Speaker:
J. Pedro Ochoa-Ricoux
Institution:
Instituto de Física Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
Speaker Link:
Date:
Friday, February 9, 2018
Time:
3:00 pm
Location:
FRH 4135
Abstract:
Despite the great progress achieved in the last two decades, neutrinos remain among the least understood fundamental particles to have been experimentally observed. As the most intense man-made source of antineutrinos, nuclear reactors constitute an excellent tool for the study of these elusive particles. In this talk I will give an overview of the state of affairs in reactor neutrino physics with a special focus on the Daya Bay and JUNO experiments. I will review the latest results released by Daya Bay, including the precision measurement of the parameters that drive electron antineutrino disappearance at short baselines, as well as the most recent search for sterile neutrino mixing and its implications on some of the tantalizing observations done at the MiniBooNE and LSND experiments. I will also discuss the latest measurements of the flux, spectral shape, and nuclear fuel evolution of reactor antineutrinos, which have uncovered interesting anomalies that will lead to new physics and/or to an improved understanding of reactor antineutrino emission. I will end with an outlook centered on the JUNO experiment, the largest and most precise liquid scintillator detector ever attempted.
Host:
Henry Sobel