This award will enable this group to continue to study whether the mass of the neutrino is of a Majorana or Dirac nature. This question is of fundamental importance for our understanding of matter at the smallest scales, and the answer is likely to shed light on physics beyond the standard model. The group's investigations will take place within the context of the EXO-200 double beta decay experiment, the world's most sensitive search for Majorana neutrino masses. The award will provide support for their involvement in EXO-200 through its data taking and analysis phases.
This support will create additional broader impacts outside the field of neutrino physics, primarily by training a graduate student in the methods of experimental science, and by demonstrating experimental techniques and technologies which have applications in other areas of pure and applied science.