New Perspectives 2015

8 Jun 2015, 08:00 → 9 Jun 2015, 22:30 US/Central

1 West (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory)

Alex Drlica-Wagner (Fermilab), Joy Pomillo (Fermilab), Mateus Carneiro (CBPF), Melody Saperston (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory), Pavanpoot Pandey (University of Delhi), Pengfei Ding (Fermilab), Rob Fine (University of Rochester), Suzanne M. Weber (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory)

A conference for graduate students, postdocs, and undergrads to present their work to an audience of peers in a low-pressure environment. This conference is organized by the Fermilab Student and Postdoc Association and serves as a preamble to the annual Fermilab Users Meeting.
New Perspectives has grown to be a highlight of Fermilab's conference program because it provides the student and postdoc faction of the Users community with an opportunity to gain experience and learn from their peers. 
Talks are scheduled in 12+3 minute blocks.

Monday, 8 June

08:30 → 09:00 Registration & Coffee

09:00 → 10:30 Session 1 - Collider Physics I

Session chair: Pavanpoot Pandey

09:00 Observation of B+ → ψ(2S)φK +

The high luminosity and large cross section for b-quark production at the LHC makes possible the observation and study of many rare B meson decays. Recently, CMS reported on the presence of substructures in the known decay B+ → J/ψφK+. As part of that investigation, the final state B+ → ψ(2S)φK+ , with ψ(2S)→μ+μ− and φ → K+K− was also observed. We report the signal, with a significance of over 5 standard deviations using 19.6 fb-1 data collected at √s = 8 TeV at CMS, and its branching fraction measurement.

Speaker: Mr Reddy Pratap Gandrajula (The University of Iowa)

Slides NewPerspectiveTalk2015.pdf

09:15 CMS pixel detector upgrade

The pixel detector is an integral part of the CMS silicon tracker, designed to measure the position and momentum of charged particles produced in high-energy collisions at the LHC (Large Hadron Collider). The LHC is the world’s largest and most powerful particle collider built at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). CMS is one of two general purpose particle detectors at the LHC, playing a critical role in High Energy Physics research. Over the coming years, the LHC will deliver increased instantaneous luminosity to the CMS detector, soon reaching double the design luminosity. To avoid performance degradation, the phase I upgrade of the pixel detector will be installed in the winter of 2016/2017. Module testing and qualification procedures of the phase I upgrade are described.

Speaker: Xuan Chen (Purdue university calumet)

Slides CMS_Pixel_Detector_Upgrade_FNAL_NewPerspectives2015_FINAL.pdf

09:30 Search for a SM-like Higgs boson decaying into $\rm W^+W^-\rightarrow \ell \nu q\bar q^\prime$ final state in high mass

A search for a Standard Model-like Higgs boson decaying into the $\rm W^+W^-$ final state is performed with an integrated luminosity of 19.3$\rm fb^{-1}$ of pp collisions data recorded with the CMS detector at $\sqrt{s}$ = 8 TeV. The search is performed in the semileptonic channel in the high mass region 600 $< m_H <$ 1000 GeV, where the hadronically decaying W boson is highly boosted and its decay products are contained in one jet. Jet substructure techniques are used in identifying the hadronically decaying W. No evidence for an SM-like Higgs boson has been found in the investigated mass region.

Speaker: Mr Bibhuti Parida (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India)

Slides New_Perspective_Bibhuti.pdf

09:45 Testing of the High Density Interconnect Circuits for the CMS Forward Pixel Detector Upgrade

The CMS pixel detector is the innermost component of the all-silicon tracking system, which is the closest detector to the interaction point. The foreseen increase of the instantaneous and integrated luminosities at the LHC, during Run 2, necessitate an upgrade of the pixel detector in order to maintain the excellent tracking performance of the CMS detector. The notable new features of the upgraded pixel detector are: ultra-light mechanical design with four barrel layers and three end-caps on either side of the interaction region, a digital readout chip with higher rate capability and a new cooling system. The forward pixel detector will have 672 detector modules with 44 million pixels of size 100 x 150 micrometers. The modules consist of silicon sensors bump-bonded to readout chips. The high-density-interconnect (HDI) circuits are glued on top of these sensors and are wire-bonded to a 2x8 array of readout chips. The HDIs provide signal and power distributions for the readout circuitry. The CMS group from SUNY at Buffalo is responsible for the detailed testing and assembly of the HDIs at Fermilab's SciDet Facility. The poster will present our contribution to the visual and electrical inspection of the HDI circuit boards as well as some assembly of the FPIX detector modules.

Speaker: Ms Ashley Parker (SUNY Buffalo)

Slides 2015-06-08_HDI_New_Perspectives_Talk_Final2.pdf

10:00 Search for an Invisible Decaying Higgs Boson in Dilepton Events at CDF

The recent discovery of an Higgs-boson-like particle at the LHC, consistent with findings by the CDF and D\O{} collaborations at the Tevatron, completes our picture of the SM. However, the SM does not give answers to many fundamental questions, for example how to understand the value of the electroweak scale i.e. the value of the Higgs mass within the model itself. One therefore has to test the SM nature of this Higgs state, once its discovery is fully confirmed. As the measurements for more channels of the Higgs boson decay become available, a comprehensive picture of the properties of the Higgs state becomes possible. In this frame one must consider whether or not the Higgs sector is as simple as envisioned in the SM. Since the properties of the standard model Higgs are precisely known, such measurements serve as a window to physics Beyond the Standard Model (BSM). One such property is the Higgs decay width. In the SM, the width of the Higgs boson is calculated to be $\Gamma_H = 4 $ MeV. Intrinsic detector resolution is on the order of a few GeV in the most well-measured channels. Therefore, direct limits are inherently weak, with $\Gamma_H < 1000 {\Gamma_H}^{SM}$, leaving room for Physics Beyond the Standard Model (BSM). In particular, the Higgs decay width to invisible particles serves as a sensitive probe of BSM physics because the Standard Model background is small. The presence of massive, invisible BSM particles could significantly increase this width. The invisible Higgs decay channel is also important in the search for additional Higgs bosons. While additional SM-like Higgs bosons have been excluded over a wide range of masses, those with exotic decay modes remain a possibility.In this work, we perform a search at CDF for invisible Higgs decays in proton anti-proton collision events produced at the Tevatron collider at $\sqrt{s}=1.96$ TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $\approx 9.7 fb^{-1}$.\\ One of the cleanest signatures in searching for this process is when the Higgs boson is produced in association with a $Z$ boson that decays to a charged dilepton pair. In this analysis we model the $ZH$ signal assuming the SM production cross section and a $H\rightarrow \mathrm{invisible}$ branching ratio of 100\%. We investigate several Higgs mass hypotheses from 115 to 150 $Gev/{c}^2$, and place 95\% Credibility Level limits in the Bayesian approach on Higgs boson production in this final state are presented.

Speaker: Cristiana Principato (University of Virginia)

Slides Higgs_inv_NP.pdf

10:15 Forward-backward asymmetry in top pair production at CDF

The forward-backward asymmetry of top quark pair production at the Tevatron experiments has been one of the hottest topics in particle physics in recent years. It provides unique precision tests of the standard model and of physics beyond the standard model. We present for the first time the latest measurement of the top forward-backward asymmetry in the dilepton final state and summarize the legacy results on the top quark forward-backward asymmetry at CDF.

Speaker: Mr Ziqing Hong (Texas A&amp;M University)

Slides 06082015.pdf

10:30 → 11:00 Coffee Break

11:00 → 12:30 Session 2 - Collider Physics II, FSPA, Seaquest, and More!

Session chair: Rob Fine

11:00 FSPA Update

The Fermilab Student and Postdoc Association (FSPA) is the group of all students and postdocs association with Fermilab. The 2014-2015 FSPA officers will provide an update on the work that they have done to represent the interest of their contingency and advertise future events.

Speaker: Mr Mateus Carneiro (CBPF)

Slides FSPA_Report_(2).pdf

11:30 Validation of Extrapolation Techniques Applied to Leptonic Asymmetry Measurements

Collider experiments use forward-backward asymmetry (AFB) measurements to learn more about weak properties of particles. Inclusive measurements have shown anomalously large values compared to SM NLO predictions, making this of significant interest to the community. In this study, we examine a simple technique to extrapolate the inclusive AFB from the restricted regime (where eta is the pseudo-rapidity of the lepton). The method we use is to take the asymmetry, as measured in the finite eta regime available to the detector, and use a constant multiplicative term to do the inclusive extrapolation. Indeed, a number of closed form solutions indicate that the extrapolation factor is almost exactly a constant value. However, recently a numerical study using Monte Carlo methods contra-indicated this result in the limit of very small asymmetry values. We follow up on this result using three different studies to examine whether a constant multiplicative factor can indeed be used, and ultimately find that it can but it requires much higher statistics than originally thought.

Speaker: Ms Katrina Colletti (Texas A&amp;M University)

Slides NewPerspectives_AFB_talk.pdf

11:45 Avast! SeaQuest Charts the Nucleon Sea at Fermilab

SeaQuest is a running, fixed-target experimental program to study nucleon structure at Fermilab which began taking data in March 2014. The current SeaQuest experiment, E906, records unpolarized Drell-Yan and J/Psi events produced by 120 GeV protons from the Main Injector impinging on targets of hydrogen, deuterium, carbon, iron, and tungsten. These data will address two stubbornly unexplained observations: the light antiquark flavor asymmetry and the EMC effect. Understanding the former is crucial to explaining the origin of the nucleon sea. The latter is an apparent modification in a nucleon’s structure when it is in a nucleus and has evaded a consensus explanation for over 30 years. In this talk, I describe the experimental program and show previews of these flagship measurements.

Speaker: Dr Brian Tice (Argonne National Laboratory)

Slides tice_seaquest_np15.pdf

12:00 Dark photons at SeaQuest E906 Experiment

SeaQuest is a fixed target Drell-Yan experiment that uses the 120-GeV proton beam extracted from the Main Injector at Fermilab to probe the sea structure of the nucleon. The SeaQuest forward spectrometer is optimized for detecting the high rate di-muon pairs arising from the Drell-Yan process. Protons could also interact with the beam dump and generate massive dark gauge bosons or darkphotons. SeaQuest takes advantage of Proton Bremsstrahlung and \eta decay processes to search for dark photons that might have been generated in the Iron beam dump and which decay into dimuons. In this talk, I will mention about the physics motivation to study dark matter and the role of SeaQuest in searching for dark photons.

Speaker: Arun Tadepalli (Rutgers University)

Slides new_perspectives_dark_photons.pdf

12:15 First Measurement of the Beam Normal Single Spin Asymmetry in Delta Resonance Production by Q-weak

The beam normal single spin asymmetry (Bn) is generated in the scattering of normally polarized electrons from unpolarized nuclei. The asymmetry arises from the interference of the imaginary part of the two-photon exchange with the one-photon exchange amplitude. The Q-weak experiment has made the first measurement of Bn in the production of the Δ(1232) resonance, using the Q-weak apparatus in Hall-C at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility. The measurement was performed with beam energy of 1.160 GeV at an average scattering angle of about 8.3 degrees. Bn for the Δ is the only observable, that we know of, that is sensitive to the elastic form-factors (γ*ΔΔ) in addition to the generally studied transition form-factors (γ*NΔ), but extracting this information will require significant theoretical input. The status of the analysis and a preliminary result will be presented and compared to a calculation.

Speaker: Dr Nuruzzaman Nuruzzaman (Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María)

Slides nur_NewPerspectives2015Fermilab_transverseN2Delta.pdf

12:30 → 13:30 Lunch

13:30 → 15:00 Session 3 - Reactor Neutrinos, and More!

Session chair: Mateus Carneiro

13:30 PROSPECT: A Precision Reactor Oscillation and Spectrum Experiment

Current reactor antineutrino production models predict an antineutrino spectrum shape and normalization which are inconsistent with the existing reactor antineutrino measurements. These discrepancies could be due to the lack of understanding of the underlying nuclear physics leading to imperfect reactor antineutrino production models. Sterile neutrinos with an eV-scale mass splitting could also explain the disagreements. PROSPECT is a U.S.-based multi-phased reactor antineutrino experiment designed to make a precise measurement of reactor antineutrino spectrum and perform a search for sterile neutrino oscillations via electron antineutrino disappearance. PROSPECT utilizes segmented detectors with lithium-loaded liquid scintillator as the target and will be deployed at short baselines of ∼ 7-20 m from the High Flux Isotope Reactor, a highly-enriched uranium reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. With a single year of data, PROSPECT has significant sterile neutrino discovery potential in the current global best-fit region. A suite of prototype detectors have been installed laying groundwork for deploying full-size PROSPECT detectors. This talk will focus on the PROSPECT detector design in the context of the physics goals of the experiment.

Speaker: Mr Pranava Teja Surukuchi (Illinois Institute of Technology)

Slides NewPerspectives_2015_PTS.pdf

13:45 Background and Detector Response Studies With PROSPECT Prototype Detectors

PROSPECT, the Precision Reactor Oscillation and Spectrum Experiment, is a short baseline experiment to measure the reactor antineutrino spectrum from a highly-enriched U-235 reactor. For this purpose, PROSPECT will utilize an antineutrino target composed of optically segmented Li-6 loaded liquid scintillator cells with one PMT on each end of each cell. Recently, two meter-long, 23 liter rectangular prototypes were deployed to study the performance of the PROSPECT unit scintillator cell as well as to make in-situ background radiation measurements at the intended PROSPECT deployment location near the High Flux Isotope Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The light collection and pulse-shape discrimination are charaterized for different reflector, PMT, and DAQ configurations using varied gamma and spontaneous fission calibration sources at several positions along the cells. This talk will focus on the measurement of backgrounds and study of PSD and light collection of these prototype cells

Speaker: Mr XIANYI ZHANG (ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY)

Slides NPTalks-v6.pdf

14:00 Progress Made with the Double Chooz Time Projection Chamber (DCTPC) Neutron Detector

DCTPC detects fast neutron events at the Double Chooz reactor-based neutrino oscillation experiment in France. Understanding neutron background as a function of energy and depth is relevant for multiple experiments around the world, including those trying to measure dark matter, low energy neutrino, and neutrinoless double beta decay. DCTPC allows us to produce a three dimensional image of a neutron-induced nuclear recoil with calorimetric and directional information. I will give an overview of how DCTPC detects neutronsm present the results from DCTPC at Double Chooz, and discuss the future of DCTPC.

Speaker: Ms Hexley Allie (MIT)

Slides Allie_New_Perspectives_15.pdf

14:15 Fast Neutron Detection with MITPC at Fermilab

MITPC, formerly known as DCTPC, is a neutron detector that has completed runs at Double Chooz and will begin running on the Fermilab Booster Neutrino Beamline this summer. The neutron rates measured by MITPC will serve the Short-Baseline Neutrino program. MITPC is a gas-based time projection chamber which has used a mix of He-4 and CF4 in previous runs, but will use a mix of Ne and CF4 at Fermilab. In this talk, I will discuss plans for running MITPC at Fermilab and preliminary test results with the Ne/CF4 gas.

Speaker: Marjon Moulai (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

Slides NewPerspectives2015.pdf

14:30 ANNIE: Accelerator Neutrino Neutron Interaction Experiment

Neutron tagging in Gadolinium-doped water may play a significant role in reducing backgrounds from atmospheric neutrinos in next generation proton-decay searches using Megaton-scale Water Cherenkov detectors. A similar technique is also useful in the detection of Supernova neutrinos. In this talk we discuss the Accelerator Neutrino Neutron Interaction Experiment (ANNIE), designed to measure the neutron yield of neutrino interactions in gadolinium-doped water. An innovative aspect of the ANNIE design is the use of precision timing to localize interaction vertices in the small fiducial volume of the detector, which will be achieved by using early prototypes of LAPPDs (Large Area Picosecond Photodetectors). The ideas explored by ANNIE could have a transformative impact on Water Cherenkov, scintillation, and other photodetection-based neutrino detector technologies.

Speaker: Erika Catano Mur (Iowa State University)

Slides ANNIE_NewPerspectives_Small.pdf

14:45 Sensitivity Study of Resonance Interaction in a Fine-Grained Tracker Detector

We present sensitivity studies for the neutrino induced resonance interaction (RES) in a fine-grained tracker detector (FGT), the reference near detector for LBNE and, possibly, DUNE. We use fast MC to study the cross-section and kinematics of the resonance processes, and use the resonance measurements to constrain the nuclear effects. The FGT-analysis is extended to the high-resolution NOMAD data which, in addition to providing precise RES measurements, serves as a benchmark to validate the FGT analysis. Preliminary NOMAD results are presented.

Speaker: Hongyue Duyang (university of south carolina)

Slides res_newperspective2015.pdf

15:00 → 15:45 Coffee Break

15:45 → 17:45 Session 4 - The Fermilab Neutrino Program, and Mu2e!

Session chair: Alex Drlica-Wagner

15:45 Neutrino-Electron Scattering at MINERvA

This work is centered in a tool to constrain the muon neutrino flux using neutrino electron scattering studies, at MINERvA Experiment in the medium energy era. Neutrino electron scattering helps to reduce flux normalization uncertainties on MINERvA’s absolute cross-section measurements. It is detected through an electromagnetic shower, produced by a single outgoing electron with very forward angle. Due that we are beginning to take medium energy data, we describe how we will isolate the single electron, and the expected signal events using simulation.

Speaker: Mr Edgar Valencia-Rodriguez (Universidad de Guanajuato)

Slides New_Perspectives_2015.pdf

16:00 Beam Energy Studies at the Minerva Test Beam Detector

The MINERvA experiment requires the accurate reconstruction of the kinematics of the particles produced in a neutrino interaction. Therefore, it is paramount to understand the energy response of the MINERvA detector due to electromagnetic and hadronic showers. The MINERvA Test Beam uses the same detector technology in a secondary beam to accurately study these showers at given energies. We will present an early result in regards to the MTEST energy from our initial data run.

Speaker: Mr Aaron Bercellie (University of Rochester)

Slides new_perspectives_2015.pdf

16:15 Search for Sterile antineutrinos in MINOS

The MINOS experiment measures the disappearance of νμ and ν ̄μ using two detectors separated by 734 km. The magnetized MINOS detectors enable to separate neutrinos and antineutrinos on an event-by-event basis. Besides the precise standard three flavor oscillation, MINOS is also capable of looking for sterile neutrino signal driven by large mass splittings. MINOS has taken data in antineutrino mode, the ν ̄μ → ν ̄s oscillations are studied in a 3+1 sterile antineutrino model with one additional sterile antineutrino state and the mixing parameters θ24 and ∆m243 are constrained. We present the sensitivity to sterile antineutrino in the antineutrino enhanced mode over a large parameter space of ∆m241 (10−3 ≤ ∆m241 ≤ 100 eV2) favoured by the LSND and MiniBooNE experiments. By combining our data with the reactor disappearance results we will be able to make a direct comparison with the appearance results of LSND and MiniBooNE.

Speaker: Mr Navaneeth Poonthottathil Poonthottathil (CUSAT/Fermilab)

Slides NewPerspective.pdf

16:30 HARP targets π+ production measurements for MiniBooNE

The prediction of the muon neutrino flux from a 71.0 cm long beryllium target for the MiniBooNE experiment is based on a measured pion production cross section which was taken from a thin beryllium target (2.0 cm thick - 5% nuclear interaction length) in the Hadron Production (HARP) experiment at CERN. To verify the extrapolation to our longer target, HARP also measured the pion production from 20.0 cm and 40.0 cm beryllium targets. The measured production yields on targets of 50% and 100% nuclear interaction lengths in the kinematic rage of momentum from 0.75 GeV/c to 6.5 GeV/c and the range of angle from 30 mrad to 210 mrad are presented along with an update of the thin target cross sections. The best fitted modified Sanford- Wang (SW) model parameterization for updated thin beryllium target π+ production cross section is presented. Yield measurements for all three targets are also compared with that from the Monte Carlo predictions in the MiniBooNE experiment for different SW parameterization.

Speaker: Mr Don Athula Wickremasinghe (University of Cincinnati)

Slides Athula_NewPerspective2015_fnal.pdf

16:45 Cosmic Muon induced EM Showers in NOvA Experiment

The NOvA experiment is a nue appearance neutrino oscillation experiment at Fermilab. It identifies the nue signal by the electromagnetic (EM) showers induced by the electrons in the final state of neutrino interactions. Cosmic muon induced EM showers, dominated by bremsstrahlung, are abundant in NOvA far detector. We use the Cosmic Muon-Removal technique to get pure shower sample from cosmic data. The large Cosmic-EM sample can be used to characterize the EM signature and provides valuable checks of the MC simulation, reconstruction, PID algorithm, and calibration across the NOvA detector.

Speaker: Mr Nitin Yadav (Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati)

Slides Nitin_NewPerspective.pdf

17:00 Simulation & Beam Transport Systematics of Neutrino Flux in NOvA

We present the simulation & beam systematics study of the neutrino flux in NOvA. Systematic errors on the flux at the near detector (ND), far detector (FD), and the ratio, FD/ND, due the beam-transport and hadroproduction are estimated.

Speaker: Ms Kuldeep Kaur Maan (Panjab Univeristy, Chandigarh/Fermilab)

Slides Newsperspective2015_kuldeep.pdf

17:15 Cosmic Ray Background Rejection in NOvA

The Numi Off-axis Neutrino Appearance (NOvA) experiment measures electron neutrino appearance at a distance of 810 km from where muon neutrinos are generated. The experiment consists of two functionally identical detectors, a Near Detector (ND) at Fermilab and a Far Detector (FD) at Ash River in Northern Minnesota. The detectors are fully commissioned and have been taking beam neutrino data since 2014. The FD is located on the surface, under 14 radiation lengths of barite and concrete overburden. Abundant cosmic rays passing through the FD present a unique challenge in cosmic ray background rejection. The cosmic background rejection in the FD is done in two steps: first, a set of cosmic ray veto cuts common to all NOvA beam neutrino analyses are applied, then additional, analysis specific cuts are applied. This talk will focus on the latter step of the rejection stream, the cosmic rejection cuts designed specifically for the study of electron neutrino appearance analysis in NOvA. The cosmic background to signal ratio is reduced significantly and the figure of merit increases after the cuts are applied.

Speaker: Mr Tian Xin (Iowa State University)

Slides 20150608_CosmicRejection.pdf

17:30 Impact of Beam Induced Radiation Backgrounds on the Cosmic Ray Veto System of the Mu2e Experiment

The Mu2e experiment will search for a neutrino-less muon to electron conversion process with a sensitivity improvement of almost four orders of magnitude to the current best limit. In order to achieve this designed sensitivity, backgrounds to the neutrino-less conversion process must be well understood. One important background is caused by the decays or interactions of cosmic ray muons faking the conversion electron signal. As such, the Mu2e experiment will employ a cosmic ray veto (CRV) system. This system, a four-layered plastic scintillator detector with an area of almost 300m2, surrounds the experiment’s detector components. To meet the designed sensitivity, the CRV system needs an efficiency of at least 99.99%. One challenge the CRV system faces is the large neutron and gamma fluxes present in the experimental hall, produced by beam interactions. This radiation damages the detector components and generates background noise in the CRV. We estimate the noise and total experiment dead-time caused by the radiation backgrounds in the CRV using a Geant4 based simulation which includes a complete Mu2e experiment geometry and realistic CRV response.

Speaker: Mr Steven Boi (Northern Illinois University)

Slides Impact of Beam Induced Radiation Backgrounds on the Cosmic Ray Veto System of the Mu2e Experiment

18:30 → 20:30 Dinner @ Users Center

Tuesday, 9 June

08:00 → 08:30 Coffee & Snacks

Wake up with coffee and light breakfast!

08:30 → 10:00 Session 5 - Astrophysics and the Dark Sector

Session chair: Alex Drlica-Wagner

08:30 WIMP Searches with the SuperCDMS Experiment

Astrophysical observations indicate that approximately 85% of the matter in the universe consists of invisible, non-baryonic dark matter. A well-motivated candidate for this dark matter is the Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP). The SuperCDMS Soudan experiment is a direct-detection experiment aimed at searching for rare WIMP-nucleon interactions using a 9-kg array of germanium crystal detectors. SuperCDMS Soudan has collected 2.5 years worth of data from near-continuous operation since March of 2012, and has conducted low-mass WIMP searches using a subset of the dataset. I will present a brief overview of these previous low-mass searches, and the current status of our ongoing high-mass (M >15 GeV/c^2) WIMP search which utilizes the entire dataset.

Speaker: Bradford Welliver (University of Florida)

Slides BWelliver_newperspectives15.pdf

08:45 DAMIC : a Low mass WIMP(~< 5GeV) detection project with CCDs

A large body of astronomical evidence across all length scales, from galaxy rotation curves, to lensing studies and spectacular observations of galaxy cluster collisions, to cosmic microwave background measurements, all points to the existence of CDM(Cold Dark Matter) particles. WIMPs(Weakly Interacting Massive Particles) represent a class of dark matter particles that froze out of thermal equilibrium in the early universe with a relic density that matches observation. Meanwhile, with a certain approximation, WIMPs could "naturally" solve the gauge hierarchy problem. This is the so called WIMP miracle. Many theoretical models beyond the Standard Model provide natural candidates for WIMPs, but the range of WIMP mass is huge : from 1GeV to 100TeV. DAMIC dedicates to hunt low mass(~< 5GeV) WIMP thanks to its extremely low noise, 2e^-(RMS). In this presentation, I will introduce three aspects : 0), Making a brief review on the work our collaboration have achieved; 1), Introducing the quenching factor measurement for silicon which has been finished in University of Notre Dame, IN. 2), Showing very preliminary progress of DAMIC data analysis using EFT(Effective Field Theory) which is supposed to be a very attractive model to interpret the interaction of DM and baryonic matter. DAMIC is an international collaboration. DAMIC detector has taking data since 2013 in Snolab, Canada.

Speaker: Junhui Liao (University of Zurich)

Slides NewPerspectives2015JunhuiLIAO.pdf

09:00 Search for sub-GeV Dark Matter @DUNE

High Intensity fixed target neutrino experiments present a new opportunity to search for sub-GeV Dark Matter. Our idea is to search for sub-GeV dark matter at DUNE near detector or a dedicated Dark Matter detector. Neutrinos are the major background for the Dark Matter experiment. Dark matter-nucleon or DM-electron scattering signal looks like neutrino neutral current scattering signal. In this talk, I will mainly discuss about the DM production and how one can distinguish the two signal.

Speaker: Animesh Chatterjee (Postdoctoral fellow, University of Texas at Arlington)

Slides NewPerspective_Animesh.pdf

09:15 Exploring Milky Way Halo Substructures from Large-Area Digital Sky Surveys

Over the last two decades, large-area digital sky surveys have provided deep photometric catalogs of stars in our Galaxy. The ability to detect and characterize substructures in our halo has increased dramatically. These substructures show that the Milky Way Galaxy is a complex and dynamic structure that is still being shaped by the accretion and merging of neighboring smaller galaxies. Sharma et al. (2010) developed a density-based hierarchical group-finding algorithm to identify stellar halo substructures in a catalog of M-giants from the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS). This algorithm uncovered 16 substructures in the Milky Way halo, six of which were unknown at the time. In this talk, I will discuss the spectroscopic follow-up observations of one of the six substructure candidates. The radial velocities and the metailicities derived from the spectra show that the stars selected have kinematic and abundance signatures consistent with a disrupted merger remnant in the Galactic potential. I will also briefly discuss the application of this group-finding algorithm on a catalog of main-sequence turnoff (MSTO) stars from the Dark Energy Survey, which are more sensitive to low-luminosity events than the 2MASS M-giant sample. With higher photometric precision at the faint magnitude limit, more substructures could potentially be revealed with the future photometric surveys and provide a complete census of our Galaxy’s recent accretion history.

Speaker: Ms Ting Li (Texas A&amp;M University)

Slides newperspective_2015_Li.pdf

09:30 Galaxy Evolution in X-Ray selected clusters and groups in Dark Energy Survey Data

Galaxy clusters and groups contain enormous amount of baryonic matter and dark matter, leaving prints across the electro-magnetic spectrum. Using optical imaging data from Dark Energy Survey, we have confirmed ~ 200 clusters and groups discovered with XMM-Newton archival data. In turn, this X-ray selected sample provides a well-understood data set for studying their optical content with Dark Energy Survey data. A subsample of the confirmed clusters and groups have been used to study the evolution of central galaxies. The study supports previous speculation that central galaxies grow slower than the prescription from simple semi-analytical modeling. We also show that intra-cluster light may play a greater role than previously assumed.

Speaker: Ms Yuanyuan Zhang (University of Michigan)

Slides new_perspectives.pdf

09:45 An Overview of DESI and the Collaboration Efforts at SIDET

Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) will explore the effect of dark energy on the expansion history of the universe. Fermilab's Detector Research and Development program plays key role in testing and characterizing the CCD sensors which will probe the night sky from Kitt Peak.

Speaker: Mr Conett Huerta Escamilla (Graduate Student)

Slides DESI-New_Perspectives.pdf DESI-New_Perspectives.pptx

10:00 → 10:45 Coffee Break

10:45 → 12:15 Session 6 - Accelerator Physics and Technology

Session chair: Mateus Carneiro

10:45 Luminosity and Crab Waist Collision Studies

In high energy physics, the luminosity is one useful value to characterize the performance of a particle collider. To gain more available data, we need to maximize the luminosity in most collider experiments. With the discussions of tune shift involved the beam dynamics and a recently proposed "crabbed waist" scheme of beam-beam collisions, I present some qualitative analysis to increase the luminosity. In addition, beam-beam tune shifts and luminosities of electron-positron, proton-proton/proton-antiproton, and muon-muon colliders are discussed.

Speaker: Mr Wanwei Wu (University of Mississippi)

Slides LuminosityCW_Wanwei.pdf

11:00 Machine Learning for Particle Accelerator Control Systems

Particle accelerators are host to myriad nonlinear and complex physical phenomena. They often involve a multitude of interacting systems, are subject to tight performance demands, and should be able to run for extended periods of time with minimal interruptions. Machine learning constitutes a versatile set of techniques that are particularly well-suited to modeling, control, and diagnostic analysis of complex, nonlinear, and time-varying systems, as well as systems with large parameter spaces. Consequently, the use of adaptive, machine learning-based modeling and control techniques could be of significant benefit to particle accelerators. For the same reasons, particle accelerators are also extremely useful test-beds for these techniques. This talk briefly discusses some promising avenues for incorporating machine learning into particle accelerator control systems and shows some initial results from our work at Fermilab.

Speaker: Ms Auralee Edelen (Colorado State University)

Slides 20150609_New_Perspectives_Edelen.pdf 20160202_Edelen_supplemental.pdf

11:15 Measurements of Electron Cloud at Fermilab

Electron cloud is a low-energy electron plasma that appears in particle accelerators and presents a challenge at virtually every large-scale particle accelerator complex. I will give a brief explanation of electron cloud how is formed and how it is distributed. Then I will discuss the measurements we've been making of the electron cloud at Fermilab, how we diagnosed a recent electron cloud instability, and how we intend to mitigate electron cloud in the future.

Speaker: Mr Jeffrey Eldred (Indiana University)

Slides JEldred_EC_NP.ppt

11:30 Tailored smooth electron for efficient beam-driven acceleration

TeV+ accelerators will either require extremely large and costly infrasturcture, or some development beyond conventionally limited acceleration gradients of ~50 MV/m. We discuss a relatively simple new longitudinal shape to drive ideal- transformer ratios and accelerating fields.

Speaker: Francois Lemery (NIU Accelerator Physics)

Slides BeamManipulationV3.pdf

11:45 Implementation of Quadrupole Scan Technique for Transverse Beam Emittance Measurements at Fermilab’s Advanced Superconducting Test Accelerator (ASTA)

Beam emittance is an important characteristic describing the quality of an electron beam. Transverse emittance measurements based on the quadrupole scan technique (quad-scan) have been widely used to characterize the beam phase space parameters in linear accelerators. This technique will be implemented at the Advanced Superconducting Test Accelerator (ASTA) at Fermilab. We plan on deploying an automated quad-scan unit in the ASTA main control system that permits an operator to accurately measure/analyze transverse beam emittance and flexibly control beam parameters during the operation. This implementation is designed with Python scripts and ELEGANT tracking code in combination with Fermilab’s Accelerator Control System (ACNET). Preliminary results have been obtained using a small number of quadrupoles using the “thin lens” approximation.

Speaker: Andrew Green (Northern Illinois University)

Slides New_Perspectives_2015_V3.pdf

12:15 → 13:15 Lunch

13:15 → 15:00 Session 7 - Liquid Argon Experiments and Technology

Session chair: Rob Fine

13:15 Improved TPB-coated Light Guides for Liquid Argon TPC Light Detection Systems: Air Measurements

This talk will discuss the outcome of recent research and development of wavelength-shifting lightguides for LArTPCs. The response of the lightguides was characterized in both air and liquid argon. Attenuation lengths over 100cm were consistently measured in air, which is an important step in the development of meter-scale lightguides for future LArTPCs. Additionally, good agreement was found between simulations and measurements performed in air and liquid argon. Such agreement indicates that characterization in air is sufficient for quality control of lightguide production. This talk will discuss bar production and measurement in air. Jarrett Moon will discuss lightguide modeling and liquid argon measurements.

Speaker: Mr Alexander Moss (MIT)

Slides zander_moss_nu_perspectives.pdf

13:30 Characterization of New Meter Scale Light Guides for Liquid Argon TPC Light Collection

The ability to detect 128 nm scintillation light from liquid argon (LAr) is of critical importance in current and future liquid argon time-projection chamber (LarTPC) experiments. To this end, tetraphenyl butadiene (TPB) has been employed in light collection systems to shift 128 nm light to visible wavelengths. Work has been done recently using TPB in conjunction with light guides to improve light collection. We have developed improved techniques for producing TPB coated acrylic light guides with attenuation lengths exceeding 1 m when measured in air. These improvements have come from a new acrylic based coating as well as a new technique for applying the coating. Measurements taken in both air and LAr have allowed us to create a model connecting the behavior in LAr with that in air which is in good agreement with data. This model can be used in simulations for future lightguide based experiments, such as SBND and DUNE. It also allows quality control of new light guides without requiring costly measurements in LAr.

Speaker: Mr Jarrett Moon (MIT)

Slides New_Perspectives_Talk.pdf New_Perspectives_Talk.pptx

13:45 Dirt Neutrons in MicroBooNE

The MicroBooNE detector will allow a measurement of neutral-current elastic interactions at an unprecedented low momentum transfer. The most problematic background to these low Q^2 interactions are from neutrons produced by interactions in the dirt surrounding MicroBooNE. A scintillator detector just upstream of MicroBooNE could provide us with a clean sample of dirt neutron events in MicroBooNE. From this sample, we can measure the energy and angular distributions of protons from dirt neutrons as a model of the background for the neutral-current elastic data. We present Monte Carlo predictions of the dirt neutron background in MicroBooNE as well as results from our current studies of the dirt event tagger capabilities.

Speaker: Katherine Woodruff (New Mexico State University)

Slides NP15Woodruff.pdf

14:00 Searches for neutron-antineutron oscillations with Liquid Argon TPC experiments

Neutron to antineutron (nnbar) oscillation is a baryon number violating process, predicted by several classes of Grand Unified Theories. The planned Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) will utilise an underground 40kt Liquid Argon time projection chamber (LArTPC), uniquely equipped to carry out a low-background search for such oscillations of neutrons bound in the argon nucleus. There are several potential backgrounds for such a process, mainly from atmospheric neutrinos but also potentially from high energy cosmic ray muons interacting in the detector surroundings. The MicroBooNE LArTPC can be used to study such potential background signatures, and extrapolate corresponding background rate measurements to DUNE. This talk will discuss ongoing MicroBooNE cosmogenic background simulations, and the potential for an nnbar oscillation sensitivity estimate for DUNE.

Speaker: Mr Jeremy Hewes (The University of Manchester)

Slides 2015-06-09_nnbar_v2.pdf

14:15 Searching for dark sector phenomena at LArTPC fixed target experiments

A significant region of parameter space for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter has been ruled out by direct detection experiments. New models have suggested extensions to the Standard Model, known as dark sectors, proposing sub-GeV dark matter candidates which could have eluded most direct detection experiments. In this talk, I will discuss searches for evidence of these dark sector phenomena using high energy neutrino beams directed at liquid argon time project chamber (LArTPC) neutrino detectors. LArTPCs offer precision event reconstruction, making the search for unique final state topologies characterized by dark sector phenomenon possible. I will outline a preliminary Monte Carlo sensitivity study using a quasi-model independent search for dark sector phenomena. Results are extended to the Short Baseline Neutrino (SBN) program at Fermilab to quantify the viability of such a search.

Speaker: Ms Brooke Russell (Yale University)

Slides Russell_NewPerspectives2015.pdf

14:30 LArIAT - Liquid Argon In A Testbeam

The Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) represents one of the most advanced experimental technologies for physics at the Intensity Frontier due to its full 3D-imaging, excellent particle identification (PID) and precise calorimetric energy reconstruction. By deploying LArTPCs in a dedicated calibration test beam line at Fermilab, the LArIAT program aims to experimentally calibrate this technology in a controlled environment. For LArIAT phase-I, the physics measurements will focus on the analysis of electromagnetic shower reconstruction for electron-gamma separation, the determination of the muon sign in the absence of magnetic field via its capture on nuclei, the study of nuclear effects such as pion and kaon characteristic interaction modes and antiproton annihilation in LAr. Moreover, a new concept for LAr Scintillation Light Collection in neutrino detectors which will allow a uniform connection of the scintillation light wrt to the deposited energy has been developed to improve the calorimetric energy resolution. The LArIAT exploration of the LArTPC capabilities will serve the double purpose of improving this technology and providing physics results relevant to the neutrino oscillation physics and proton decay searches of the SBN and LBN programs. ​

Speaker: Elena Gramellini (Yale University)

Slides http://prezi.com/5zzi01awueuu/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share NewPers_LArIAT.pdf

14:45 Scintillation light detection in the LArIAT TPC

LArIAT is a Liquid Argon TPC currently taking data at Fermilab with the aim of calibrating the argon response for neutrino detectors. In parallel, it will help develop and evaluate the performance of the simulation, analysis and reconstruction software, used in other LAr neutrino experiments. LArIAT is running on a test beam of charged particles (mainly protons, pions and muons), identified using of a set of beamline detectors, which allows the calibration of the response of the TPC to these charged particles. LArIAT will also take advantage of the scintillating capabilities of LAr and test the possibility of using the light signal to help determining calorimetric information and particle ID via Pulse Shape Discrimination. In this talk, results of simulations of the optical system for LArIAT will be presented, together with the first results of its calibration, proving its functionality on the way to further improve the LAr TPC for future neutrino experiments.

Speaker: Pawel Kryczynski (Fermilab/INP PAS Krakow)

Slides NewPerspectives2015pk.pdf

15:00 → 15:30 Coffee Break

15:30 → 17:30 Student and Postdoc Career Panel: An eye-opening glimpse at the wealth of non-academic job opportunities

Convener: Alex Drlica-Wagner (Fermilab)

Webpage Career Panel

17:30 → 18:00 Panel Mixer

Cheese, crackers, soft drinks, and a chance to rub shoulders with the panelists.

20:00 → 22:00 Festa Italiana