[Triumf-seminars] TRIUMF Particle Phys/SciTec Seminar today at 12:15

[TRIUMF Seminars]

Date/Time: Thu 2020-01-30 at 12:15

Location:  MOB Conference Room 

Speaker:   Maryam Baksh, Forbes Choy, Chris Jing (UBC Capstone Project)

Title:     Precision Calibration of the Super-Kamiokande Neutrino Detector Using Photogrammetry

Abstract: The discovery of neutrino oscillations in 1998, where a neutrino appears to change between different flavours, proved that neutrinos have mass, which should be generated by a process beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. This opened the door to investigating phenomena such as charge-parity violation in neutrino oscillations, which may explain the dominance of matter over antimatter in the universe. The Super-Kamiokande detector in Japan consists of a cylindrical tank containing ultra-pure water surrounded by over 11,000 inward-facing photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) providing detailed images of Cherenkov light from particles produced in the neutrino interactions occurring within. These images are analyzed to determine the type of incoming neutrino and reconstruct its energy and direction, key parameters in a neutrino oscillation measurement. A precise knowledge of the relative positioning of all the PMTs in the detector is necessary to achieve this. PMT positioning can vary by construction tolerances and support frame distortions due to the PMT buoyancy in water, basically shifting the “pixels” used in the image analysis. To address this issue, we aim to develop a novel photogrammetry procedure to pinpoint the position of each PMT, removing uncertainty that arises from these potential detector distortions. If achieved, this would become the most precise understanding of such a detector to date. It will alter the way this type of detector is calibrated and analysed, for both current and future generations, including Hyper-Kamiokande. This is expected to enhance our understanding of multiple topics in physics, from neutrino oscillations to other phenomena such as proton decay, supernovae and other multi-messenger astronomical events, and dark matter.


Please bring your own lunch.

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General TRIUMF seminar information available at http://www.triumf.ca/home/upcoming-events/about-seminars-lectures