RUI: A Program of Undergraduate Participation in the Search for Rare Events with CUORE

California Polytechnic State University Foundation, San Luis Obispo CA

Investigators

Abstract

California Polytechnic State University is a primarily undergraduate institution that provides opportunities for undergraduate students to participate in fundamental physics research. The Cal Poly students will have the opportunity to participate in hands-on activities at one of the world's finest underground laboratories and to participate in fundamental research. This will give students invaluable experience working with a cutting-edge physics experiment in a world-class underground laboratory. These experiences facilitate important personal and professional growth which accompanies travel and study abroad. Undergraduate research opportunities such as those in this project allow students to contribute to real science and generate formative experiences for early technical careers, which ultimately contribute to a competent and competitive US workforce. The principle investigator and his students will work on the CUORE experiment at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory, an underground laboratory, in Italy. CUORE is designed to measure the half-life of one of the slowest radioactive decays ever observed: two neutrino double beta decay (2vBB). It is also searching for the never-before-seen neutrinoless double beta decay (0vBB). Neutrinoless double beta decay is impossible unless the neutrino has mass and the neutrino is distinct from its own antiparticle. But the Standard Model of physics suggests that the neutrino does not have mass and it treats the neutrino as distinct from its antiparticle. Therefore, observation of neutrinoless double beta decay would imply new and exciting physics beyond the Standard Model. The CUORE collaboration has built an experiment that is ideal for detecting neutrinoless double beta decay with a half-life up 10^26 years, which is trillions of times older than the age of the Universe. The Cal Poly group will contribute to the experiment by providing on-site support each summer. They will do data analysis in their home laboratory and they will develop machine learning algorithms for pulse-shape identification and classification. They will also use the data to test for violations of Lorentz and CPT invariance, directly testing the limits of Einstein's special theory of relativity. Both neutrino physics and underground physics are subjects that spark the imagination of students and so these topics provide a unique platform for vigorous public outreach. The PI and students will create outreach activities and work with local schools and community organizations to sponsor physics demonstrations and discuss current events in science. In particular, the Cal Poly group will develop an interactive visualization scheme for CUORE physics. The interactive software will serve as a channel for the public to gain insight into the scientific process and explore the mysteries of particle physics. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.