Support for the 'Beyond Standard Model Physics with Driven Neutrino Sources' Workshop at MIT

Massachusetts Institute Of Technology, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

This award will provide support for the "Beyond Standard Model Physics with Driven Neutrino Sources" workshop. It will be held January 18-19, 2018 on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus. The primary intellectual merit of the workshop is in its potential to find a new approach to Beyond Standard Model (BSM) experiments. With respect to benefits to society, this workshop will aid in developing a diverse STEM workforce and encouraging multidisciplinary projects. The plan involves inviting a high fraction of talks by under-represented individuals. Also, the funding will be used to attract graduate students to this event. With respect to the multidisciplinary nature, the workshop will bring together members of the nuclear-, particle-astro-, experimental-particle-, theoretical-particle- and accelerator-physics communities. Funds are provided to support travel for attendees to a workshop that will allow theorists and experimentalists to develop new searches for beyond-Standard-Model (BSM) signatures using driven isotope decay-at-rest sources paired with existing underground detectors. The driven isotope decay-at-rest sources offer high intensity, very pure neutrino flavor sources. A driven source uses an accelerator to produce an isotope which beta-decays-at-rest. This enables the use of fluxes from very short lifetime elements, such as lithium-8. The short lifetime isotopes have relatively high energy endpoints for the flux, typically greater than 10 MeV. No such source has yet been produced, but the availability of such a source would transform the field.