This award will enable collaborative work by Duke University and the University of Minnesota Duluth's neutrino research groups on the Helium and Lead Observatory (HALO). This is a new experiment designed to detect neutrinos originating in a core-collapse supernova within our own galaxy. The deaths of massive stars which cause these cataclysmic events occur every few decades somewhere in the MilkyWay and emit 99% of their energy in the form of a short burst of neutrinos. Existing detectors are primarily sensitive to electron antineutrinos. Use of lead for its target nuclei allows HALO to be sensitive to electron neutrinos, as well as to all flavor components of the burst flux via neutral current interactions. The effort for this funding cycle will center on upgrading HALO with redundant, fast-failover data acquisition systems. This award will provide modest hardware and personnel contributions to this effort.
Broader impacts of this award include the excellent experimental training for students and postdoctoral researchers. They have been very successful in involving students and postdocs in the past. This project offers a range of experiences, from simulation through detector construction, with operations and data analysis to commence soon. HALO will also be a contributor to SNEWS (SuperNova Early Warning System), which has an intrinsic outreach component.
