arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Kendall Mahn.
This is the report from the 2023 Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel (P5) approved by High Energy Physics Advisory Panel (HEPAP) on December 8, 2023. The final version was made public on May 8, 2024 and submitted to DOE SC and NSF MPS.
This report summarizes the current status of neutrino physics and the broad and exciting future prospects identified for the Neutrino Frontier as part of the 2021 Snowmass Process.
Neutrino interaction uncertainties are a limiting factor in current and next-generation experiments probing the fundamental physics of neutrinos, a unique window on physics beyond the Standard Model. Neutrino-nucleon scattering amplitudes are an important part of the neutrino interaction program. However, since all modern neutrino detectors are composed primarily of heavy nuclei, knowledge of elementary neutrino-nucleon amplitudes relies heavily on experiments performed in the 1970s and 1980s, whose statistical and systematic precision are insufficient for current needs. In this white paper, we outline the motivation for attempting measurements on hydrogen and deuterium that would improve this knowledge, and we discuss options for making these measurements either with the DUNE near detector or with a dedicated facility.
Neutrino cross sections are a critical ingredient in experiments that depend on neutrino scattering to reconstruct event kinematics and infer neutrino characteristics, like NOvA and T2K. An opportunity exists to reduce the 5-10% broad uncertainty on neutrino cross sections by producing more measurements of neutrino scattering from light nuclear targets at the relevant energies. Bubble chambers with light nuclear targets would be ideal for these measurements but the most recent device designed for use with an accelerator neutrino source is at least fifty years old. A new bubble chamber with light nuclear targets could be designed by observing how the technology has progressed for use in dark matter experiments and producing smaller modular devices that use more efficient cooling systems. A smaller modular device could also be designed for deployment to all functioning neutrino beams, but an investigation of the proper operating characteristics is necessary to adapt newer detectors to the structure of contemporary neutrino beams.
The success of high energy physics programs relies heavily on accurate detector simulations and beam interaction modeling. The increasingly complex detector geometries and beam dynamics require sophisticated techniques in order to meet the demands of current and future experiments. Common software tools used today are unable to fully utilize modern computational resources, while data-recording rates are often orders of magnitude larger than what can be produced via simulation. In this paper, we describe the state, current and future needs of high energy physics detector and beamline simulations and related challenges, and we propose a number of possible ways to address them.
A neutrino community workshop was held at Fermilab in Jan 2020, with the aim of developing an implementation plan for a set of common interfaces to Neutrino Event Generators. This white paper summarizes discussions at the workshop and the resulting plan.
Neutrino interactions with nuclei have been the subject of intense interest over the last 15 years. Current and future measurements of neutrino oscillation and exotic physics use order 0.1--10 GeV neutrinos on a range of nuclear targets ($^{12}$C, $^{16}$O, $^{40}$Ar). As the precision of these experiments has increased, information from their detectors and dedicated experiments indicate deficiencies in the modeling of neutrino interactions on nuclear targets. Here, we present the current state of knowledge about neutrino-nucleus interactions, the challenge of extracting the cross section of these processes, and current experimental puzzles in the field. We also look forward to new and novel measurements and efforts in the future which seek to resolve these questions.