Speaker: Dr. Andrew Cudd
Title: How neutrino interactions with matter, matter
Abstract: Neutrinos are the second most abundant particle in the universe, however they are not as well understood as the other standard model particles. Neutrinos interact only weakly with ordinary matter making them difficult to study experimentally, requiring huge detectors and intense sources to obtain enough data. But the properties of neutrinos may hold answers to exciting questions in physics, such as the matter versus antimatter asymmetry, or signs of new processes or interactions beyond the standard model. Many of these properties are probed through the phenomenon of neutrino oscillations, which requires a detailed understanding of how neutrinos interact with matter. This talk will begin with a brief introduction to neutrino oscillation and how to measure neutrino interactions with matter, while discussing the challenging aspects of neutrino measurements. Then I will discuss my research as part of the T2K and DUNE experiments to study neutrino interactions and the crucial role that they play in the study of neutrino oscillations and neutrino properties.
Bio: Andrew earned his PhD at Michigan State University in January 2020 on the T2K experiment studying neutrino--nucleus interactions under the supervision of Prof. Kendall Mahn. He then moved to the University of Colorado Boulder where he is a postdoc working on DUNE focused on the liquid argon near detector and related prototype experiments, and continues to be a part of T2K as a cross-section group convener. He also works on analysis techniques for performing neutrino cross-section measurements, currently implementing a new machine-learning based method to perform the unfolding of detector effects.
Event Details
Date/Time:
-
Date:Wednesday, February 12, 2025 - 12:30pm to 1:30pm
Location:
Marcus Nanotechnology 1116-1118
