Among the key areas of study currently in particle physics are precision measurements of neutrino oscillation parameters, the neutrino mass hierarchy and measurement of CP violation in the neutrino sector. To address these requires a more detailed understanding, both experimentally and theoretically, of neutrino interactions in nuclear matter. With the emphasis long baseline experiments, in which matter effects are important, and on Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers as the detectors of choice for many experiments, where the relevant atomic number is A=40 for Argon, such understanding is not only necessary, but fundamental.
The research effort at Virginia Polytechnic and State University is aimed directly at these questions and is based on a complementary approach using experiment, theory and simulation. The objectives include: (1) to compare event generator predictions with experimental data, focusing on comparisons with measurements that the Virginia Tech group and collaborators will perform in Liquid Argon using the MicroBooNE detector; (2) to determine the impact of nuclear models, correlations and neutrino interaction uncertainties on the discovery of CP violation in the lepton sector and the experimental determination of the neutrino oscillation parameters; (3) to include state-of-the-art nuclear models in the neutrino interaction simulation and (4) to determine the level of detail needed in these models to achieve the required sensitivity to observe CP violation. The proposed research is potentially transformative, by altering and refining the scope of the GENIE neutrino event generator to predict events more precisely and interface it with the GLoBES simulator to understand the effect of neutrino interactions on the determination of neutrino oscillation parameters for past and future neutrino experiments worldwide.
In parallel with the research, the program includes important educational components, directed at high school and more advanced levels. The group will build upon an already active PhysTec program at Virginia Tech and will create a QuarkNet center to attract high school teachers and students, with initial emphasis on neutrino physics. The group also actively encourages the participation in the research of students from underrepresented groups through the Virginia-North Carolina Alliance for Minority Participation (VT-AMP) program.
