Neutrinos are Everywhere: Towards a New Understanding of the Quantum Universe

Thursday, November 19, 7:00pm Hesburgh Library Carey Auditorium

Neutrinos are the most numerous particles in the universe, The Main Injector at , 2 miles in circumference but the least understood. The peculiar properties of neutrinos and one of the most powerful particle accelerators in suggest connections to many of the big mysteries of particle the world, will provide proton beams to create neutrinos , including the possibility that the matter we are made of for the proposed Deep Undergvround originated from neutrinos. Today a host of new experiments are Experiment. Courtesy of Peter Ginter for Fermilab trying to unlock the secrets of these elusive particles. Fermilab is gearing up to produce a megawatt proton beam neutrino source capable of sending high neutrinos to giant liquid argon detectors located 1300 kilometers away and a mile underground in South Dakota. The detectors will be built and operated by a newly formed scientific collaboration called DUNE (for Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment), a global effort of 145 universities and labs from 26 countries. DUNE will be the first truly international mega-science project hosted in the U.S., and a game- changing experiment for neutrino science.

Nigel Lockyer began his tenure as director of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, America’s premier laboratory for research, on September 3, 2013. An experimental particle physicist, Lockyer was most recently director of TRIUMF, Canada’s national laboratory for particle and . He was also a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of British Columbia.

Organized by the Notre Dame Department of Physics Chaired by Christopher Kolda, Department Chair