Events at Physics |
Events on Wednesday, April 21st, 2010
- Department Meeting
- Time: 12:15 pm
- Place: 5310 Chamberlin Hall
- NPAC (Nuclear/Particle/Astro/Cosmo) Forum
- A search for ultrahigh energy neutrinos in the ANITA experiment
- Time: 2:00 pm
- Place: 4274 Chamberlin Hall
- Speaker: Dr. Brian Mercurio, The Ohio State University
- Abstract: Cosmic rays with energy greater than about 1020 eV are expected to lose energy through interactions with the cosmic microwave background in what is known as the GZK process. Although the GZK process makes the universe opaque to the highest energy cosmic rays, it also results in the production of neutrinos that can travel nearly unattenuated from even the farthest galaxies. Because neutrinos have no electric charge, their direction of travel is not affected by intergalactic magnetic fields and they can point back to their sources. The Antarctic Impulsive Transient Antenna (ANITA) experiment is designed to detect GZK neutrinos with energy greater than 1018 eV. Antennas hanging from a balloon 35 km over Antarctica search for radio signals from neutrino-induced particle showers in the ice. ANITA did not discover neutrinos in this energy range, and it set a new upper limit on the neutrino flux above 1019 eV. The 2006-2007 flight also detected 16 signals that were consistent with radio emission from air showers above the ice.
- Host: Peter Timbie
- NPAC (Nuclear/Particle/Astro/Cosmo) Forum
- Core Collapse Supernova Neutrino Detection
- Time: 4:00 pm
- Place: 4274 Chamberlin
- Speaker: Kate Scholberg, Duke University
- Abstract: When a massive star collapses at the end of its life, nearly all of the gravitational binding energy of the resulting remnant is released in the form of neutrinos. I will discuss the nature of the core collapse neutrino burst and what we can learn from its detection. I will cover supernova neutrino detection techniques, and prospects for future supernova-neutrino-sensitive experiments.
- Host: Albrecht Karle