Project description
The mysterious neutrino is coming closer into view
Researchers from across Europe and from several countries around the world are working together to shed light on the least understood of the currently known elementary particles. Neutrinos, which rarely interact and are billions of times smaller than a grain of sand, are weird little particles with a significant role in our universe. Unfortunately, they are extremely difficult to detect. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the SENSE project researchers will work in the field of neutrino physics at the high intensity frontier. They will study the neutrino oscillations which are consistent with the mixing of three neutrino flavours in three mass eigenstates and small mass differences. The research will investigate the anomalies detected and search for sterile neutrinos.
Objective
SENSE promotes the collaboration among European, American and Brazilian researchers involved in the most important research projects in the field of neutrino physics at the high intensity frontier. The observation of neutrino oscillations established a picture consistent with the mixing of three neutrino flavours in three mass eigenstates and small mass differences. Experimental anomalies suggest the existence of sterile neutrino states participating in the mixing and not coupling to the SM gauge bosons. Lepton mixings and massive neutrinos offer a gateway to deviations from the Standard Model in the lepton sector including Charged Lepton Flavour Violation. The FNAL Short-Baseline Neutrino (SBN) program based on three almost identical liquid argon Time Projection Chambers located along the Booster Neutrino Beam offers a compelling opportunity to resolve the anomalies and perform the most sensitive search for sterile neutrinos at the eV mass scale through appearance and disappearance oscillation searches. MicroBooNE, ICARUS and SBND will search for the oscillation signal by comparing the neutrino event spectra measured at different distances from the source. The FNAL SBN program is a major step towards the global effort of the neutrino physics community in realising the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) which will provide fundamental contribution to the determination of neutrino mass ordering, measurement of CP violation, precision tests of the three-flavor oscillation paradigm using long-baseline flavor transition, search for nucleon decay and study of the burst of neutrinos from core-collapse supernova in the framework of multi-messenger astronomy. SENSE researchers have provided major contributions to the SBN and DUNE projects and will take leading roles in the commissioning of the detectors, data taking and analysis. These endeavors foster the development of cutting-edge technologies with spin-offs outside particle physics.
Fields of science
- natural scienceschemical sciencesinorganic chemistrynoble gases
- natural sciencesphysical sciencestheoretical physicsparticle physicsneutrinos
- natural sciencesphysical sciencestheoretical physicsparticle physicsleptons
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesastronomyobservational astronomy
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesastronomystellar astronomysupernova
Keywords
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-SE - HORIZON TMA MSCA Staff ExchangesCoordinator
56126 Pisa
Italy