Physics and Astronomy Colloquium
In Search of New Physics with MicroBooNE
Presented by Georgia Karagiorgi is an Assistant Professor of Physics at Columbia University. She received her Ph.D. in Experimental High Energy Physics from MIT in 2010. Her main research is in experimental particle physics, including searches for new physics in the neutrino sector with particle-accelerator-based and/or large underground neutrino experiments. The discovery and study of rare processes with the next generation of neutrino detectors requires continuous and efficient processing of data streams with rates of up to multiple terabytes per second. Her current research includes data processing hardware design and exploration of digital data processing techniques for high data rate environments, and more recently she has been exploring the implementation of machine learning algorithms on field-programmable gate arrays.
The Nobel prize winning discovery of neutrino oscillation has led to the extension of the Standard Model (SM) of Particle Physics, in order to accommodate three non-zero neutrino masses and neutrino flavor mixing. Yet, the origin of neutrino mass remains unknown, and, with that, important questions about the nature of matter and antimatter remain unanswered. Additionally, a series of experimental anomalies, including an unexplained excess of electron neutrino-like interactions observed by the MiniBooNE experiment, hint at the existence of new physics beyond the SM, e.g. additional "sterile" neutrino states, further challenging our understanding of the three-neutrino picture. MicroBooNE, the first large-scale liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) neutrino detector built and operated in the U.S., was proposed to investigate the anomalous excess observed by MiniBooNE, and to further develop the LArTPC detector technology toward the sensitivity and scale required by future-generation neutrino oscillation experiments. Operating in the Booster Neutrino Beamline at Fermilab during 2015-2021, MicroBooNE has demonstrated the power of LArTPC technology in delivering high-precision measurements of neutrino interactions, and sensitive searches for new physics beyond the SM. In this talk, I will present the recent results from MicroBooNE's first series of analyses investigating the MiniBooNE anomalous excess, and discuss them within the context of some of the more popular beyond-the-SM interpretations of the MiniBooNE anomaly.
3:30 pm, Friday, January 21, 2022
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