New Accelerators for Neutrino Physics – Matt Toups

Date: Tue. January 20th, 2015, 11:30 am-12:30 pm
Location: Rockefeller 221

DAEδALUS is a proposed phased neutrino experiment, whose ultimate aim is to search for evidence of CP violation in the neutrino sector. The experiment will consist of several accelerator-based modules that produce decay-at-rest neutrino beams located at three different distances from a single, large underground neutrino detector. Each of these modules will make use of a pair of low-cost, high power cyclotrons to accelerate an H2+ beam initially up to 60 MeV with a compact injector cyclotron and then ultimately up to 800 MeV with a separated sector super-conducting cyclotron. These new low-cost, high power cyclotrons are motivated by industry needs and also open up new possibilities for searches for physics beyond the standard model with neutrinos. The injector cyclotron itself enables a sensitive search for non-standard interactions and for sterile neutrinos motivated by the reactor anomaly called IsoDAR. In this talk, I will introduce the DAEδALUS program, especially highlighting the IsoDAR experiment. I will then describe how the IsoDAR cyclotron can be used to create an intense source of low-energy electron antineutrinos and present the technical challenges to building such a cyclotron. I will report on recent progress solving some of these issues at an experiment hosted by Best Cyclotrons, Inc. in Vancouver, Canada and discuss industry’s interest in using these accelerators for medical isotope production. Finally, I will present IsoDAR’s sensitivity to sterile neutrinos and non-standard interactions when paired with underground detectors such as KamLAND in Japan or the WATCHMAN detector, proposed for the Fairport salt mine in Ohio.