NOvA

A scientist, avid runner and Cajun food cook, Bryan Ramson is helping solve the universe’s mysteries as a member of two Fermilab-hosted neutrino experiments: NOvA and the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment. Eager to share the joy of science with others, Ramson is active in physics outreach in the Chicago community.

From Argonne National Laboratory, Sept. 28, 2020: A research team from four national laboratories, including Fermilab and Argonne, have undertaken work at two Fermilab neutrino experiments — MiniBooNE and NOvA — to construct a model of how neutrinos interact with atomic nuclei. This knowledge is essential to unravel an even bigger mystery: why during their journey through space or matter neutrinos magically morph from one into another of three possible types or flavors.

From CERN Courier, Sept. 9, 2020: The first ICHEP meeting since the publication of the update of the European strategy for particle physics covered Higgs and neutrino physics, including results from the CMS collider experiment and the DUNE, NOvA and MicroBooNE neutrino experiments.

From CERN Courier, July 7, 2020: A new generation of accelerator and reactor experiments is opening an era of high-precision neutrino measurements to tackle questions such as leptonic CP violation, the mass hierarchy and the possibility of a fourth “sterile” neutrino. These include the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, hosted by Fermilab, and Fermilab’s NOvA and Short-Baseline Neutrino programs.

From Physics Today, June 1, 2020: Somewhere in the laws of physics, particles must be allowed to behave differently from their antiparticles. If they weren’t, the universe would contain equal amounts of matter and antimatter, all the particles and antiparticles would promptly annihilate one another, and none of us would exist. Fermilab’s NOvA neutrino experiment and the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, hosted by Fermilab, are pinning down CP violation, the property that could explain the imbalance.

From Quanta Magazine, April 15, 2020: The first official evidence of a key imbalance between neutrinos and antineutrinos provides one of the best clues for why the universe contains something rather than nothing. Fermilab scientist Debbie Harris comments on the T2K experiment’s latest result. Fermilab’s NOvA experiment and the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, hosted by Fermilab, will also help provide a more precise understanding of the asymmetry.

From Science, April 15, 2020: Neutrinos behave differently from their antimatter counterparts, antineutrinos, report physicists on the T2K experiment. The result is far from conclusive, but the asymmetry, known as CP violation, could help explain how the newborn universe generated more matter than antimatter. NOvA spokesperson Patricia Vahle of William & Mary comments on the T2K result and NOvA’s measurements of CP violation. When the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, hosted by Fermilab, comes online, it will be able to make more precise measurements of neutrinos’ behavior.