about the dynamics and interiors of the powerful cosmic objects that may be the origins of high energy cosmic rays: supernovae, black holes, pulsars, active galactic nuclei and other extreme extragalactic phenomena. This award enables the group to address the development of a globally competitive STEM workforce; increased participation of women and minorities; improved teacher development; improved undergraduate education; increased public scientific literacy; and public well-being. The work has valuable spin-offs from the research, including reactor flux studies relevant to reactor monitoring and the cyclotron development relevant to medical isotope production. The group is motivated by searches for new physics manifested in the neutrino sector. "New physics" means a step beyond the discoveries of neutrino mass and three-active-flavor mixing, which are well established. Introducing sterile neutrinos extends the number of mass states and expands the mixing matrix. This can lead to oscillations with squared mass splittings that are anomalously large. The group will pursue this question in two projects, the ongoing IceCube experiment and the future IsoDAR experiment.