Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS April Meeting 2011
Volume 56, Number 4
Saturday–Tuesday, April 30–May 3 2011; Anaheim, California
Session Q2: Neutrinos and Fundamental Symmetries |
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Sponsoring Units: DNP Chair: Brian Fujikawa, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Room: Grand BCD |
Monday, May 2, 2011 10:45AM - 11:21AM |
Q2.00001: Measurement of Neutrino-Nucleus Cross Sections Invited Speaker: For more than 50 years, neutrinos have surprised us: not only by their mere presence, but by the recent revelation that these ghostlike particles can oscillate from one type to another. This stunning discovery has opened up a host of new questions about neutrinos and their properties; questions which we are currently in a global race to answer. The results inherently hinge upon knowledge of neutrino interaction cross sections. Such cross sections are generally poorly known and have not been updated for decades. With the advent of intense man-made neutrino beams, this situation is quickly changing. Detailed studies of low energy neutrino-nucleus interactions are now being made and revealing surprises of their own. Recent neutrino scattering measurements from a variety of experiments will be presented along with a projection for what the future holds. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, May 2, 2011 11:21AM - 11:57AM |
Q2.00002: Do Sterile Neutrinos Exist? Invited Speaker: An overview will be given of the status of searches and theoretical predictions for sterile neutrinos. The discussion will include current limits from man-made and natural neutrino sources, and the challenging theoretical puzzles arising from recent data. It will be shown how the panorama of possibilities for sterile neutrinos is becoming increasingly diverse, thus motivating new directions of research for the near future. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, May 2, 2011 11:57AM - 12:33PM |
Q2.00003: Neutron Radiative Decay Invited Speaker: Beta decay of the neutron into a proton, electron, and electron anti-neutrino is accompanied by the emission of a soft photon. Although neutron decay is generally considered to be the most fundamental beta-decay process and thus may provide sensitive tests of the Standard Model of particle physics, this radiative decay mode had not been observed until 2006. The branching ratio was measured to be $(3.09\pm 0.32)\times 10^{-3}$ in the energy region between 15\,keV and 340\,keV and agreed with two distinct theoretical calculations. At this level of precision ($\approx 10$\,\%), one only had sensitivity to the photon contribution originating from electron bremsstrahlung. An improved measurement below the 0.5\,\% level would approach effects beyond the leading-order contribution, such as the recoil order terms. A new experiment with an upgraded of the detector and apparatus was performed to make a precision measurement of the energy spectrum and the branching ratio near this level. Data from this experiment were collected in 2009. The experimental technique, the status of the analysis, and the outlook for tests of the Standard Model in neutron decay will be discussed. [Preview Abstract] |
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