Neutrino experiments and data as a bridge to new physics

Projektbeschreibung

Niedrigenergie-Sonden erkunden neue Physik jenseits des Standardmodells

Eine große Anzahl theoretischer und experimenteller Untersuchungen stellt die allgemein akzeptierte Theorie des Standardmodells der Elementarteilchenphysik in Frage. Bislang findet die Suche nach winzigen Signalen, die von einer neuen Physik künden könnten, auf der Grundlage von Hochenergieexperimenten statt. Das im Rahmen der Marie-Skłodowska-Curie-Maßnahmen finanzierte Projekt NuBridge wird mithilfe von mit niedrigerer Energie arbeitenden Sonden erproben, ob die neue Physik schwach an das Standardmodell gekoppelt ist. Zur Durchführung ihrer Studie werden die Forschenden Daten über dunkle Materie und über Neutrinos aus dem Neutrinoprogramm am Teilchenbeschleuniger Fermilab nutzen.

Ziel

The existence of new physics beyond the Standard Model of particles is firmly established by neutrino data and dark matter phenomenology, however the new physics nature and its energy scale remain elusive today. While significant effort has been put on the theoretical and experimental exploration of high-energy scenarios, the possibility that the new physics is relatively light and feebly coupled with the Standard Model is a valid option that received comparatively fewer attention. The coming years will provide a propitious and timely framework to test this possibility, given a wide array of experiments featuring extremely intense particle beams and massive precision detectors. We propose to exploit the full potential of this experimental program, using it to test low-scale new physics scenarios motivated by neutrino data, dark matter or experimental anomalies, focusing on the Fermilab accelerator neutrino program. We will complement this study with a model-independent search of new-physics effects in global neutrino data. Finally, we will provide the community with modern tools to ease the study and statistical inference of general new physics models in fixed-target experiments, including in the first release the full array of Fermilab accelerator experiments.
The project will deliver relevant phenomenological results during its lifetime, looking for and constraining the hypothesis of a low-scale new physics sector, while its legacy will extend beyond this timeframe, by allowing a wider community to perform phenomenological studies in beam-dump experiments, thus increasing the number of independent searches for new physics.
In the implementation, the Researcher will train on model building, data analysis and experiment simulation on site at Fermilab, collaborating with world level theoretical and experimental experts. He will then bring this expertise at University of Bologna, joining the newly established group on neutrino and astroparticle phenomenology.