| Start Date: | 3/10/2014 | Start Time: | 2:00 PM |
| End Date: | 3/10/2014 | End Time: | 3:00 PM |
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Event Description
Andrey Elagin, PhD, University of Chicago
How to Measure a Process Much Longer than the Age of the Universe; or is Neutrino its Own Antiparticle?
An intriguing and fundamental question about the neutrino is whether it is its own antiparticle, a Majorana particle. If the neutrino is a Majorana particle, this would have profound implications to particle physics and cosmology. In this talk I will explain how we can address this question by searching for the neutrinoless double beta decay, a rare nuclear process that can only occur if neutrino is a Majorana particle. The observation of this process, which has a life time many orders of magnitude longer than the age of the universe, is an extremely complicated task. I will review experimental challenges and discuss a new idea of using fast photo-detectors to improve the sensitivity to neutrinoless double beta decay in a kilo-ton scale liquid scintillator detector. Photo-detectors with a time resolution of 1/10000 of a microsecond are needed to discriminate between the signal and background events. The Large-Area Picosecond Photo-Detector Collaboration (LAPPD) is currently developing a large-area, modular photo-detector system composed of thin, planar, glass-body modules, each with two 8.8” micro-channel plates capable of the time resolution of a few millionth of a microsecond. I will discuss the performance of the LAPPD detector prototype and potential applications of the LAPPDs in the neutrino physics and beyond. |
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Location:
Disque Hall 919, S. 32nd Street and Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 |
Audience:
Current StudentsFaculty |
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