| NSF Org: |
PHY Division Of Physics |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | July 29, 2014 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | July 16, 2018 |
| Award Number: | 1429454 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
James Shank
jshank@nsf.gov (703)292-4516 PHY Division Of Physics MPS Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences |
| Start Date: | September 1, 2014 |
| End Date: | August 31, 2019 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $564,500.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $564,500.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
150 MUNSON ST NEW HAVEN CT US 06511-3572 (203)785-4689 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
217 Prospect Street New Haven CT US 06511-3712 |
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Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | Major Research Instrumentation |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.049 |
ABSTRACT
One of the major intellectual achievements of the 20th century was the development of the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics. This model has succeeded in classifying all of the elementary particles known into a hierarchy of groups having similar quantum properties. The validity of this model to date has been recently confirmed by the discovery of the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. However, the Standard Model as it currently exists leaves open many questions, for example why there is a preponderance of matter over antimatter in the universe.
One of the primary areas to search for answers to such open questions about the universe, how it came to be and why it is the way it is, is to focus on a study of the properties of neutrinos and to use what we know and can learn about neutrinos as probes of science beyond the Standard Model. Neutrinos are elementary particles that barely interact with anything else in the universe. They have no electric charge and were once thought to be massless. Moreover, the Standard Model predicted that there were actually three different kinds of neutrinos that were distinguishable through the different interactions that they would undergo whenever they would interact with matter. But recent measurements have totally changed our picture of neutrinos. We now know that neutrinos do have a mass and because they do, they can actually change from one type to another. Detailed measurements of these changes, along with other current neutrino measurements, form one of the most promising ways to probe for new physics beyond the Standard Model. There have also been possible hints in various experiments of new types of neutrinos (called sterile neutrinos), and building the critical instruments to clarify such "hints" is one of the main thrusts of the work in this project.
Intellectual Merit: The work proposed here is to develop a Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LAr TPC) for the LAr1-ND Experiment. This detector technique is powerful in that it allows the experimenter to distinguish between electrons and photons, important for the understanding of the character of neutrino interactions and neutrino oscillations. At Fermilab, the LAr1-ND experiment, along with a companion experiment called MicroBooNE, should significantly increase the physics reach toward answering the important question of whether hypothesized "sterile" neutrinos exist and resolving the anomalies in recent neutrino experiments.
Broader Impact: This research program will serve as an invaluable proving ground for LAr TPC technology and in the reconstruction and analysis techniques that will be needed to make future experiments a success. The construction effort at the three collaborating institutions Yale, Syracuse and Chicago will enable students and postdocs at each institution to participate and acquire invaluable hands-on experience with advanced detector technology that is a vital component of training scientists in the field of high-energy physics.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
Outcomes
Neutrinos, tiny particles in the electron family, have continued to surprise and educate us on the Standard Model of particle physic and of the universe. They are second only in abundance to the photon, light particle, and interact very infrequently, mostly passing through anything in their path. Only in the last two decades have we determined one of their most fundamental properties, that they have mass and they oscillate between their three different types or “flavors”. This understanding has revolutionized the way we think about neutrinos and led to many new questions about neutrinos and particle physics.
The Short Baseline Neutrino Experiment (SBND), as a part of the short baseline program at Fermi National Accelerator laboratory, will look for a new kind of neutrino to explain a neutrino oscillation that is even outside of our current understanding of neutrino mass and neutrino oscillations. This so-called “sterile neutrino” could oscillate between the three standard model neutrinos but not interact except through the gravitational force. The existence of sterile neutrinos would again revolutionize our understanding of the Standard Model and the universe. SBND will also measure a suite of neutrino interaction cross sections at very high statistics helping us to understand how the known neutrinos interact.
Finally SBND serves as a development experiment towards building the much more massive Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment of the same detector technology. This cutting-edge detector technology, Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers, will be impactful long past the lifetime of SBND both in neutrino physics and in dark matter physics. What we have learned and will learn with support of this grant in construction of the SBND experiment will have a long-term impact in technology.
Specifically, as part of this project, we built the SBND field cage, high voltage feedthrough and the wire chamber planes. All three of these required design work from specialized engineers and designers, work plans for construction, execution of precision construction, and testing of components. For the field cage, new materials were employed beyond those used in previous detectors like the SBND detector, bot for the field cage itself and for the resistor chains connecting the field cage components. For the high voltage feedthrough, new ideas on the feedthrough connection and insulation were implemented to ensure the capability to transmit 150kV into the liquid argon detector. For the wire chamber plane, built under the overall consortium grant, a new fully automated wire winding machine was constructed to wind and test the tension on thousands of 150 micron wires strung onto the large ~2m by ~6m frames. These components were all successfully constructed and shipped to Fermi National Accelerator labs for assembly of the SBND detector.
The broader impacts of this grant include both advances in technology and through providing experience to students and post-docs to this cutting-edge technology. Throughout the project, students and post-docs have had the opportunity to design, construct, and test the systems that are at the heart of the SBND experiment. These activities have been underway at the University of Chicago and at Yale where many students have been able to be involved in the project. They take their experience and knowledge on to both careers in academia and in industry.
Last Modified: 04/02/2020
Modified by: Bonnie Fleming
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