In-Person
Rosen Auditorium (TA-53, Bldg 0001)
 
Thursday, March 2, 2023
3:45 – 4:45 pm (MT)
   Light Refreshments at 3:15 - 3:45 pm

  
Speaker: Prof. Janet M. Conrad
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
                     
“ Nu-e or not Nu-e? And other fundamental questions"

Abstract: 
The recent results involving electron neutrino interactions that are not in agreement with the Standard Model are certainly intriguing and warrant further investigation. The discrepancies, which vary in significance from the 2-5 sigma level, suggest that there may be new physics at play beyond what we currently understand.  This talk reviews the data and introduces a new experiment, IsoDAR (Isotope Decay At Rest) to investigate these discrepancies in more detail. The proposed experiment involves the use of a state-of-the-art cyclotron that drives a small-scale isotope-based neutrino source that would be located in close proximity to the Liquid Scintillator Detector at Yemilab, an underground laboratory in South Korea.  Once operational, the IsoDAR experiment will provide the largest sample of electron neutrino interactions ever acquired.   The outcome of the accelerator development is a design that can also be applied to medical isotope production and neutron production for materials testing.




Bio: 
Janet M. Conrad is a Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  Her research involves experimental studies in neutrino physics, with an emphasis on searches for new physics in the weak interaction sector. She has been a founding member of many neutrino experiments, and was co-spokesperson of MiniBooNE from 1999-2007. At present, she participates in the IceCube and CCM experiments, and is developing a new neutrino source, called IsoDAR.    She has led a group performing global fits to world-wide data relevant to the existence of sterile neutrinos for over a decade. Conrad received an M.Sc. from Oxford University in 1987 and a Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1993.  She was a postdoctoral fellow with Columbia University, where she was promoted to faculty in 1995 and became the Walter O. Lecroy Professor of Physics.   In 2008, she moved to MIT.  She is visiting LANL until April 1, while on sabbatical.
 
 Host:
 Bill Louis (P-3), louis@lanl.gov