Physicists achieve significant improvement in spotting neutrinos in a cosmic haystack

From Science Magazine (UK), June 9, 2021: Brookhaven scientists have developed new ways for the MicroBooNE detector at Fermilab to filter out cosmic ray tracks to pinpoint elusive neutrino interactions with unprecedented clarity.

Three vertical planes of sense wires stand in the center of this 3D chart that shows on the left how particles flying through the detector create electrons that drift to the sense wires of the detector, and on the right shows electric signals – the waveforms – that these wires will collect as a function of time. To the left, an incoming neutrino travels through the liquid argon of the time projection chamber, and it eventually splits into two charged particles that knock loose electrons in the liquid. To the right of the sense wires, waveforms are shown for the Y plane and the V plane.

Physicists achieve significant improvement in spotting accelerator-produced neutrinos in a cosmic haystack

Press release

Ground-breaking image reconstruction and analysis algorithms developed for surface-based MicroBooNE detector filter out cosmic ray tracks to pinpoint elusive neutrino interactions with unprecedented clarity.

Joint appointment at JGU and Fermilab: Alfons Weber is JGU’s new W3 Professor of Experimental Particle Physics

Press release

Alfons Weber has achieved full professorship teaching Experimental Particle Physics at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz. His joint appointment at JGU and Fermilab represents the expansion of PRISMA+ neutrino physics research program.

High energy cosmic messengers observed in the laboratory for the first time

From Forbes, June 1, 2021: Fermilab’s Don Lincoln explains how researchers use observations of high energy particles to better understand rare astronomical phenomena such as black holes, supernovae, colliding stars, and other cosmic calamities.

At an angle from the second floor looking down into a rectangle of multi-colored, interconnected pipes.

ICARUS gets ready to fly

Fermilab feature

The ICARUS detector, part of Fermilab’s Short-Baseline Neutrino Program, will officially start its hunt for elusive sterile neutrinos this fall. The international collaboration led by Nobel laureate Carlo Rubbia successfully brought the detector online and is now collecting test data and making final improvements.

Researchers find that ghostly subatomic particles are even lighter than previously thought

From Forbes, May 18, 2021: Fermilab’s Don Lincoln explains the Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino Experiment, in Germany that has improved our understanding of the mass of this insubstantial denizen of the microcosm.

SURF study highlights economic impacts in South Dakota

From the Black Hills Pioneer, May 17, 2021 Activities at the Sanford Lab to have significant benefits for over the next decade as the construction of DUNE continues.

Lead underground research facility makes a positive impact on South Dakota economy

From KOTA-TV (Rapid City, SD), May 16, 2021: Sanford has a $1.6 billion economic impact and generates over 1,000 jobs in South Dakota.

Detector Technology Developed at Berkeley Lab Yields Unprecedented 3D Images, Heralding Far Larger Application to Study Neutrinos

From EIN Presswire, May 14, 2021; LBNL’s LArPix experiment result is a leap forward in how to detect and record signals in liquid argon time projection chambers (LArTPCs), a technology of choice for future neutrino and dark matter experiments such as Fermilab’s DUNE.

Three factoid cards, which look similar to playing cards or a baseball card, appear on a background of stars in a night sky (or in outer space) in a cartoon rendering. On each of the cards is a circle adjusted its sunglasses, presumably each a type of neutrino. Underneath these images on the cards are scribbles representing text and a question mark. In the upper left corner, the abbreviations for electron neutrino, a muon neutrino or a tau neutrino appear.

Which neutrino is the heaviest?

Symmetry feature

Figuring out which type of neutrino is heaviest, or solving the puzzle of neutrino mass hierarchy, would be a huge leap in our understanding of both neutrinos and the physics that govern our universe. The NoVA experiment or DUNE could help physicists do just that.