This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). It will fund neutrino studies at MIT as a tool to search for signatures of Beyond the Standard Model Physics. Over the past decade, neutrino studies have provided a wealth of interesting results, including those from the MiniBooNE experiment at Fermilab. The next decade promises to be equally exciting, as we study the existing clues from the neutrino sector and search for more.
This PI is pursuing a set of new experiments, organized in time to produce an exciting flow of data over many years. The first is the Double Chooz Experiment in France, which seeks to measure the mixing matrix parameter theta-13, which is of fundamental importance. If it is very small, this may indicate some new symmetry. In addition, its value will drive the design of future experiments whose goals are sensitive measurements of the neutrino mass hierarchy and CP (Charge-Parity) violation. This group is making substantial contributions to the outer veto and slow monitoring detector sub-groups. The second is the MicroBooNE experiment which will address the interesting question of the low energy excess observed in MiniBooNE, as well as R&D for LAr detectors. This group's responsibility will be the phototubes.
In the area of Broader Impacts, the group is involved in education and outreach, focusing on public lectures, working with science writers and mentoring young people, especially women. Conrad has worked with female high school and undergraduate students, and many have stayed in the field. They are now reaching the level of faculty positions. This is changing the face of the field.
