MicroBooNE

Scientists on Fermilab’s MicroBooNE experiment have measured neutrino interactions on argon with unprecedented statistics and precision using data on the resultant muons — in particular, the muon’s momentum and angle. The experiment features the first liquid-argon time projection chamber with the resolution and statistics to carry out such a measurement. Researchers will use the result to improve simulations of neutrino interactions. These improvements are important for neutrino experiments in general, including the Short-Baseline Neutrino program experiments and the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, both hosted by Fermilab.

Fermilab and the University of Bern in Switzerland have signed an agreement to develop detector components for the laboratory’s neutrino experiments. The agreement is the first of its kind between Fermilab and a Swiss university.

From Science, Aug. 8, 2019: Fermilab physicists are resurrecting a massive particle detector by lowering it into a tomblike pit and embalming it with a chilly fluid. In August, workers eased two gleaming silver tanks bigger than shipping containers, the two halves of the detector, into a concrete-lined hole. Hauled from Europe two years ago, ICARUS will soon start a second life seeking perhaps the strangest particles physicists have dreamed up, oddballs called sterile neutrinos.

From Forbes, Dec. 5, 2018: If there’s a fourth neutrino out there, Fermilab’s Short-Baseline Neutrino Program experiments will lead the way.

We already know neutrinos break the mold of the Standard Model. The question is: By how much?

Recently, the MicroBooNE experiment published a paper describing how they used convolutional neural networks — a particular type of deep neural network — to sort individual pixels coming from images made by a particular type of detector.

A new review in Nature chronicles the many ways machine learning is popping up in particle physics research.

From Scientific American, July 5, 2018: This editorial weighs in on the latest result from the MiniBooNE experiment. The author says that, while winning experiments may soon give us clarity, at this time there is no resolution to the sterile neutrino question.

From KRWG, June 26, 2018: The three-year grant will fund New Mexico State University physics faculty, students and postdoctoral researchers for three projects: SeaQuest, MicroBooNE and PHENIX.

Physicists on the MicroBooNE collaboration at Fermilab have presented their first collection of science results at the international Neutrino 2018 conference in Germany.