22 June 2020 to 2 July 2020
US/Central timezone

Sensitivity to Nucleon Decay in Theia

Not scheduled
10m

Speaker

Dr Morgan Askins (UC Berkeley)

Description

New developments in the production of water-based liquid scintillators and the separation
of scintillation and Cherenkov light would make it possible for Theia to provide unique
sensitivity to many modes of nucleon decay. While
modes of decay with low-mass daughters, such as $p \rightarrow e^+ \pi^0$, are best studied
with large Cherenkov detectors, decays with heavy products below the Cherenkov threshold ($p \rightarrow \nu K$) only
are undetectable in pure Cherenkov detectors except through secondary interactions and nuclear
deexcitations. The addition of scintillation light will lead to increased sensitivity and background
rejection for $p \rightarrow \nu K$, where the $K$ is always below the Cherenkov threshold.
At the lower-end of the spectrum,
nucleon decay through invisible modes are only detectable by their subsequent nuclear deexcitations
which benefit most from increased energy resolution and background suppression.

Mini-abstract

Theia will offer competitive and leading sensitivity to various mode of nucleon decay.

Experiment/Collaboration Theia

Primary author

Dr Morgan Askins (UC Berkeley)

Presentation materials