The 26th International Workshop on Weak Interactions and Neutrinos (WIN2017)

US/Pacific
Conference Center (UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA)

Conference Center

UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

Michael Smy (UCI), Mu-Chun Chen (University of California, Irvine)
Description
The International Workshops on Weak Interactions and Neutrinos have been organized regularly for the past 40 years at many venues in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and the United States. The 26th edition (WIN2017) will take place at the University of California in Irvine, from June 19 – 24, 2017. The goal of these Workshops is to offer the physics community a significant opportunity to assess the status of major topics within the field and initiate collaborative effort to address current challenges. The Workshops attract leading experimentalists and theorists, from all over the world, allowing them to exchange ideas and to develop new strategies. In many cases the efforts initiated at these Workshops result in completed projects that are published in international journals. These projects have sometimes proven to be major breakthroughs such as the MSW effect, which was first discussed at the WIN85 meeting in Finland. As customary in this workshop series, the program will be structured to allow ample time for formal and informal discussions in the four working groups: – Neutrino Physics – Electroweak Interactions – Flavor and Precision Physics – Astro-particle Physics and Cosmology
Participants
  • Adam Moss
  • Ahmed Ismail
  • alakabha datta
  • Alessandro Mirizzi
  • Alexandre Sousa
  • Alexis Romero
  • Ali Kheirandish
  • Amol Upadhye
  • Anatael Cabrera
  • Andrea Falcone
  • Angela Papa
  • Anna Kwa
  • Antonio Branca
  • Antonio Capone
  • Antonio Marrone
  • Arianna Braconi
  • Arindam Das
  • Basudeb Dasgupta
  • Benjamin Lillard
  • Bernardo Adeva
  • Bhaskar Dutta
  • Biao Wang
  • Boris Kayser
  • Brooke Russell
  • Carlo Giunti
  • Carsten Krauss
  • Christian Reichardt
  • Christopher Karwin
  • Daneng Yang
  • Daniel Wegman
  • Daniele Gaggero
  • Danny Marfatia
  • Darius Jurciukonis
  • David Martinez Caicedo
  • David McKeen
  • Dennis Silverman
  • Derek Soeder
  • Dhiman Chakraborty
  • Dinesh Loomba
  • Dmitry Svirida
  • Duccio Pappadopulo
  • Elizabeth Heckmaier
  • Elke Aeikens
  • Evgueni Goudzovski
  • Felix Kling
  • Fergus Wilson
  • Francesco Fabozzi
  • Francesco Lombardi
  • Francesco Villante
  • Franklin Potter
  • Gary Binder
  • Gastón Moreno
  • Geoffrey Gaswint
  • Gianpiero Mangano
  • Gil Paz
  • Giovanni Marco Pruna
  • Gonzalo Martínez Lema
  • Hank Sobel
  • Hannah Herde
  • Hau-Bin Li
  • Henry Makowitz
  • Hisakazu Minakata
  • Huiling Li
  • Iftah Galon
  • INA SARCEVIC
  • Irina Mocioiu
  • Ivan Jesus Martinez Soler
  • Ivan Nisandzic
  • James Dent
  • James Matta
  • Jan Hamann
  • Jay Hyun Jo
  • Jeffrey Roskes
  • Jennifer Rittenhouse West
  • Jens Erler
  • Jianming Bian
  • Jiaqi Guo
  • JiJi Fan
  • Jodi Cooley
  • John Gregory Learned
  • Jonas Schultz
  • Jonathan Feng
  • Jordan Smolinsky
  • Joseph Formaggio Formaggio
  • Juergen Reichenbacher
  • Juliana Kwan
  • Jun Cao
  • Junji Tojo
  • K.S. Babu
  • Kaixuan Ni
  • Katarzyna Frankiewicz
  • Katsuki Hiraide
  • Kazuhiro Terao
  • kenji ishibashi
  • Kevork Abazajian
  • Kohta Murase
  • Kou Oishi
  • Laura Covi
  • Leon Pickard
  • Lu Heng Sunny Yu
  • Luis Felipe Gutierrez Zagazeta
  • Makoto Miura
  • Manoj Kaplinghat
  • Marat Freytsis
  • Marc Bergevin
  • Marc Sher
  • Marco Grassi
  • Marcos Dracos
  • Maria Martinez
  • Mary Bishai
  • Mathew Madhavacheril
  • Maximilian Löschner
  • Maximilian Totzauer
  • Meghan Frate
  • Mel Cheslow
  • Mengjiao Xiao
  • Michael Krohn
  • Michael Nieslony
  • Michael Ratz
  • Michael Smy
  • Michael Willers
  • Milind Diwan
  • Minggang Zhao
  • Mohammad Mohammad Abdullah
  • Morgan Askins
  • Moritz Platscher
  • Morten Medici
  • Mu-Chun Chen
  • Muhammad Elnimr
  • Nguyen Dinh Dinh
  • Nikolaos Kidonakis
  • Nitish Nayak
  • Norm Buchanan
  • Oleg Popov
  • Pedro Machado
  • Philip Tanedo
  • Pierce Weatherly
  • Pierluigi Bortignon
  • Rabindra Mohapatra
  • Ranjan Laha
  • Rasmus Rasmussen
  • Rasmus Sloth Lundkvist Hansen
  • Raymond Njinga
  • Regina Caputo
  • Richard Bonventre
  • Robert Svoboda
  • roberto rossin
  • Ruo yu Shang
  • Ryan Keeley
  • Sara Diglio
  • Sarah Demers
  • Satoshi Mihara
  • Scott Locke
  • Sebastian Trojanowski
  • Sheldon Campbell
  • Shoei Nakayama
  • Sijie Yu
  • Simon Bourret
  • Simona Murgia
  • Spencer Axani
  • Spencer Klein
  • Stefania Xella
  • Stefano Gariazzo
  • Stefano Roberto Soleti
  • Stephen Sekula
  • Steven Dytman
  • Steven Gardiner
  • Sudeshna Ganguly
  • Sören Erdweg
  • Thiago Sogo Bezerra
  • Thomas Kutter
  • Tim Tait
  • Tobias Neumann
  • Tomohiro Nakama
  • Tulin Varol
  • Vakhtang Tsiskaridze
  • Valentina De Romeri
  • Veronique Van Elewyck
  • Vincent Fischer
  • Vittorio Palladino
  • Vittorio Paolone
  • Volodymyr Takhistov
  • Walter Winter
  • We-Fu Chang
  • Willam Kropp
  • William Shepherd
  • Wolfgang Altmannshofer
  • XIAO-GANG HE
  • Xing-Bo Yuan
  • Xun-Jie Xu
  • Yasuo Takeuchi
  • Ye-Ling Zhou
  • YINGYING LI
  • Yoomin Oh
  • Yoshitaka Kuno
  • Youngjoon Kwon
  • Yu-Sheng Liu
  • Yuichi UESAKA
  • Yuji Chinone
  • Yvonne Wong
  • Zepyoor Khechadoorian
    • 8:00 AM 8:50 AM
      Light Breakfast 50m Conference Center

      Conference Center

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    • 8:00 AM 8:50 AM
      Registration 50m Conference Center

      Conference Center

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    • 8:50 AM 9:00 AM
      Plenary: Welcome Crystal Cove auditorium

      Crystal Cove auditorium

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      • 8:50 AM
        Welcome 10m
        Speaker: Prof. Mu-Chun Chen (University of California, Irvine)
        Slides
    • 9:00 AM 10:50 AM
      Plenary Crystal Cove Auditorium

      Crystal Cove Auditorium

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      Convener: Dr Hisakazu Minakata (University of São Paulo)
      • 9:00 AM
        Working Group Overview: Neutrino Physics (Theory) 40m
        Overview.
        Speaker: Walter Winter (DESY)
        Slides
      • 9:40 AM
        Woking Group Overview: Neutrino Physics (Exp) 40m
        Overview.
        Speaker: Prof. Alexandre Sousa (University of Cincinnati)
        Slides
      • 10:20 AM
        Synthesizing Data: Global Fit (3-Neutrinos) 30m
        Highlight.
        Speaker: Prof. Antonio Marrone (U. of Bari & INFN Bari)
        Slides
    • 10:50 AM 11:20 AM
      Coffee break 30m Conference Center

      Conference Center

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    • 11:20 AM 12:40 PM
      Plenary Crystal Cove Auditorium

      Crystal Cove Auditorium

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      Convener: Prof. XIAO-GANG HE (National Taiwan Uiversity)
      • 11:20 AM
        Woking Group Overview: Flavor and Precision Physics (Theory) 40m
        Overview.
        Speaker: Prof. Benjamin Grinstein (UC San Diego)
        Slides
      • 12:00 PM
        Working Group Overview: Flavor and Precision Physics (Experiment) 40m
        Overview.
        Speaker: Dr Satoshi Mihara (KEK)
        Slides
    • 12:40 PM 2:10 PM
      Lunch break 1h 30m Conference Center

      Conference Center

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    • 2:10 PM 3:50 PM
      Plenary Crystal Cove Auditorium

      Crystal Cove Auditorium

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      Convener: Prof. INA SARCEVIC (UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA)
      • 2:10 PM
        Woking Group Overview: Astroparticle Physics and Cosmology 40m
        Overview.
        Speaker: Dr Yvonne Wong (UNSW)
        Slides
      • 2:50 PM
        Direct Neutrino Mass Measurement 30m
        Highlight.
        Speaker: Prof. Joseph Formaggio Formaggio (MIT)
        Slides
      • 3:20 PM
        Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay 30m
        Highlight.
        Speaker: Lindley Winslow (UCLA)
        Slides
    • 3:50 PM 4:20 PM
      Coffee break 30m Conference Center

      Conference Center

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    • 4:20 PM 5:20 PM
      Plenary Crystal Cove Auditorium

      Crystal Cove Auditorium

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      Convener: Robert Svoboda (UC Davis)
      • 4:20 PM
        30 years after SN1987A 30m
        Highlight.
        Speaker: Prof. Masayuki Nakahata (University of Tokyo)
        Slides
      • 4:50 PM
        SN Neutrino Theory 30m
        Highlight.
        Speaker: Prof. Basudeb Dasgupta (TIFR)
        Slides
    • 5:20 PM 6:50 PM
      Welcome reception 1h 30m Anteater Steps and Courtyard

      Anteater Steps and Courtyard

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    • 8:30 AM 9:00 AM
      Light Breakfast 30m Conference Center

      Conference Center

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    • 9:00 AM 10:50 AM
      Plenary Pacific Ballroom ABC

      Pacific Ballroom ABC

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      Convener: Prof. Jonathan Feng (UC Irvine)
      • 9:00 AM
        Woking Group Overview: New Physics at the EW Scale and Naturalness (Theory) 40m
        Overview.
        Speaker: Prof. JiJi Fan (Brown University)
        Slides
      • 9:40 AM
        Working Group Overview: Electroweak Interactions (Experiment) 40m
        Overview.
        Speaker: Prof. Mayda Velasco (Northwestern University)
        Slides
      • 10:20 AM
        Dark Matter Searches 30m
        Highlight.
        Speaker: Prof. Jodi Cooley (SMU)
        Slides
    • 10:50 AM 11:20 AM
      Break 30m Conference Center

      Conference Center

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    • 11:20 AM 12:50 PM
      Working Group: Astroparticle physics and cosmology Pacific Ballroom AB

      Pacific Ballroom AB

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      • 11:20 AM
        Status of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis 30m
        I will review the present status of BBN predictions, new ab initio calculations for deuterium destruction processes and the overall compatibility of theory versus data also in light of Planck results.
        Speaker: Dr Gianpiero Mangano (INFN)
        Slides
      • 11:50 AM
        Galaxy-galaxy lensing for cosmology in the Dark Energy Survey 20m
        The Dark Energy Survey (DES) is an ongoing photometric survey that will cover 5000 sq deg of the Southern sky over five years with the aim of determining the origin of cosmic acceleration. Two of the key probes involved in achieving this goal are the large scale clustering of galaxies and weak gravitational lensing, which are more powerful when taken in combination, since the dependence on galaxy bias can be broken in both probes. Using the red galaxies identified in the Science Verification area in DES, we have measured the angular clustering and tangential shear from galaxy-galaxy lensing using red sequence selected galaxies. In this talk, I will present constraints on the dark energy equation of state and the amplitude of clustering from a joint analysis of these probes.
        Speaker: Dr Juliana Kwan (University of Tokyo)
        Slides
      • 12:10 PM
        Cosmic surveys probe features in the inflationary power spectrum 20m
        Current and near-future measurements of cosmic structure will provide unprecedented constraints on the initial density field. A sharply blue-tilted isocurvature component of the density fluctuations, indicative of an evolving mass during inflation, can evade CMB constraints but is accessible to large-scale structure observations. I discuss an axionic spectator field model whose power spectrum has a characteristic bump associated with a transition from a blue to a flat spectrum. Through careful numerical analysis I construct a fitting function capturing the essential qualitative features of this power spectrum component. Finally, I discuss ongoing work to constrain blue-tilted isocurvature using cosmological surveys.
        Speaker: Dr Amol Upadhye (Argonne National Lab)
        Slides
      • 12:30 PM
        Primordial Black Holes and r-Process Nucleosynthesis 20m
        We show that some or all of the observed inventory of r-process nucleosynthesis can be produced in interactions of primordial black holes (PBHs) with neutron stars (NSs) if PBHs of 10^(−14) to 10^(−8) solar masses make up a few percent or more of the dark matter. A PBH captured by a neutron star (NS) sinks to the center of the NS and consumes it from the inside. When this occurs in a rotating millisecond-period NS, the resulting spin-up ejects ~0.1-0.5 solar masses of relatively cold neutron-rich material. This ejection process and the accompanying decompression and decay of nuclear matter can produce electromagnetic transients, such as a kilonova-type afterglow and fast radio bursts. These transients are not accompanied by significant gravitational radiation or neutrinos, allowing such events to be differentiated from compact object mergers occurring within the distance sensitivity limits of gravitational wave observatories. The PBH-NS destruction scenario is consistent with pulsar and NS statistics, the dark matter content and spatial distributions in the Galaxy and Ultra Faint Dwarfs (UFD), as well as with the r-process content and evolution histories in these sites. Ejected matter is heated by beta decay, which leads to emission of positrons in an amount consistent with the observed 511-keV line from the Galactic Center.
        Speaker: Volodymyr Takhistov (UCLA)
        Slides
    • 11:20 AM 12:50 PM
      Working Group: Electroweak Interactions Emerald Bay B

      Emerald Bay B

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      • 11:20 AM
        Developments in treating the SM as an EFT 30m
        I give an update on the current status of research aiming to treat new physics searches at the LHC and other experiments using the techniques of effective field theory. This has been employed in many contexts, from fitting EW precision data and Higgs data to investigating higher-energy phenomena in dijet, dilepton, and diboson searches. I review the technical challenges arising in both types of analyses, and give personal views on the path forward for using EFT techniques to generate model independent bounds on heavy new physics.
        Speaker: Dr William Shepherd (Johannes-Gutenberg-University Mainz)
        Slides
      • 11:50 AM
        Probing for anomalous Higgs-VV couplings in production and decay H→4l at CMS 30m
        The study of the anomalous interactions of the recently discovered Higgs boson is performed using the decay information H → 4l and information from associated production of two quark jets, originating either from vector boson fusion or an associated vector boson. The full dataset recorded by the CMS experiment during 2016 of the LHC Run 2 is used, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 35.9 fb−1 at 13 TeV. Novel techniques are used for the study of associated VBF and VH production and its combination with analysis of decay information using optimal approaches based on matrix element techniques. The tensor structure of the interactions of the spin-zero Higgs boson with two vector bosons either in production or in decay is investigated and constraints are set on anomalous HVV interactions. All observations are consistent with the expectations for the standard model Higgs boson.
        Speaker: Jeffrey Roskes (Johns Hopkins University)
      • 12:20 PM
        Heavy Neutrino Search from the Higgs decay 30m
        We use the LHC Higgs data to derive updated constraints on electroweak-scale sterile neutrinos that naturally occur in many low-scale seesaw extensions of the Standard Model to explain the neutrino masses. We also analyze the signal sensitivity for a new final state involving a single charged lepton and two jets with missing energy, which arises from the decay of sterile neutrinos produced through the Higgs and W,Z boson mediated processes at the LHC. Future prospects of these sterile neutrino signals in precision Higgs measurements, as well as at a future 100 TeV collider, are also discussed. We will also study the signal sensitivity heavy neutrino production from $H+j$ process where the heavy neutrino will be produced from the Higgs decay at the LHC. The heavy neutrino will produce a single lepton, two jet and missing energy after the decay.
        Speaker: Dr Arindam Das (KIAS, KNRC, SNU)
        Slides
    • 11:20 AM 12:50 PM
      Working Group: Flavor and Precision Physics Emerald Bay A

      Emerald Bay A

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      • 11:20 AM
        The MEG final result. Towards MEGII 30m
        Lepton flavor violation (LFV) research is currently one of the most exciting branches of particle physics due to its high sensitivity to new physics. The observation of neutrino oscillations has clearly demonstrated that neutral lepton flavor is not conserved. This implies that charged LFV (cLFV) processes, such as the mu+ -> e+ gamma decay, can also occur in the Standard Model (SM), although strongly suppressed. On the other hand, Beyond SM (BSM) extensions strongly enhance the predictions for cLFV branching ratios. Therefore such decays are ideal probes for new physics. The MEG experiment at the Paul Scherrer Institut searches for the mu+ -> e+ gamma decay and has completed the data collection at the end of the 2013. The final result will be discussed and the status of the upgrade of the experiment (MEGII) will be presented.
        Speaker: Dr Angela Papa (Paul Scherrer Institute)
        Slides
      • 11:50 AM
        The Mu3e experiment at PSI 30m
        The Mu3e experiment at PSI.
        Speaker: Dr Angela Papa (Paul Scherrer Institut)
        Slides
      • 12:20 PM
        The COMET Experiment to Search for μ-e conversion at J-PARC 30m
        I will report about the state of the COMET experiment
        Speaker: Mr Kou OISHI (Kyushu University)
        Slides
    • 11:20 AM 1:00 PM
      Working Group: Neutrino Physics: Latest Results from Experiment and Theory Pacific Ballroom C

      Pacific Ballroom C

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      Convener: Robert Svoboda (UC Davis)
      • 11:20 AM
        Measurement of the evolution of the reactor antineutrino flux and spectrum at Daya Bay. 20m
        The Daya Bay experiment has utilized eight functionally identical underground detectors to sample reactor antineutrino fluxes from three pairs of nuclear reactors in South China, accruing the largest reactor antineutrino sample to date. This talk will summarize Daya Bay’s most recent result, which presents observations of correlations between reactor core fuel evolution and changes in the detected reactor antineutrino flux and energy spectrum. Four antineutrino detectors in two experimental halls were used to identify 2.2 million inverse beta decays (IBDs) over 1230 days spanning multiple fuel cycles for each of Daya Bay’s six 2.9 GW reactor cores. A 10σ variation in IBD yield was found to be energy-dependent, rejecting the hypothesis of a constant antineutrino energy spectrum at 5.1 standard deviations. While measurements of the linear variation with respect to the fuel content in the IBD spectrum show general agreement with predictions from recent reactor models, the measured linear variation with respect to the fuel content in the total IBD yield disagrees with recent predictions at 3.1σ. This discrepancy indicates that an overall deficit in measured flux with respect to predictions does not result from equal fractional deficits from the primary fission isotopes 235U, 239Pu, 238U, and 241Pu. A 7.8% discrepancy between the observed and predicted 235U yield suggests that this isotope may be the primary contributor to the reactor antineutrino anomaly
        Speaker: Dr David Martinez Caicedo (Illinois Institute of Technology)
        Slides
      • 11:40 AM
        DANSS Reactor Antineutrino Project: Status and First Results 20m
        DANSS project is aimed at the sterile neutrino searches in the short range region. The detector is installed directly under the core of an industrial 3.1 GW reactor taking advantage of its body and shielding as an 50 m.w.e. overburden. The distance to the core center can be changed in the range of 10.7 to 12.7 m by means of a hoisting gear. The detection of inverse beta-decay is performed in a sensitive volume of 1 cubic meter filled with plastic scintillator strips covered with gadolinium oxide. 2500 strips are read out individually by SiPMs and, in groups of 50, by traditional PMTs. Multilayer passive shielding and active muon veto provide good suppression of external backgrounds. Inverse beta-decay rate reaches 5000 events per day in the fiducial volume of 78% and detector position, closest to the reactor core. Powerful shielding together with fine segmentation provides excellent signal to background ratio. Experiment status will be presented together with some preliminary results based on about 170 days of active data taking during the first year of operation.
        Speaker: Dr Dmitry Svirida (ITEP)
        Slides
      • 12:00 PM
        Double Chooz Measurement of theta_13 and beyond 20m
        Nuclear reactor neutrinos were used on the first neutrino detection back in 1956. Since then our knowledge on neutrino physics haven't stopped broadening, and reactor neutrinos are still an important source of investigation. The Double Chooz (DC) is an experiment on neutrino oscillation based at Chooz nuclear power plant in France. Back in 2011 the DC collaboration reported an indication of non-zero theta_13, the last unmeasured angle of the neutrino PMNS mixing matrix, for the first time using reactor neutrinos. This was confirmed and measured by independent experiments in the following year. The DC collaboration has improved its analysis over the last years, in order to reduce the uncertainty on theta_13 measurement. The use of a second detector, the Near Detector (ND), operating ~400 meters from the reactors, improves the sensitivity by its nearly iso-flux location, in comparison to the Far Detector (FD), around the oscillation maximum ~1000 meters. Further improvement is achieved by making both detectors identical, in order to highly suppress the detection induced systematics. DC is taking data with both detectors since January of 2015, and boosted the event statistics by a novel approach on the Inverse Beta Decay (IBD) selection, considering neutrons captures on Gadolinium and Hydrogen simultaneously, that increases the fiducial volume by more than three times. The precision and accuracy of theta_13 have a leading impact on the current explorations of the neutrino CP violation phase and atmospheric mass ordering, when combining all neutrino oscillation measurements in a global analysis. Thus the redundancy of multiple theta_13 experiments is critical, ensuring the findings robustness. In this talk the latest analysis and results towards theta_13 measurement by DC will be showed. The efforts of the DC collaboration beyond theta_13, will also be addressed.
        Speaker: Dr Thiago Sogo Bezerra (Subatech Laboratory)
        Slides
      • 12:20 PM
        Latest Results From NOvA 20m
        The NOvA experiment is a long-baseline accelerator-based neutrino oscillation experiment. It uses the upgraded NuMI beam from Fermilab to measure electron-neutrino appearance and muon-neutrino disappearance between the Near Detector, located at Fermilab, and the Far Detector, located at Ash River, Minnesota. The NuMI beam has recently reached and surpassed the 700kW power benchmark. NOvA's primary physics goals include precision measurements of oscillation parameters, such as theta13, theta23, and the atmospheric mass-squared splitting, along with probes of the mass hierarchy and of the CP violating phase. This talk will present the latest NOvA results, based on a neutrino beam exposure equivalent to 6.05E20 protons-on-target.
        Speakers: Prof. Jianming Bian (University of California, Irvine), Prof. Norm Buchanan (Colorado State University)
        Slides
      • 12:40 PM
        Searching for new physics in the neutrino sector 20m
        I will review the motivation for the existence of new physics in the neutrino sector and some approaches for searching or constraining such new physics with present and future data.
        Speaker: Irina Mocioiu (Pennsylvania State University)
        Slides
    • 1:00 PM 2:30 PM
      Lunch break 1h 30m Conference Center

      Conference Center

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    • 2:30 PM 4:00 PM
      Working Group: Astroparticle physics and cosmology Pacific Ballroom AB

      Pacific Ballroom AB

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      • 2:30 PM
        keV sterile neutrinos and new tests for non-thermal dark matter candidates 30m
        Among their many connections to open issues of particle or astro physics, sterile neutrinos in the keV mass range are very well motivated dark matter candidates. Unlike the famous WIMP, dark matter in the keV mass range would by far overclose the universe if it was produced in a standard thermal freeze-out scenario. A variety of non-thermal production mechanisms for keV sterile neutrinos can be found in the literature, like resonant or non-resonant active-sterile conversion as well as production via the decay of some heavier particle(s). All these models result in non-thermal momentum distribution functions for the sterile neutrinos, which makes a detailed analysis of structure formation one of the cornerstones to test the models. Since most of the literature on structure formation focussed on thermally distributed particles (including the limiting case of CDM) in the past, new and innovative analysis methods are needed for non-thermal dark matter candidades on the keV scale. In my talk, I will give an overview over different production mechanisms for keV sterile neutrino dark matter and the different constraints they have to face. In particular, I will introduce new methods of assessing the compatibility with cosmic structure formation that can be applied to any other non-thermally distributed dark matter candidate.
        Speaker: Maximilian Totzauer (Max-Planck-Institut für Physik)
        Slides
      • 3:00 PM
        Sterile neutrinos as thermal dark matter 20m
        Sterile neutrinos produced through resonant or non-resonant oscillations are a well motivated dark matter candidate, but recent constraints from observations have ruled out most of the parameter space. On the one hand, observations of large scale structures by using the Lyman-alpha forest put strong constraints on warm dark matter, and puts a lower limit on the sterile neutrino mass. On the other hand, observations of X-rays from galaxies and other dense dark matter halos put an upper limit on the mixing between the sterile neutrino and active neutrinos. In this talk I will discuss a simple mechanism that relaxes both of these bounds by thermalising the produced sterile neutrino, thereby obtaining a lower temperature and a higher abundance.
        Speaker: Dr Rasmus Sloth Lundkvist Hansen (Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik)
        Slides
      • 3:20 PM
        Neutrino clustering in the Milky Way 20m
        The Cosmic Neutrino Background is a prediction of the standard cosmological model, but it has been never observed directly. Experiments with the aim of detecting relic CNB neutrinos are under development. The expected event rate in these detectors depends on the local density of relic neutrinos. Since massive neutrinos can be attracted by the gravitational potential of our galaxy and cluster locally, a local overdensity of cosmic neutrinos should exist. Considering the minimal masses guaranteed by neutrino oscillations, we review the computation of the local density of relic neutrinos and we present realistic prospects for a PTOLEMY-like experiment.
        Speaker: Mr Stefano Gariazzo (IFIC-CSIC)
        Slides
      • 3:40 PM
        Leptogenesis via varying Weinberg operator 20m
        This talk will focus on a totally new mechanism of leptogenesis we proposed recently. It requires only the Weinberg operator and a phase transition at a sufficiently high scale. While the Weinberg operator is used to generate light neutrino masses, phase transition is strongly motivated by the breaking of some underlying symmetries, such as B-L symmetry and flavour symmetries. During the phase transition, the coupling of Weinberg operator is time-dependent, and the lepton asymmetry is generated by the interference of Weinberg operator at different times. Any heave BSM particles, e.g., right-handed neutrinos, are not necessary in this mechanism.
        Speaker: Dr Ye-Ling Zhou (IPPP, Durham University)
        Slides
    • 2:30 PM 4:20 PM
      Working Group: Electroweak Interactions Emerald Bay B

      Emerald Bay B

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      • 2:30 PM
        QCD corrections to diboson processes 30m
        I will give an overview of the current status of QCD corrections for diboson production processes. My focus lies on LHC phenomenology and recent developments in the parton level Monte Carlo code MCFM. Furthermore I will discuss the implications for searches of new physics and compare MCFM to other codes.
        Speaker: Tobias Neumann (University at Buffalo)
        Slides
      • 3:00 PM
        Precision Diboson Observables for the LHC 30m
        Motivated by the restoration of electroweak gauge symmetry at high energy, I will discuss the use of diboson differential cross sections as high-precision observables at the LHC. I will argue that certain combined measurements of processes can be both predicted and measured to better than 5%. In certain cases, enhanced sensitivity to higher-order and electroweak corrections, along with small uncertainties, can potentially also be observed in these observables, making them fruitful testing grounds for both SM and new physics.
        Speaker: Dr Marat Freytsis (University of Oregon)
        Slides
      • 3:30 PM
        Multi-Boson production cross sections at CMS 30m
        The talk will present the latest measurements by CMS experiment of di-boson and tri-boson production, and measurements of di-boson production with jets including vector boson scattering.
        Speaker: Mr Daneng Yang (Peking University)
        Slides
    • 2:30 PM 4:00 PM
      Working Group: Flavor and Precision Physics Emerald Bay A

      Emerald Bay A

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      • 2:30 PM
        Searching for Muon to electron conversion : The Mu2e experiment at Fermilab 30m
        The Mu2e experiment will measure the charged-lepton flavor violating (CLFV) neutrino-less conversion of a negative muon into an electron in the field of a nucleus. The conversion process results in a monochromatic electron with an energy slightly below the muon rest mass. Mu2e will improve the previous measurement by four orders of magnitude using a new technique, reaching a SES (single event sensitivity) of 2.5 x 10^{-17} on the conversion rate. The experiment will reach mass scales of nearly 10^4 TeV, far beyond the direct reach of colliders. The experiment is sensitive to a wide range of new physics, complementing and extending other CLFV searches. Mu2e is under design and construction at the Muon Campus of Fermilab; we expect to start taking physics data in 2022 with 4 years of running to achieve our target sensitivity.
        Speaker: Dr Richard Bonventre (Fermilab)
        Slides
      • 3:00 PM
        g-2 at FermiLab 30m
        Speaker: Dr Sudeshna Ganguly (University Of Illinois At Urbana Champaign)
        Slides
      • 3:30 PM
        g-2/EDM at JPARC 30m
        Speaker: Junji Tojo (Kyushu University)
        Slides
    • 2:30 PM 4:00 PM
      Working Group: Neutrino Physics: Future Oscillation Experiments Pacific Ballroom C

      Pacific Ballroom C

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      Convener: Danny Marfatia (University of Hawaii)
      • 2:30 PM
        JUNO: a Multipurpose Observatory for Neutrino Physics 20m
        The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) is a 20 kton liquid scintillator detector that will study reactor antineutrinos emitted from two nuclear power plants in the south of China at a baseline of about 53km. With an unprecedented energy resolution, JUNO will be able to determine the neutrino mass ordering at 3-4 sigma significance within six years of running. JUNO will also be able to measure three out of the six oscillation parameters to an accuracy better than 1%, and to study neutrinos from various terrestrial and extra-terrestrial sources. The experiment is currently under construction, and data-taking is expected to begin by 2020. JUNO’s physics program and status will be reviewed in this talk.
        Speaker: Dr Anatael Cabrera (CNRS/IN2P3 - APC & LNCA Laboratories (France))
        Slides
      • 2:50 PM
        Hyper-Kamiokande 20m
        Hyper-Kamiokande (Hyper-K) is proposed as a next-generation underground water Cherenkov detector having an enormous potential to discover proton decays and leptonic CP violation in neutrino oscillations. Two cylindrical tanks, each with a height of 60m and a diameter of 74m, will be filled with 520,000 metric tons of ultrapure water, a volume approximately 10 times larger than that of predecessor experiment Super-Kamiokande (Super-K). The innermost main water volume of each tank will be viewed by 40,000 ultrasensitive 50cm diameter photosensors. The Hyper-K project has been strongly supported by both the high energy physics community and the cosmic-ray community, and the project was selected as one of top 28 important large research projects in the ”Master Plan 2017” by the Science Council of Japan. Various R&D works as well as the physics potential studies have been done by members of the Hyper-K international proto-collaboration, which was formed in January 2015 and now consists of about 300 researchers from 15 countries. One of major international R&D activities for Hyper-K is to develop new photosensors as alternatives to Hamamatsu R3600 50cm PMTs, which have been successfully used for 20 years in Super-K. We have developed a new 50cm PMT having a high quantum efficiency photocathode and Box-and-Line type dynodes. The new PMT has twice higher single photon detection efficiency and much better timing and charge resolution than those of R3600. Hyper-K is presently the only experiment aiming to have the 3$\sigma$ discovery potential for the proton decay mode into $e^+\pi^0$ even if the proton lifetime is as long as $10^{35}$ years. In the search for the proton decay mode into $\bar{\nu}K^+$, which is favored by supersymmetry grand unified theories, the $3\sigma$ discovery potential will reach $\tau/B = 2.5\times10^{34}$ years in 10 years of Hyper-K running. Considering the latest J-PARC beam power projection, the CP violating phase $\delta_{CP}$ will be measured with 1$\sigma$ error of 7 (21) degrees after 10 years if $\delta_{CP}$ is 0 (90) degrees. The neutrino CP violation will be discovered with more than 3$\sigma$ (5$\sigma$) significance for 78\% (62\%) of values of delta. The high statistics data sample of atmospheric neutrinos obtained by Hyper-K will also play an important role to grasp the full picture of neutrino oscillations. The neutrino mass hierarchy will be determined with 3$\sigma$ significance in a few years of atmospheric neutrino observation by Hyper-K in combination with the beam neutrino measurement. As for the solar neutrino observation, the upturn in the solar neutrino energy spectrum, which is caused by the matter effect in the Sun, will be observed with 5$\sigma$ significance in 10 years Hyper-K running. Hyper-K has also a great potential to discover the diffuse supernova neutrino background, often called the relic supernova neutrinos. In this talk, the latest status of the Hyper-K project as well as its sensitivities in various physics programs will be presented.
        Speaker: Shoei Nakayama (Kamioka Observatory, ICRR, University of Tokyo)
        Slides
      • 3:10 PM
        The DUNE Experiment and its sensitivity to CP Violation 20m
        DUNE, the DEEP Underground Neutrino Experiment, will be a groundbreaking experiment for long-baseline neutrino oscillation studies. Planning of DUNE continues to proceed rapidly. The DUNE Far Detector will consist of four 10-kiloton fiducial volume modular liquid argon time-projection chambers (LArTPC) placed deep underground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota, USA. The Far Detector will be coupled to the LBNF multi-megawatt wide-band neutrino beam planned for Fermilab. Its primary physics goals are determining the neutrino mass hierarchy and measuring delta_CP with sufficient sensitivity to discover CP violation in neutrino oscillation. CP violation sensitivity in DUNE requires careful understanding of systematic uncertainty, with contributions expected from uncertainties in the neutrino flux, neutrino interactions, and detector effects. In this presentation, we will describe the expected sensitivity of DUNE to long-baseline neutrino oscillation parameters, how various aspects of the experimental design contribute to that sensitivity.
        Speaker: Prof. Jianming Bian (University of California, Irvine)
        Slides
      • 3:30 PM
        Neutrino CP Violation with the ESSnuSB project 20m
        After measuring in 2012 a relatively large value of the neutrino mixing angle θ13, the door is now open to observe for the first time a possible CP violation in the leptonic sector. The measured value of θ13 also privileges the 2nd oscillation maximum for the discovery of CP violation instead of the usually used 1st oscillation maximum. The sensitivity at this 2nd oscillation maximum is about three times higher than for the 1st oscillation maximum inducing a lower influence of systematic errors. Going to the 2nd oscillation maximum necessitates a very intense neutrino beam with the appropriate energy. The world’s most intense pulsed spallation neutron source, the European Spallation Source, will have a proton linac with 5 MW power and 2 GeV energy. This linac, under construction, also has the potential to become the proton driver of the world’s most intense neutrino beam with very high potential to discover a neutrino CP violation. The physics performance of that neutrino Super Beam in conjunction with a megaton underground Water Cherenkov neutrino detector installed at a distance of about 500 km from ESS has been evaluated. In addition, the choice of such detector will extent the physics program to proton–decay, atmospheric neutrinos and astrophysics searches. The ESS proton linac upgrades, the accumulator ring needed for proton pulse compression, the target station optimization and the physics potential are described. In addition to neutrinos, this facility will also produce at the same time a copious number of muons which could be used by a low energy nuSTORM facility, a future neutrino factory or a muon collider. The ESS neutron facility will be fully ready by 2023 at which moment the upgrades for the neutrino facility could start. This project is now supported by the COST Action CA15139 "Combining forces for a novel European facility for neutrino-antineutrino symmetry-violation discovery" (EuroNuNet).
        Speaker: Dr Marcos Dracos (IPHC-IN2P3/CNRS)
        Slides
    • 4:00 PM 4:30 PM
      Coffee break 30m Conference Center

      Conference Center

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    • 4:30 PM 6:30 PM
      Working Group: Astroparticle physics and cosmology Pacific Ballroom AB

      Pacific Ballroom AB

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      • 4:30 PM
        Expectations for high energy diffuse galactic neutrinos for different cosmic ray distributions 20m
        The interaction of cosmic rays with the gas contained in our Galaxy is a guaranteed source of diffuse high energy neutrinos. We provide expectations for this component by considering different assumptions for the cosmic ray distribution in the Galaxy which are intended to cover the large uncertainty in cosmic ray propagation models. We calculate the angular dependence of the diffuse galactic neutrino flux and the corresponding rate of High Energy Starting Events in IceCube by including the effect of detector angular resolution. Moreover we discuss the possibility to discriminate the galactic component from an isotropic astrophysical flux. We show that a statistically significant excess of events from the galactic plane in present IceCube data would disfavour models in which the cosmic ray density is uniform, thus bringing relevant information on the cosmic ray radial distribution.
        Speaker: Dr Francesco Villante (University of L'Aquila)
        Slides
      • 4:50 PM
        Constraints on the astrophysical flux and the dark matter decay with IceCube HESE data 20m
        The IceCube detection of High Energy Starting Events (HESE) and the upward muon track events (6 year data) are presently hard to explain with the single power-law astophysical flux for energies above 30TeV.  We investigate the possibility that a significant component of the additional neutrino flux originates due to the decay of a very heavy dark matter particle via several possible channels into standard model particles. We perform a full 5 parameter fit to IceCube data in which we vary astrophysical flux normalization, power-law index, dark matter mass, dark matter lifetime and dark matter decay mode. We show that that dark matter with mass in the range 200-400 TeV, lifetime around 10^27s and soft-channel decay mode (DM --> W^+ W^-, b \bar b, etc) provides much better fit to IC data than the best-fit astrophysical flux alone. For hard decay channels such as DM --> nu_e + \bar nu_e, the best fit is for the dark matter mass of few PeV, thus contributing only to the highest energy events.  We have also done analysis by using the prior that would fix power-law index to the best fit value for upward muon track events (gamma \sim 2.13), and we find that in this case, all decay channels contribute substaintially, but the fit overall is not as good as without the prior.
        Speaker: Prof. INA SARCEVIC (UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA)
        Slides
      • 5:10 PM
        Imaging Galactic Dark Matter with IceCube High-Energy Cosmic Neutrinos 20m
        IceCube’s discovery of cosmic neutrinos has opened a new window to explore the high-energy Universe. IceCube has continued to observe cosmic neutrinos since their discovery. The origin of the observed neutrinos is still unknown, and their arrival directions are compatible with an isotropic distribution. This observation, together with dedicated studies of Galactic plane correlations, suggest a predominantly extragalactic origin. Interactions between this isotropic extragalactic flux and the dense dark matter bulge of the Milky Way would thus lead to a slight suppression of flux at energies below a PeV and deficit of events in the direction of Galactic center, which would be seen by IceCube. We perform an extended unbinned likelihood analysis using the four-year high-energy starting event dataset to constrain the strength of dark matter-neutrino interactions and show that inspite of low statistics IceCube can probe regions of the parameter space inaccessible to current cosmological methods.
        Speaker: Ali Kheirandish (University of Wisconsin, Madison)
        Slides
      • 5:30 PM
        Dark Matter Searches with the Fermi-LAT 20m
        The era of precision cosmology has revealed that ~80% of the total amount of matter in the universe is dark matter. One promising candidate, motivated by both particle physics and astrophysics, is the Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP). WIMPs are predicted to produce gamma rays via annihilation or decay which are detectable by the Fermi Large Area Telescope (Fermi-LAT). Indirect searches such as this complement direct and collider (production) searches and are necessary to fully investigate the particle nature of dark matter. For almost nine years, Fermi-LAT has been surveying the sky in the energy range 20 MeV to >300 GeV from low Earth orbit. I present several recent results from the Fermi-LAT Collaboration for a variety of indirect search targets, including neighboring galaxies, and the Galactic center. Since there is no definitive DM detection in the LAT data to date, the Fermi-LAT Collaboration has reported only upper limits, which for some search targets are now challenging the standard expectations for WIMP dark matter. I will also discuss the prospects for future searches with the Fermi-LAT.
        Speaker: Regina Caputo (CERN)
        Slides
      • 5:50 PM
        Dark matter velocity spectroscopy 20m
        ark matter decays or annihilations that produce line-like spectra may be smoking-gun signals. However, even such distinctive signatures can be mimicked by astrophysical or instrumental causes. We show that velocity spectroscopy-the measurement of energy shifts induced by relative motion of source and observer-can separate these three causes with minimal theoretical uncertainties. The principal obstacle has been energy resolution, but upcoming experiments will reach the required 0.1% level. We demonstrate this technique using existing telescopes.
        Speaker: Dr Ranjan Laha (KIPAC, Stanford University and SLAC)
        Slides
      • 6:10 PM
        Neutrino absorption in the Earth and measurement of the neutrino-nucleon cross-section at multi-TeV energies with IceCube 20m
        At the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, atmospheric and astrophysical neutrino fluxes become attenuated after passing through the Earth at energies above 40 TeV. This provides a unique method to measure the neutrino-nucleon cross section at energies significantly beyond previous accelerator-based approaches that reach 400 GeV. Here we report on the first measurement of neutrino absorption in the Earth, using a sample 10,784 energetic upward-going neutrino-induced muons observed in one year of IceCube data. From a fit to the two-dimensional distribution of muon energy and zenith angle, we measure the cross-section to be 1.30+0.21-0.19 (stat.) +0.39-0.43 (syst.) times the Standard Model expectation in an energy range from 6.3 TeV to 980 TeV.
        Speaker: Gary Binder (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory/University of California Berkeley)
        Slides
    • 4:30 PM 6:30 PM
      Working Group: Electroweak Interactions Emerald Bay B

      Emerald Bay B

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      • 4:30 PM
        Cross section and coupling measurements with the ATLAS detector for the 125 GeV Higgs Boson 30m
        Detailed measurements of the properties of the 125 GeV Higgs boson are fundamental for the understanding of the electroweak symmetry breaking mechanism. Measurements of the Higgs boson allow to study the gauge, loop induced and Yukawa couplings of the Higgs boson both in production and decay modes. This talk summarizes recent ATLAS measurements of the 125 GeV Higgs boson.
        Speaker: Ms Hannah Herde (Brandeis University)
        Slides
      • 5:00 PM
        CMS Overview regarding Higgs Production Results 30m
        Recent results on Higgs boson production from the CMS experiment are reviewed. The measurements, exploiting a variety of different production and decay channels, are based on LHC pp collision data collected by the CMS experiment at a center of mass energy of 13 TeV.
        Speaker: Francesco Fabozzi (INFN-Napoli)
        Slides
      • 5:30 PM
        Measurements of the Higgs boson mass and its spin and CP properties with the ATLAS Detector 30m
        An overview of the measurements of the Higgs boson mass and its spin and CP properties at ATLAS will be described.
        Speaker: Prof. Stephen Sekula (Southern Methodist University)
        Slides
      • 6:00 PM
        Higgs Properties with the CMS detector 30m
        After five years from its discovery, the 125 GeV Higgs boson is a well-established particle that seems to fit beautifully inside the Standard Model of particle physics. In some decay channels predicted by the standard model of particle physics, other predictions by the same model still need confirmation. Since 2015, the LHC increased energy has been providing more data that is being used to explore the properties of this particle in unprecedented detail. We will review the existing information on the 125 GeV Higgs boson, covering the recent CMS results on its branching ratios, mass measurements, width, etc.
        Speaker: Dr roberto rossin (Univesity of Padova - INFN)
        Slides
    • 4:30 PM 6:35 PM
      Working Group: Flavor and Precision Physics Emerald Bay A

      Emerald Bay A

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      Convener: K.S. Babu (Oklahoma State University)
      • 4:30 PM
        Flavor Physics with Lepton and Higgs 40m
        In this talk I will review current status and near future perspectives of some flavor physics involving Higgs boson, charged lepton and neutrino. Some issues related to theoretical model building will be discussed.
        Speaker: Prof. XIAO-GANG HE (National Taiwan Uiversity)
        Slides
      • 5:10 PM
        Lepton flavour violation in a two-Higgs-doublet seesaw model 25m
        From the experimental observation of neutrino oscillations, lepton flavor violation (LFV) in the neutrino sector has been observed. However, that violation has not yet been observed in the charged-lepton sector and it is not quite certain where it is most likely to be observed first. The most promising LFV low-energy channels are probably mu and tau decays in to one lepton and gamma. We consider a two-Higgs-doublet extension of the Standard Model (SM), with three right-handed neutrino singlets and the seesaw mechanism. Is assumed that the lepton flavours are conserved in the Yukawa couplings and broken only in the Majorana mass terms of the right-handed neutrinos; this assumption is field-theoretically consistent because those mass terms have dimension three while the Yukawa couplings have dimension four. Therefore all the Yukawa coupling matrices are lepton flavour-diagonal and LFV originates solely in the non-flavour-diagonal Majorana mass matrix of the right-handed neutrinos. We have computed the branching ratios of the mu and tau decays in to one lepton and gamma in the case of a two-Higgs-doublet model assuming that the first doublet coincides with the Higgs doublet of the SM. Also, we have employed several simplifying assumptions in order to reduce the parameter space of the model and demonstrate that making some finetuning is possible to find a region in parameter space where the branching ratios are close to their experimental limits.
        Speaker: Dr Darius Jurciukonis (Vilnius University Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astronomy)
        Slides
      • 5:35 PM
        Dark sectors and enhanced $h\to\tau\mu$ transitions 25m
        LHC searches with $\tau$ leptons in the final state are always inclusive in missing-energy sources. A signal in the flavor-violating Higgs decay search,$h\to\tau\mu$, could therefore equally well be due to a flavor conserving decay, but with an extended decay topology with additional invisible particles. In this talk, I demonstrate this with the three-body decay $h\to\tau\mu\varphi$, where $\varphi$ is a flavorful mediator decaying to a dark-sector. This scenario can give thermal relic dark matter that carries lepton flavor charges, a realistic structure of the charged lepton masses, and explain the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, $(g-2)_\mu$, while simultaneously obey all indirect constraints from flavor-changing neutral currents. Another potentially observable consequence is the broadening of the collinear mass distributions in the $h\to\tau\mu\varphi$ searches
        Speaker: Dr Iftah Galon (UC Irvine)
        Slides
      • 6:00 PM
        Charged lepton flavor violating decay of a muonic atom via $\mu^-e^- \rightarrow e^-e^-$ 25m
        The charged lepton flavor violation (CLFV) is considered as a promising process to search for new physics beyond the standard model. Though various CLFV processes have been investigated, so far any clear signals of new physics have not yet found. The CLFV decay of the muonic atom, $\mu^-e^- \rightarrow e^-e^-$, was proposed as a promising process by Koike et al. [1]. In this talk, We will report on our improved analysis of this process by taking into account the relativistic wave functions of a muon and electrons in the Coulomb potential of the finite nuclear size [2,3]. With our improved treatment of the lepton wave functions, the $\mu^-e^- \rightarrow e^-e^-$ decay rates are significantly modified from the initial estimation of Ref. [1]. For the contact CLFV interaction the decay rate increases for heavier nuclei, while it decreases for the photonic CLFV interaction. The consequence of those effects on the atomic number $Z$ dependence of the decay rate and also the angular and energy distributions of electrons will be discussed. [1] M. Koike, Y. Kuno, J. Sato, and M. Yamanaka, Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 121601 (2010). [2] Y. Uesaka, Y. Kuno, J. Sato, T. Sato, and M. Yamanaka, Phys. Rev. D 93, 076006 (2016). [3] Y. Uesaka, Y. Kuno, J. Sato, T. Sato, and M. Yamanaka, in preparation.
        Speaker: Mr Yuichi UESAKA (Osaka University)
        Slides
    • 4:30 PM 6:30 PM
      Working Group: Neutrino Physics: Neutrino Scattering Pacific Ballroom C

      Pacific Ballroom C

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      Convener: Dr Milind Diwan (BNL)
      • 4:30 PM
        Neutrino Cross Sections 20m
        More and more realization of the importance of neutrino cross sections for high quality neutrino oscillation experiments has come in the few years. High quality objective results have been produced by MiniBooNE, MINERvA, and T2K in the last 7 years. At the same time, large improvements in the quality of physics models in the event generators have come. This talk will attempt to compare different experiments with different event generators to give an overall picture of what has been learned and what tensions remain.
        Speaker: Mr Steven Dytman (Univ. of Pittsburgh)
        Slides
      • 4:50 PM
        The latest neutrino cross-section results from T2K 20m
        The T2K long-baseline neutrino experiment has new neutrino cross-section measurements. Measuring neutrino cross sections is vital as they correspond to a major systematic uncertainty for neutrino oscillation analyses. In particular, the new results focus on exploiting the water targets in the T2K off-axis near detector, ND280, updating our charged-current measurements with a wider phase space, addressing in more detail the neutrino interaction vertex, and more new measurements. This talk will give an overview of the T2K neutrino cross-section measurements, focusing on the latest results.
        Speaker: Prof. Clark McGrew (Stony Brook University)
        Slides
      • 5:10 PM
        Survey of neutrino-nucleus cross-section measurements from MINERvA 20m
        Precision measurements of neutrino oscillation probabilities require an improved understanding of neutrino-nucleus interactions. MINERvA is a neutrino scattering experiment at Fermilab that utilizes the intense neutrino beam from the NuMI beam-line and a finely segmented scintillator based tracking detector to measure neutrino cross sections on various nuclear targets. MINERvA has published results using its low-energy data sets and is presently taking NOvA-era medium energy data. These results cover both exclusive and inclusive channels for muon and electron neutrino and anti-neutrino interactions. A summary of recent results from MINERvA will be presented.
        Speaker: Prof. Vittorio Paolone (University of Pittsburgh)
        Slides
      • 5:30 PM
        Latest Results From MicroBooNE 20m
        MicroBooNE is a liquid-argon-based neutrino experiment, which is collecting data in the Fermilab Booster Neutrino Beam. MicroBooNE will directly probe the source of the anomalous excess of electron-like events in MiniBooNE, while also measuring low-energy neutrino cross sections and providing important R&D for future detectors. It is the first of three liquid argon TPC detectors planned for the Fermilab Short Baseline Neutrino program. This talk will give the status of MicroBooNE and present recent results on the detector technology, on event reconstruction techniques, and from neutrino beam data.
        Speaker: Dr Kazuhiro Terao (Nevis Laboratories, Columbia University)
        Slides
      • 5:50 PM
        Studies of neutrino properties and interactions at the Kuo-Sheng reactor neutrino laboratory with sub-keV germanium detectors 20m
        Germanium detectors with sub-keV sensitivities [1] offer a unique opportunity to study neutrino interactions and properties [2] as well as to search for light WIMP Dark Matter and axion-like particles [3]. The TEXONO Collaboration has been pursuing this research program at the Kuo Sheng Neutrino Laboratory (KSNL) in Taiwan. We will highlight our results on neutrino electromagnetic properties, search of sterile neutrinos, as well as studies towards observation of neutrino-nucleus coherent scattering. The detector R&D programs which allow us to experimentally probe this new energy window will be discussed. The efforts set the stage and complement the CDEX dark matter experiment and beyond at the new China Jinping Underground Laboratory (CJPL) in China. [1] H. T. Wong et al., J. Phys. Conf. Ser. 39, 266 (2006) ; H.B. Li et al., Astropart. Phys. 56, 1 (2014) ; A.K. Soma et al., Nucl. Instrum. Meth. A836, 67 (2016) ; L.T. Yang et al., arXiv:1610.07521 (2016). [2] J.-W. Chen et al., Phys. Rev. D 90, 011301(R) (2014) ; J.-W. Chen et al., Phys.Rev. D 91,013005 (2015) ; J.-W. Chen et al., Phys. Rev. D93, 093012 (2016) ; S. Kerman et al., Phys. Rev. D93, 113006 (2016). [3] H.B. Li et al, Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 261301 (2013) ; Q. Yue et al., Phys. Rev. D 90, 091701(R) (2014) ; S.K. Liu et al., Phys. Rev. D 90, 032003 (2014) ; W. Zhao et al., Phys. Rev. D93, 092003 (2016) ; S.K. Liu et al., arXiv:1610.07521 (2016).
        Speaker: Dr Hau-Bin Li (Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica)
        Slides
    • 8:30 AM 9:00 AM
      Light Breakfast 30m Conference Center

      Conference Center

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    • 9:00 AM 11:00 AM
      Plenary Pacific Ballroom ABC

      Pacific Ballroom ABC

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      Convener: Prof. Michael Ratz (UC Irvine)
      • 9:00 AM
        Proton Decay Theory 30m
        Hightlight.
        Speaker: K.S. Babu (Oklahoma State University)
        Slides
      • 9:30 AM
        Proton Decay Searches 30m
        Highlight.
        Speaker: Prof. Makoto Miura (University of Tokyo)
        Slides
      • 10:00 AM
        GUTs, Neutrinos and Flavor Symmetries 30m
        Highlight.
        Speaker: Prof. Rabindra Mohapatra (University of Maryland, College Park, USA)
        Slides
      • 10:30 AM
        Next Generation Long Baseline Neutrino Experiments and Technology 30m
        Highlight.
        Speaker: Thomas Kutter (LSU)
        Slides
    • 11:00 AM 11:30 AM
      Coffee break 30m Conference Center

      Conference Center

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    • 11:30 AM 1:00 PM
      Working Group: Astroparticle physics and cosmology Pacific Ballroom AB

      Pacific Ballroom AB

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      • 11:30 AM
        Searches for Astrophysical Neutrinos using radio-detection 30m
        High-energy (above 10^17 eV) neutrinos that interact in rock or ice will produce an intense pulse of radio waves via the Askaryan effect. These pulses are an attractive signal for experiments to search for high-energy astrophysical neutrinos. After introducing the Askaryan effect, I will present results from existing experiments that use the Moon and Antarctic ice as targets, and then discuss future plans for a > 100 km^3 detector.
        Speaker: Dr Spencer Klein (LBNL & UC Berkeley)
        Slides
      • 12:00 PM
        ANTARES latest results and KM3NeT status and perspectives 20m
        ANTARES latest results and KM3NeT status and perspectives
        Speaker: Prof. Antonio Capone (Physics Department University "La Sapienza" and INFN - Roma)
        Slides
      • 12:40 PM
        Dark matter searches with the Super-Kamiokande detector 20m
        Indirect searches for dark matter (DM) were performed based on atmospheric neutrino data collected with the Super-Kamiokande (SK) detector in years 1996-2016. The excess of neutrinos from possible DM sources such as Sun, Earth and Galactic Center, compared to the expected atmospheric neutrino background was searched. All event samples (fully-contained, partially-contained along with upward-going muons), including both electron and muon neutrinos, covering a wide range of neutrino energies (GeV to TeV) were used. Angular distributions and energy spectra as expected for signal and background were taken into account and various DM annihilation channels were considered. Allowed number of DM induced neutrinos which can be contained in SK data so far was estimated. Obtained limits on DM induced neutrino flux are related to limit on spin-dependent (for the Sun) and spin-independent (for the Sun and the Earth's core) WIMP-nucleon cross section and compared against results of direct detection experiments. In case of Galactic Center analysis, the upper limit on the self-annihilation cross-section is derived.
        Speaker: Ms Katarzyna Frankiewicz (National Centre for Nuclear Research)
        Slides
    • 11:30 AM 1:00 PM
      Working Group: Electroweak Interactions Emerald Bay B

      Emerald Bay B

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      • 11:30 AM
        Charged Higgs production in association with a W or a top 30m
        I present results for charged Higgs production in association with a W boson or a top quark at LHC energies. I calculate higher-order threshold corrections and present results for total cross sections as well as transverse-momentum and rapidity distributions of the Higgs boson.
        Speaker: Prof. Nikolaos Kidonakis (Kennesaw State University)
        Slides
      • 12:00 PM
        CMS Higgs and New Physics 30m
        This talk presents an overview of the status of the CMS public results in the context of searches for new Physics through the Higgs sector. It will cover recently published charged Higgs searches, dark matter production in association with Higgs boson, SUSY searches having Higgs boson in the final state, and searches for top partners predicted by composite Higgs models. The dataset used for these analyses comes from the LHC Run2 proton collision recorded with the CMS detector. There are no significant excess found compared to Standard Model expectation, therefore a set of limit of cross sections of new physics have been set.
        Speaker: Dr Pierluigi Bortignon (Univeristy of Florida)
        Slides
      • 12:30 PM
        Search for rare or non-standard production and decay modes of the Higgs boson with the ATLAS detector 30m
        Some theories predict the production of the Higgs boson in association with DM particles, while other theories predict either enhanced decay rates into rare modes like Phi-photon or decays not present in the Standard Model like decays into light pseudoscalar bosons "a" or decays into invisible particles. This talk summarizes ATLAS searches for such rare or non-standard production or decay modes of the Higgs boson.
        Speaker: Prof. Dhiman Chakraborty (Northern Illinois University)
        Slides
    • 11:30 AM 1:00 PM
      Working Group: Flavor and Precision Physics Emerald Bay A

      Emerald Bay A

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      • 11:30 AM
        Charged Lepton Flavour Violation/Lepton Number Violation searches and studies with the ATLAS experiment 30m
        This talk reports about the search for lepton flavour violation (LFV) and lepton number violation in the data collected by the ATLAS detector during LHC Run1 (8 TeV) and Run2 (13 TeV). Results on the search for Higgs, Z and a hypothetical heavy neutral boson, Z', decays into leptons of different flavor are presented, as well as results on the search for double charged Higgs and tau->3 mu decays.
        Speaker: Dr Stefania Xella (Niels Bohr Institute, Denmark)
        Slides
      • 12:00 PM
        Charged Lepton Flavour Violation/Lepton Number Violation searches and studies with the CMS experiment. 30m
        The standard model of particle physics explicitly conserves lepton flavour in particle interactions in spite of the absence of an underlying symmetry. The observation of neutrino oscillation proves neutral lepton flavour violation (LFV) and thus motivates a search for violations in charged lepton interactions. Models like R-parity violating SUSY or quantum black holes could result in final states with two charged leptons of different flavour. As the standard model background for such final states is small, physics beyond the standard model could result in striking signatures. Here, searches for charged LFV performed by the CMS collaboration at intermediate and high masses with data at a center of mass energy of 13 TeV are presented.
        Speaker: Mr Sören Erdweg (RWTH Aachen University)
        Slides
      • 12:30 PM
        Charged Lepton Flavor Violation / Lepton Number Violation searches at LHCb 30m
        A review is made of Lepton Flavor Violation and Lepton Number Violation results from the LHCb experiment in pp collisions at center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and 8 TeV at the LHC, including latest results on D0 ->e+mu-, tau+ -> mu+mu-mu+ , and B -> e+mu- decays, and updated discussion of GeV-scale Majorana neutrinos from B and D decays. A new search is presented for Higgs-like boson decays into two long-lived neutralinos, with lepton number violation in neutralino decay, in the framework of RPV in mSUGRA. The searched mass region covers the SM Higgs boson.
        Speaker: Prof. Bernardo Adeva (University of Santiago de Compostela)
        Slides
    • 11:30 AM 1:00 PM
      Working Group: Neutrino Physics: Sterile Theory and SBL Experiments Pacific Ballroom C

      Pacific Ballroom C

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      Convener: Mr Alessandro Mirizzi (University of Bari)
      • 11:30 AM
        Impact of sterile neutrinos on cLFV processes 20m
        If observed, charged lepton flavour violation (cLFV) is a clear sign of new physics. I will briefly review the experimental status of cLFV searches, both at low- and high-energies, as well as the prospects for the upcoming years. I will discuss cLFV in the context of extensions of the SM with sterile neutrinos, with a particular emphasis on low-energy seesaw mechanisms. In particular, I will talk about the impact of the sterile states on different cLFV processes like three-body decays, nuclear-assisted processes and rare LFV Z decays, among others.
        Speaker: Valentina De Romeri (IFIC UV/CSIC)
        Slides
      • 11:50 AM
        Low-Energy vs. High-Energy Leptonic Unitarity Violation 20m
        We discuss characteristic difference between high- and low energy-scale leptonic unitarity violation. They include absence/presence of flavor universality and probability leaking term to "sterile" sector. We explore a possible method for pinning down the latter effect by using precision measurement of reactor neutrinos. We also discuss foundation of the framework of testing leptonic unitarity using neutrino oscillations in vacuum and in matter.
        Speaker: Dr Hisakazu Minakata (University of São Paulo)
        Slides
      • 12:10 PM
        NEOS result and reactor SBL-v project 20m
        To verify the possible existence of a light sterile neutrino, NEOS measured the inverse beta decay spectrum of reactor antineutrino at 24 m distance from a reactor core which has 2.8 GW thermal power. We found no strong evidence of active-to-sterile neutrino oscillation and set up new limits for the 3+1 hypothesis around Δm^2~1 eV^2. We are proposing a dedicated facility for various neutrino experiments at a commercial reactor to be built in the future.
        Speaker: Dr Yoomin Oh (Center for Underground Physics, Institute for Basic Science)
        Slides
      • 12:30 PM
        SOX : Short Distance Neutrino Oscillations with Borexino 15m
        The Borexino detector has convincingly shown its outstanding performances in the low energy regime through its accomplishments in the solar and geo neutrinos detection. These performances make it the ideal tool to accomplish a state-of-the-art, source based experiment able to test the long-standing issue of the existence of a sterile neutrino, as suggested by the several anomalous results accumulated over the past two decades, i.e. the outputs of the LSND and Miniboone experiments, the results of the source calibration of the two Gallium experiments, and the recently hinted reactor anomaly. The SOX project will exploit a Cerium based source, which deployed under the experiment, in a location foreseen on purpose at the time of the construction of the detector, will emit an intense beam of anti-neutrinos. Interacting in the active volume of the liquid scintillator, the beam would create an unmistakable spatial wave pattern in case of oscillation of the anti nu-e into the sterile state: such a pattern would be the smoking gun evidence of the presence of the new sterile member of the neutrino family. Otherwise, its absence will allow setting very stringent limit on the existence of the hypothesized sterile state. The talk will outline the project, discuss in detail its sensitivity and update about the status of the ongoing efforts to prepare the measurement.
        Speaker: Mr Michael Nieslony (Mainz University)
        Slides
      • 12:45 PM
        PROSPECT: The Precision Reactor Oscillation and Spectrum Experiment 15m
        The PROSPECT experiment is designed to probe short-baseline neutrino oscillations and precisely measure the 235U reactor antineutrino spectrum. Using a ~4-ton segmented 6Li-loaded liquid scintillator detector, PROSPECT will probe the sterile neutrino best-fit region to 4 σ within one year of operation at distances of 7-12 meters from the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR). Additionally, the measurement of the 235U spectrum at 4.5%/√E will address the 4-6MeV spectral “bump” observed in recent measurements by the θ13 experiments. This talk will discuss the design, experimental program, backgrounds, and discovery potential of PROSPECT with particular emphasis on reactor backgrounds and their mitigation.
        Speaker: Dr James Matta (Oak Ridge National Laboratory)
        Slides
    • 1:00 PM 2:30 PM
      Lunch break 1h 30m Conference Center

      Conference Center

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    • 2:30 PM 4:00 PM
      Working Group: Astroparticle physics and cosmology Pacific Ballroom AB

      Pacific Ballroom AB

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      • 2:30 PM
        An overview of directional dark matter experiments: current status and future prospects 30m
        The WIMP direction at Earth undergoes a diurnal modulation that, if detected, would provide one of the most powerful and unambiguous signatures for discovery of Galactic dark matter. The number of experiments aimed at detecting this signature have greatly expanded in the last decade. Besides traditional technologies used to measure tracks of WIMP induced nuclear recoils in the detector, a number of other ideas are also being pursued that detect this signature more indirectly. After a brief review of the directional signature we will provide the current status of the more mature experiments, such as those based on low-pressure gas time projection chambers. We will conclude with a summary of the new technologies that are in various stages of development.
        Speaker: Prof. Dinesh Loomba (University of New Mexico)
        Slides
      • 3:00 PM
        The XENON1T Dark Matter Experiment 20m
        Understanding of the nature of the Dark Matter is one of the biggest challenges in frontier science today. Astrophysical and cosmological observations provide strong evidences for its existence. A number of proposed candidates have been put forward over time: one of the most compelling are Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs). The XENON1T dark matter experiment aims at finding direct evidence for the scattering of WIMPs with xenon target nuclei in an ultra-low background dual-phase time projection chamber detector located in the underground National Laboratory of Gran Sasso, Italy. I will review the current status, the recent results and the scientific reach of the XENON1T experiment.
        Speaker: Dr Sara Diglio (Subatech)
        Slides
      • 3:20 PM
        Dark matter search results from the PandaX-II experiment 20m
        The nature of dark matter is one of the most fundamental problems in physics. One compelling class of dark matter particles are the so-called WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles), which can be searched in deep underground direct detection experiments. The PandaX (Particle AND Astrophysical Xenon) project is a staged xenon-based underground experiment at the China Jin-Ping Underground Laboratory. Using a dual phase xenon time projection chamber (TPC) technology, the second phase of the experiment, PandaX-II, contains more than half ton liquid xenon in the sensitive volume for WIMP dark matter searches. PandaX-II started the data taking in 2016. In this talk, I will report the current status of the experiment, and present recently released results.
        Speaker: Dr Mengjiao Xiao (University of Maryland, College Park)
        Slides
      • 3:40 PM
        Recent results from XMASS 20m
        XMASS is a multi-purpose experiment using a single-phase liquid-xenon scintillator detector located underground at Kamioka Observatory in Japan. We started the first data taking in December 2010 and conducted various dark matter searches such as light WIMPs, WIMP-129Xe inelastic scattering, and bosonic super-WIMPs. We are continuously taking data since November 2013. With these long-term data, we are conducting a search for annual modulation caused by dark matter. The XMASS detector is also capable of pursuing various researches in particle and astroparticle physics such as supernova neutrino observation, solar axion search, and double electron capture search. In this talk, we will present recent physics results from the XMASS data.
        Speaker: Dr Katsuki Hiraide (ICRR, the University of Tokyo)
        Slides
    • 2:30 PM 4:00 PM
      Working Group: Electroweak Interactions Emerald Bay B

      Emerald Bay B

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      • 2:30 PM
        CMS Double Higgs Searches 30m
        A summary of searches for pairs of standard model Higgs bosons with the CMS detector at a center of mass energy of 13 TeV. These searches cover both resonant and non-resonant production over a wide variety of final states and employ new techniques that improve them over previous searches done at lower center of mass energies. The non-resonant results set limits on the Standard Model production cross section and the resonant results are interpreted as upper limits on the production cross section of narrow bulk gravitons and scalar radions in warped extradimensional models.
        Speaker: Michael Krohn (University of Colorado Boulder)
        Slides
      • 3:00 PM
        ATLAS Higgs physics prospects at the high luminosity LHC 30m
        The Higgs physics prospects at the high-luminosity LHC are presented, assuming an energy of sqrt(s) = 14 TeV and a data sample of 3000-4000 fb-1. In particular, the ultimate precision attainable on the couplings measurements of the 125 GeV Higgs boson with SM fermions and bosons is discussed, as well as perspectives on the search for the Standard Model di-Higgs production, which could lead to the measurement of the Higgs boson self-coupling.
        Speaker: Dr Tulin Varol (Southern Methodist University)
        Slides
      • 3:30 PM
        CMS Upgrade (Phase-I and Phase-II) with future prospects in terms of Higgs/electroweak measurements 30m
        Phase-I and Phase-II upgrades of the CMS detector are described. Future prospects of electroweak and Higgs measurements are also presented.
        Speaker: Petar Maksimovic (Johns Hopkins University)
        Slides
    • 2:30 PM 4:00 PM
      Working Group: Flavor and Precision Physics Conference Center

      Conference Center

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      Convener: Danny Marfatia (University of Hawaii)
      • 2:30 PM
        Towards the discovery of new physics with lepton-universality ratios of b→s ll decays 30m
        to be edited
        Speaker: Prof. Benjamin Grinstein (UC San Diego)
        Slides
      • 3:00 PM
        Puzzles in B Decays 30m
        There are measurements in B decays that point to lepton universality violation. These puzzles are in the charged current B-> D^(*) tau \bar{nu}_tau and in the neutral current b-> s ll decays and are known as the R_D* and R_K puzzles. I will discuss how the two puzzles may be related and explore the consequences of this connection. Possible connection between the R_K puzzle and the muon g-2 with a light Z' will also be discussed.
        Speaker: Prof. alakabha datta (University of Mississippi)
        Slides
      • 3:30 PM
        Search for invisible decay of a dark photon produced in e+e- collisions at BABAR 30m
        We report on a search for single-photon events in 53 fb−1 of e+e− collision data collected with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II B-factory. We look for events with a single high-energy photon and a large missing momentum and energy, consistent with production of a spin-1 particle A’ through the process e+e- -> gamma A’, A’ -> invisible. Such particles, referred to as “dark photons”, are motivated by theories applying a U(1) gauge symmetry to dark matter. We find no evidence for such processes and set 90% confidence level upper limits on the coupling strength of A’ to e+e- for a dark photon with a mass lower than 8 GeV. In particular, our limits exclude the values of the A’ coupling suggested by the dark-photon interpretation of the muon (g-2) anomaly, as well as a broad range of parameters.
        Speaker: Dr Fergus Wilson (STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory)
        Slides
    • 2:30 PM 4:05 PM
      Working Group: Neutrino Physics: Latest from Theory Pacific Ballroom C

      Pacific Ballroom C

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      Convener: James Dent (University of Louisiana at Lafayette)
      • 2:30 PM
        Searches for BSM using double-pulses 20m
        In this work we present an analysis of signals from BSM physics in the IceCube neutrino telescope using the double pulse events. After more than 5 year taking data such events has not been observed, that allow us to establish new constraints in the parameters that describe BSM signals. We study which processes can be the source of such signals and the range of parameters accesible to the detector.
        Speaker: Ivan Jesus Martinez Soler (PHD Student IFT)
        Slides
      • 2:50 PM
        Neutrino Phenomenology in Large Extra dimensions with Bulk Mass 20m
        We analyse the neutrino oscillation phenomenology with a Dirac bulk mass in LED and comparing with the new data. Though tensions between MINOS, reactor and Miniboone data exist, different from previous studies of LED without bulk mass, we could explain Miniboone appearance. The results can also be interpreted in the framework of continuous clockwork geometry.
        Speaker: Ms YINGYING LI (Hong Kong University of Science and Technology)
        Slides
      • 3:10 PM
        Deviations of symmetry-based exact neutrino structures using radiative neutrino masses. 20m
        Five years ago, results from the Daya Bay and RENO experiments found a non-zero θ13. The discovery of this non-zero value disfavoured the possibility of symmetry-based exact structures, such as tribimaximal, democratic, etc. The most common technique to accomplish a neutrino mixing matrix that contains experimentally allowed parameters is to start with one of these symmetry-based structures and apply a perturbation. These perturbations are commonly accomplished by adding new scalars to the model. After symmetry breaking, new terms exist in the mass matrix that accomplish the modification of the original structure. In this sense, these are not really perturbations but mass contributions that exist in the model itself. In this work, we will present an alternative: By using the Weinberg operator, we create radiative neutrino scenarios. We show that one can consider the one-loop contribution to be the unperturbed mass that can create an exact mixing structure and the two-loop contribution (that is naturally suppressed) can be considered a perturbation to the mass matrix that creates deviations that reproduce experimental constrains.
        Speaker: Dr Daniel Wegman (ULg)
        Slides
      • 3:30 PM
        One-loop corrections to the fermion masses and flavour symmetries 20m
        An open question in flavour physics is whether a fundamental principle is responsible for the fermion mass hierarchies and the mixing matrices. One idea for such a principle is to implement so called flavour symmetries in the mass generating mechanisms, yielding predictable mixing angles. Our aim is to investigate radiative corrections to mixing angles and masses in a variety of new physics models that feature such flavour symmetries. We want to clarify for which parameter choices the corrections remain small and tree-level predictions are unspoilt. For this purpose, we first study a toy model with an arbitrary number of real scalars and either Majorana or Dirac fermions, where the masses are generated via spontaneous symmetry breaking. The mixing angles are determined via the diagonalization of the mass matrix given in this way. We will show our results for the one-loop corrections to the masses and mixing anlges and discuss the specifics of the renormalization programme. The goal of these calculations is to eventually elevate the toy model to a gauge theory and apply the results to showcase models known from the literature, yielding numerical results that can be compared to experimental data (i.e. the lepton masses and PMNS matrix). Moreover, we hope to contribute to the general understanding of a renormalization programme when strong flavour mixing is present, which is not only important for new physics models, but already for the leptonic sector of the Standard Model.
        Speaker: Mr Maximilian Löschner (University of Vienna)
        Slides
      • 3:50 PM
        Exact neutrino mixing angles from three subgroups of SU(2) and the physics consequences 15m
        Neutrino mixing may be the most important clue revealing that the 3 lepton families actually represent the different but related discrete symmetries of 3 specific finite groups. This clue could be interpreted to not add a single horizontal flavor symmetry but to have each lepton family represent a different finite subgroup of the electroweak SU(2) x U(1), thereby staying within the realm of the present successful Standard Model gauge group. If so, only five possibilities exist: the subgroups 2T, 2O, 2I, D2n, Cn (n odd), of the unit quaternions. The first three are binary polyhedral groups with three generators each and 24, 48, and 120 group elements for operations in a 3-D real space R³. The assignment of 2T to the electron family, 2O to the muon family, and 2I to the tau family flavor states allows one to use their generators to calculate the neutrino mixing angles θ12 = 34.281°, θ23 = 42.859°, and θ13 = -8.578°, by making these three binary groups act together in combination to be equivalent mathematically to one SU(2) group and its three Pauli generators. If this assumption is correct, some important physics consequences seem to be dictated: exactly three lepton families exist; no sterile or fourth neutrino state is possible; the PMNS matrix is unitary; the normal neutrino mass state hierarchy is preferred; the neutrino CP phase angle can be 0° or -90° only; the muon and tau are not excited states of the electron; no neutrinoless double beta decay is expected because these are Dirac neutrino states; the lepton flavor states are defined in R³ to suggest that leptons may not be point particles; and the Standard Model lagrangian may be viable down to the Planck scale. A first principles procedure to calculate the charged lepton and neutrino mass state values is yet to be determined.
        Speaker: Dr Potter Franklin (Frmly: UC Irvine Physical Sciences)
        Slides
    • 4:00 PM 4:30 PM
      Coffee break 30m Conference Center

      Conference Center

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    • 4:30 PM 6:30 PM
      Working Group: Astroparticle physics and cosmology Pacific Ballroom AB

      Pacific Ballroom AB

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      • 4:30 PM
        Astrophysical neutrinos at Super-Kamiokande 20m
        Super-Kamiokande (SK) has been observing astrophysical neutrino interaction, such as solar neutrinos, for more than 20 years. SK has great sensitivity to measure supernova neutrino interactions. Currently, the 4th phase of the experiment (SK-IV) is running with an analysis energy threshold of 3.5 MeV electron kinetic energy. The accumulated live time for solar neutrino observation of all phases is more than 5200 days. We are planning to enhance the detector performance further by adding 0.2 % gadolinium sulfate (Gd2(SO4)3). The main astrophysical physics topic of this new detector phase (called SK-Gd) is the discovery of supernova relic neutrinos (SRN). In this presentation, the current status of the solar neutrino analysis including solar neutrino oscillation results are reported. The current status of SRN analysis in SK and expectations of SRN observation at SK-Gd will also be shown.
        Speaker: Dr Yasuo Takeuchi (Dept. of Physics, Grad. School of Science, Kobe Univ.)
        Slides
      • 4:50 PM
        Supernova neutrinos with the JUNO experiment 20m
        The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory(JUNO) is a multi-purpose neutrino experiment, currently under construction in China. Its central detector is designed as a liquid scintillator detector of a 20kton fiducial mass with energy resolution of $3\%/\sqrt{E(MeV)}$, deployed in a laboratory 700 meters underground shielded by rock. Measuring the neutrino burst from the next nearby supernova is a premier target of low-energy neutrino physics and astrophysics. JUNO will also cooperate with other neutrino detectors and be prepared to the next core-collapse supernova signal. For a typical galactic distance of 10kpc and typical SN parameters, JUNO will register about 5000 events from IBD, $\bar{\nu}_{e}+p \rightarrow n+e^{+ }$, comparable to Super-Kamiokande, about 2000 events from $\nu+p \rightarrow \nu+p$, more than 300 events from neutrino-electron scattering, as well as the charge current and neutral current interaction of neutrinos on the $^{12}C$ nuclei. Such a future high-statistical observations of neutrino burst will definitely help to extend the lessons from the SN 1987A to areas that depend on high statistics, good energy resolution, or flavor information, notably in the area of neutrino oscillations. In this talk, we will cover the SN neutrino detection in the JUNO experiment and review the potential implications for both astrophysics and particle physics. As an example, we shall present our study to pin down the initial SN spectra using the unfolding method.
        Speaker: Ms Huiling Li (Shandong University)
        Slides
      • 5:10 PM
        Supernova Neutrinos, Atmospheric Neutrinos and Proton Decay at the DUNE Experiment 20m
        The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) experiment, a 40-kton underground liquid argon time-projection-chamber detector, will have unique sensitivity to the electron flavor component of a core-collapse supernova neutrino burst. We present expected capabilities of DUNE for measurements of neutrinos in the few-tens-of-MeV range relevant for supernova detection, and the corresponding sensitivities to neutrino physics and supernova astrophysics. Due to the detector’s excellent energy resolutions, angular resolutions, and particle ID capabilities, atmospheric neutrino analyses in DUNE can also provide valuable information about 3-flavor oscillations, despite the relatively modest statistics. These data provide a complementary analysis approach to beam neutrinos, and can help resolve ambiguities in beam-only analyses. DUNE will also search for nucleon decay in the range of lifetimes predicted by a variety of GUT models. Large LAr experiments will particularly be sensitive to nucleon decay modes, favored by SUSY models, that involve positive kaons in the final state.
        Speaker: Juergen Reichenbacher (South Dakota School of Mines and Technology)
        Slides
      • 5:30 PM
        An event generator for supernova neutrinos in argon 20m
        The next galactic core-collapse supernova will be an exciting opportunity for the neutrino physics and astrophysics communities. The successful detection of many neutrinos from this event would allow us to test models of supernova dynamics, perform neutrino oscillation measurements over astronomical distances, and search for a variety of exotic physics beyond the Standard Model. While many of the existing neutrino detectors that would be sensitive to a nearby supernova use water or liquid scintillator as the target material, a liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) such as the DUNE experiment would be uniquely sensitive to charged-current interactions of electron neutrinos. This sensitivity would allow DUNE to provide complementary information about a supernova event, such as a measurement of the neutronization burst. However, unlike the relatively simple antineutrino captures on protons that dominate in oil- and water-based neutrino detectors, supernova neutrino reactions on argon are strongly affected by nuclear structure and can lead to numerous final states. Future analyses of LArTPC data will need to account for these subtleties in order to do supernova neutrino physics. To help understand the response of a LArTPC to tens-of-MeV neutrinos, we have created an event generator called MARLEY (Model of Argon Reaction Low Energy Yields) that simulates charged-current electron neutrino scattering on argon. In this talk, we present the algorithms used in MARLEY and some calculations of expected supernova signals in DUNE.
        Speaker: Steven Gardiner (University of California, Davis)
        Slides
      • 5:50 PM
        Looking Inward with Neutrinos 20m
        Electron anti-neutrinos have been studied now for more than half a century, starting with the first observation of electron antineutrinos from reactors by Reines and Cowan. Neutrinos from Supernovae were see in SN1987A in several large detectors. Solar neutrinos remained problematic until the SNO detector results in 2002. The long anticipated observations of neutrinos from radioactive decays throughout the earth was finally accomplished in 2005 by KamLAND, and then Borexino. While devilishly difficult to resolve, the prospect of detecting the electron antineutrino flux from the Uranium and Thorium decay chains from these trace elements in the deep earth, offers the only known means of determining the distribution of terrestrial internal radiation heating which drives most of geodynmanics. Much of the U and Th remain in the continental crusts, while the geologically more interesting material remains deeply buried in the mantle, but with great uncertainty in amount and distribution. It is presumably the heat associated with these decays (dominantly) which drives the convection in the mantle, powering sea floor and continental motions, volcanoes and earthquakes. I will summarize the state of our knowledge of this unique cross disciplinary endeavor, and our plans for exploration as a beginning to doing neutrino tomography of the earth. In particular I will talk about the prospects for Ocean Bottom KamLAND.
        Speaker: Prof. John Gregory Learned (University of Hawaii, Manoa)
        Slides
      • 6:10 PM
        Results from Borexino on solar and geo-neutrinos 20m
        The Borexino experiment is running at the “Laboratorio del Gran Sasso” in Italy since 2007. Its technical distinctive feature is the unprecedented ultralow background of the inner scintillating core, which is the basis of the outstanding achievements accumulated by the experiment. In this talk, after recalling the main features of the detector, the impressive solar data gathered so far by Borexino will be summarized. Altogether, such measurements put Borexino in the unique situation of being the only detector able to perform solar neutrino spectroscopy over the entire solar spectrum; the counterpart of this peculiar status in the oscillation interpretation of the data is the capability of Borexino alone to perform the full validation across the solar energy range of the MSW-LMA paradigm. The recently released measurement of the time modulation of the detected neutrino signal induced by the Earth’s orbit eccentricity will be also reported. The talk will be concluded with an account of the Borexino accomplishments in the geo-neutrino field, marked by the detection of the geo-neutrino signal with a significance as high as 5.9 sigma.
        Speaker: Francesco Lombardi (University of California, San Diego)
        Slides
    • 4:30 PM 6:30 PM
      Working Group: Electroweak Interactions Emerald Bay B

      Emerald Bay B

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      • 4:30 PM
        Illuminating Electroweak States at Hadron Colliders 30m
        New electroweak states appear in many BSM theories but are difficult to discover at hadron colliders. When the lightest member of an electroweak multiplet is neutral and all of its components are approximately degenerate, production of the charged components is followed by nearly invisible decays. If these decays occur promptly, the only way to observe them is through MET-based signatures. I show that using photon final state radiation, identification of new electroweak states can be significantly improved.
        Speaker: Ahmed Ismail (University of Pittsburgh)
        Slides
      • 5:00 PM
        Searches for electroweak production of supersymmetric gauginos and sleptons and R-parity violating and long-lived signatures with the ATLAS detector 30m
        Abstract: Many supersymmetry models feature gauginos and also sleptons with masses less than a few hundred GeV. These can give rise to direct pair production rates at the LHC that can be observed in the data sample recorded by the ATLAS detector. R-parity violation introduces many viable signatures to the search for supersymmetry at the LHC. Supersymmetric particles may decay into many leptons or jets with or without missing transverse momentum. Several supersymmetric models also predict massive long-lived supersymmetric particles. The talk presents recent ATLAS results from searches for electroweak and strong production of supersymmetric particles performed with pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. The searches consider both R-Parity conserving and R-Parity violating SUSY scenarios, and involve final states including leptons, jets, missing transverse momentum, as well as long-lived particle signatures.
        Speaker: Mr Ruo yu Shang (University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign)
        Slides
      • 5:30 PM
        Searches for squarks and gluinos with the ATLAS detector 30m
        Despite the absence of experimental evidence, weak scale supersymmetry remains one of the best motivated and studied Standard Model extensions. This talk summarises recent ATLAS results on searches for supersymmetric squarks and gluinos, including third generation squarks produced directly or via decay of gluinos. The searches involve final states containing jets (possibly identified as coming from b-quarks), missing transverse momentum with and without light leptons, taus or photons, and were performed with pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV.
        Speaker: Dr Vakhtang Tsiskaridze (Freiburg University)
        Slides
      • 6:00 PM
        Charged-lepton decays from soft flavour violation in a two-Higgs doublet seesaw model 30m
        Extensions of the Standard Model with right-handed neutrinos $\nu_R$ in the framework of the seesaw mechanism are popular to explain the smallness of the neutrino masses. In our model, we add a second Higgs double and in order to avoid lepton flavour-changing neutral-scalar interactions at tree level, we allow lepton flavour violation solely in the non-flavour-diagonal Majorana mass matrix of the right-handed neutrinos whereas all Yukawa-coupling matrices are lepton flavour-diagonal. We show explicitly in that framework that the branching ratios of the charged-lepton decays $\ell_1^- \to \ell_2^- \ell_3^+ \ell_3^-$ can be close to their experimental upper bounds, while the branching ratios of other lepton flavour-changing decays, like $\ell_1\rightarrow \ell_2 \gamma$, are invisible because they are suppressed by $m_R^{-4}$, where $m_R$ is the seesaw scale. Furthermore, considering the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon, in our model the contributions from the extra scalars can remove the discrepancy between its experimental and theoretical values.
        Speaker: Ms Elke Aeikens (University Vienna)
        Slides
    • 4:30 PM 6:30 PM
      Working Group: Flavor and Precision Physics Emerald Bay A

      Emerald Bay A

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      • 4:30 PM
        NA62 experiment at CERN: status and recent results 30m
        Measurements of the ultra-rare K --> pi nu nu decays represent a stringent test of the CKM paradigm, probing short distance scales beyond the reach of the LHC. The main goal of the NA62 experiment at CERN is the measurement of the K+ --> pi+ nu nu decay rate at 10% precision; the broader physics programme includes searches for lepton flavour and lepton number violation in kaon decays at record sensitivity, as well as rare kaon and pion decay measurements. The NA62 is currently in the middle of the data taking campaign (2016-2018). Its status, physics reach and recent results, including new limits on heavy neutral lepton production in kaon decays, are presented.
        Speaker: Dr Evgueni Goudzovski (University of Birmingham)
        Slides
      • 5:00 PM
        Charged Lepton Flavor Violation searches at the Belle II experiment 30m
        In this talk, we present a brief review of charged lepton flavor violation and lepton number violation results from Belle and discuss prospects with Belle II. In the standard model (SM), lepton flavors are conserved by accidental symmetries. While the neutrino flavor mixing provides a way for lepton flavor violation (LFV), the observed values of neutrino mixing predicts only very tiny amount of LFV, which is far beyond any realistic expectation of current and future experimental measurements. On the other hand, several new physics models beyond SM predicts sizeable amount of LFV, ranging from ${\cal O}(10^{-8})$ to ${\cal O}(10^{-10})$. In the Belle II experiment, the next-generation $e^+ e^-$ experiment at KEK using the upgraded SuperKEKB collider, several LFV decays of $\tau^\pm$ leptons can be searched for, including $\tau^+ \to l^+ \gamma$, $l^+ l'^+ l'^-$, $l^+ h^+ h'^-$, where $l,\ l' = e$ or $\mu$ and $h,\ h'$ = $\pi$ or $K$. In addition, lepton-number-violating (LNV) modes such as $\tau^+ \to l^- h^+ h'^+$ can be also searched for. At Belle II, $\tau$ decays can be studied in the process $e^+ e^- \to \tau^+ \tau^-$, which provides a very clean event environment and keeps combinatorial background at a very low level. Moreover, by tagging events with known $\tau$ decays on one hemisphere, the absolute branching fraction of rare or exotic $\tau$ decays on the other side can be measured, if observed. In the Belle experiment, these LFV and LNV decays of the $\tau$ lepton have been searched for and branching fraction upper limits on the order of a few times $10^{-8}$ have been obtained. In nearly all modes except for $\tau^+ \to l^+ \gamma$, the background level in the signal region is very low, well below one event. Since Belle II aims at accumulating 50 times the total luminosity of Belle, the sensitivity should improve almost linearly with integrated luminosity and predictions by several new physics models can be tested in Belle II.
        Speaker: Prof. Youngjoon Kwon (Yonsei University)
        Slides
      • 5:30 PM
        The cLFV/LNV searches and studies with the BES III experiment 30m
        The charged Lepton Flavor Violation (cLFV) is highly suppressed in the Standard Model (SM) by the finite but tiny neutrino masses. Its branching fraction is calculated to be at a negligible level and so far none has been found in all the historical experiments, including searches in lepton ($\mu$,$\tau$) decays, pseudoscalar meson (K,$\pi$) decays, vector meson ($\phi$,$J/\psi$,$\Upsilon$) decays, Higgs decays etc. This talk reviews the charged Lepton Flavor Violation process searches at BESIII experiement. We present the results of searches for the decay of $J/\psi\to e\mu$, using $(225.3\pm2.8)\times10^6$ $J/\psi$ events collected with the BESIII detector at the BEPCII collider. An upper limit on the branching fraction of $\mathcal{B}(J/\psi\to e\mu)<1.6\times10^{-7}$ (90\% C.L.) is obtained. The prospects and challenges with other channels and the future data are also discussed based on projections from MC simulation.
        Speaker: Dr Minggang Zhao (Nankai University)
        Slides
    • 4:30 PM 6:30 PM
      Working Group: Neutrino Physics: NSI and Heavy Neutrinos Pacific Ballroom C

      Pacific Ballroom C

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      Convener: Dr David McKeen (University of Pittsburgh)
      • 4:30 PM
        Nonstandard interactions at long-baseline neutrino experiments 20m
        Muon neutrino disappearance measurements at NO$\nu$A suggest that maximal $\theta_{23}$ is excluded at the 2.6$\sigma$ CL. This is in mild tension with T2K data which prefer maximal mixing. We point out that the apparent departure from maximal mixing in NO$\nu$A may be a consequence of nonstandard neutrino propagation in matter. We then study such nonstandard matter effects in the next generation long-baseline experiments, DUNE, T2HK and T2HKK.
        Speaker: Danny Marfatia (University of Hawaii)
        Slides
      • 4:50 PM
        Role of beam tunes in extricating standard and new physics at DUNE 20m
        Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is an upcoming long baseline neutrino oscilla- tion experiment with discovery of CP violation as its important primary goal. Additionally, DUNE is also sensitive to effects due to new physics which can interfere with inferences pertaining to un- known parameters especially the leptonic CP phase. In the present Letter, we combine experimental feasibility together with theoretical requirements and propose a metric for separating physics scenar- ios at DUNE. Using our metric, we obtain an optimal combination of beam tunes and distribution of run times in neutrino and anti-neutrino modes that are helpful to isolate new physics scenarios from the standard. To the best of our knowledge, our strategy is entirely new and has not been reported elsewhere.
        Speakers: Mary Bishai (Brookhaven National Laboratory), Dr Poonam Mehta (SPS, JNU)
        Slides
      • 5:10 PM
        GeV neutrino mass generation: Experimental reach vs theoretical predictions 20m
        We discuss the parameter space reach of future experiments searching for heavy neutral leptons (HNLs) at the GeV scale. We focus on two classes of models: Generic assumptions (such as random mass matrices or the Casas-Ibarra parameterization) and flavor symmetry-generated models. We demonstrate that the generic approaches lead to comparable parameter space predictions, which tend to be at least partially within the reach of future experiments. On the other hand, specific flavor symmetry models yield more refined predictions, some of these can be more clearly excluded. We also highlight the importance to measure the flavor-dependent couplings of the HNLs as a model discriminator.
        Speaker: Mr Rasmus Rasmussen (DESY)
        Slides
      • 5:30 PM
        Bounds on heavy Majorana neutrinos in type-I seesaw and implications for collider searches 20m
        The neutrino masses and flavor mixings, which are missing in the Standard Model (SM), can be naturally incorporated in the type-I seesaw extension of the SM with heavy Majorana neutrinos be- ing singlet under the SM gauge group. If the heavy Majorana neutrinos are around the electroweak scale and their mixings with the SM neutrinos are sizable, they can be produced at high energy colliders, leaving characteristic signatures with lepton-number violations. Employing the general parametrization for the neutrino Dirac mass matrix in the minimal seesaw scenario, we perform a parameter scan and identify allowed regions to satisfy a variety of experimental constraints from the neutrino oscillation data, the electroweak precision measurements and the lepton-flavor violat- ing processes. We find that the resultant mixing parameters between the heavy neutrinos and the SM neutrinos are more severely constrained than those obtained from the current search for heavy Majorana neutrinos at the LHC. Such parameter regions can be explored at the High-Luminosity LHC and a 100 TeV pp-collider in the future.
        Speaker: Dr Arindam Das (KIAS, KNRC, SNU)
        Slides
      • 5:50 PM
        Discussion 40m
        Speaker: Danny Marfatia (University of Hawaii)
    • 8:30 AM 9:00 AM
      Light Breakfast 30m Conference Center

      Conference Center

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    • 9:00 AM 10:30 AM
      Plenary Pacific Ballroom ABC

      Pacific Ballroom ABC

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      Convener: Prof. John Gregory Learned (University of Hawaii)
      • 9:00 AM
        Synthesizing Data: Sterile Neurtinos 30m
        Highlight.
        Speaker: Dr Carlo Giunti (INFN)
        Slides
      • 9:30 AM
        Reactor Neutrino Experiments and Anomalies 30m
        Highlight.
        Speaker: Prof. Jun Cao (IHEP)
        Slides
      • 10:00 AM
        Sterile Neutrino Searches 30m
        Highlight.
        Speaker: Dr Milind Diwan (BNL)
        Slides
    • 10:30 AM 11:00 AM
      Coffee Break 30m Conference Center

      Conference Center

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    • 11:00 AM 12:30 PM
      Plenary Pacific Ballroom ABC

      Pacific Ballroom ABC

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      Convener: Prof. Simona Murgia (University of California Irvine)
      • 11:00 AM
        Dark Matter Theory 30m Pacific Ballroom ABC

        Pacific Ballroom ABC

        UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

        Highlight.
        Speaker: Prof. Laura Covi (University of Göttingen)
        Slides
      • 11:30 AM
        Multi-messenger experiments. 30m Pacific Ballroom ABC

        Pacific Ballroom ABC

        UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

        Hightlight.
        Speaker: Prof. Véronique Van Elewyck (APC)
        Slides
      • 12:00 PM
        Multi-Messenger Implications for Cosmic-Ray Sources and Heavy Dark Matter 30m Pacific Ballroom ABC

        Pacific Ballroom ABC

        UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

        Highlight.
        Speaker: Prof. Kohta Murase (Penn State)
        Slides
    • 12:30 PM 6:30 PM
      Excursions 6h
    • 6:30 PM 10:30 PM
      Conference dinner 4h Newport Dunes (CA, USA)

      Newport Dunes

      CA, USA

    • 8:30 AM 9:00 AM
      Light Breakfast 30m Conference Center

      Conference Center

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    • 9:00 AM 11:00 AM
      Joint Working Group: Electroweak / Flavor and Precision Emerald Bay A

      Emerald Bay A

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      • 9:00 AM
        Electroweak Precision Physics 45m
        The analysis of the global electroweak precision program is reviewed. Special attention is given to recent measurements of the weak mixing angle both at low and high energies, as well as the W boson mass. Other topics, such as the status of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon are also addressed.
        Speaker: Prof. Jens Erler (IF-UNAM)
        Slides
      • 9:45 AM
        Constraining Higgs couplings using Bs -> mu mu 25m
        We study constraints and implications of the recent LHCb measurement of Bs -> mu mu for tree-level Higgs-mediated flavor-changing neutral current (FCNC) interactions. Combined with experimental data on Bs mass difference , the h -> mu tau, and the h -> tau tau decay branching ratios from the LHC, we find that the Higgs FCNC couplings are severely constrained. Current data allow large CP violation in the h -> tau tau decay. Consequences of the Cheng-Sher ansatz for the Higgs Yukawa couplings are discussed.
        Speaker: Dr Xing-Bo Yuan (National Center for Theoretical Sciences)
        Slides
    • 9:00 AM 11:00 AM
      Working Group: Astroparticle physics and cosmology Pacific Ballroom AB

      Pacific Ballroom AB

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      • 9:00 AM
        Neutrino properties from high-resolution CMB experiments 20m
        Cosmological observations are sensitive to the sum of neutrino masses and the number of light relativistic species in the early universe. In particular, high-resolution measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) are approaching the sensitivity required to rule out an inverted neutrino hierarchy. Through parallel probes including lensing of the CMB and the counting of galaxy clusters, planned CMB experiments will be sensitive enough to detect the minimal neutrino mass scale. I will review the assumptions behind this claim and describe the progress being made by the Atacama Cosmology Telescope, a high-resolution ground-based CMB experiment.
        Speaker: Dr Mathew Madhavacheril (Princeton University)
        Slides
      • 9:20 AM
        An Improved Measurement of the Cosmic Microwave Background B-mode Polarization Power Spectrum at Sub-Degree Scales with the POLARBEAR Experiment 20m
        POLARBEAR is a ground-based experiment which is designed to measure the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) B-mode polarization at arcminute resolution in the Atacama Desert of Northern Chile. We started our science observations in early 2012 at 150 GHz with an array of 1,274 polarization sensitive antenna-coupled Transition Edge Sensor (TES) bolometers. The CMB B-mode polarization on degree angular scales is a unique signature of primordial gravitational waves from cosmic inflation, and B-modes on sub-degree scales are induced through gravitational lensing by cosmological large-scale structure. Recently we released a new paper reporting an improved measurement of the B-mode polarization power spectrum. By adding new data from a second observing season (2013-2014), and re-analyzing the combined data set, we have reduced the band-power uncertainties by two-fold compared to our first-season only results. We reject the null hypothesis of no B-mode polarization at a confidence of 3.1σ including both statistical and systematic uncertainties and test the consistency of the measured B-modes with the Lambda Cold Dark Matter (LCDM) framework. In our first-season results, we implemented a blind analysis method, and we have adopted the same procedure. We performed extensive suite of null tests in which 12 divisions of data were used to finalize the data analysis and an estimate of systematic errors from 9 sources of instrumental contamination using a detailed instrument model. I will present details of this data analysis as well as the new result, and summarize the current status of POLARBEAR. I will also present the development of Simons Array, which consists of three new receivers that will observe at 95, 150, 220, and 270 GHz and have the sensitivity to reach inflationary tensor-to-scalar ratio σ(r)=0.006 and the sum of the neutrino masses σ(Mν)=40 meV.
        Speaker: Dr Yuji Chinone (University of California, Berkeley)
        Slides
      • 9:40 AM
        Future CMB observations: Can we break LCDM? 30m
        Measurements of the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) are rapidly becoming an important tool to test the standard LCDM model of cosmology. Future CMB experiments take aim at questions such as: Did inflation occur, and what physics was responsible for it? What are the neutrino masses? Are there new particle species (such as sterile neutrinos) that we can detect cosmologically? I will present an overview of what CMB experiments are on the horizon, along with forecasts for searches with these experiments for deviations from the 6-parameter LCDM cosmological model.
        Speaker: Dr Christian Reichardt (University of Melbourne)
        Slides
      • 10:10 AM
        Shedding light on the small-scale crisis with CMB spectral distortions 20m
        The small-scale crisis, discrepancies between observations and N-body simulations, may imply suppressed matter fluctuations on subgalactic distance scales. Such a suppression could be caused by some early-universe mechanism (e.g., broken scale-invariance during inflation), leading to a modification of the primordial power spectrum at the onset of the radiation-domination era. Alternatively, it may be due to nontrivial dark-matter properties (e.g., new dark-matter interactions or warm dark matter) that affect the matter power spectrum at late times, during radiation domination, after the perturbations re-enter the horizon. We show that early- and late-time suppression mechanisms can be distinguished by measurement of the $\mu$ distortion to the frequency spectrum of the cosmic microwave background. This is because the $\mu$ distortion is suppressed, if the power suppression is primordial, relative to the value expected from the dissipation of standard nearly-scale-invariant fluctuations. We emphasize that the standard prediction of the $\mu$ distortion remains unchanged in late-time scenarios even if the dark-matter effects occur before or during the era (redshifts $5\times 10^4 \lesssim z \lesssim 2\times 10^6$) at which $\mu$ distortions are generated.
        Speaker: Dr Tomohiro Nakama (Johns Hopkins University)
        Slides
    • 9:00 AM 11:00 AM
      Working Group: Neutrino Physics: Detector R&D Pacific Ballroom C

      Pacific Ballroom C

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      Convener: Dr Kazuhiro Terao (Nevis Laboratories, Columbia University)
      • 9:00 AM
        Detector performance and cosmic-ray reconstruction efficiency in MicroBooNE 15m
        The MicroBooNE experiment is a liquid argon time projection chamber (LAr TPC) designed for short-baseline neutrino oscillation physics. Its goals are to investigate the excess of low-energy electromagnetic events, observed by the MiniBooNE experiment, and to measure neutrino-argon cross-sections. MicroBooNE also provides important research and development in terms of the detector technology and event reconstruction techniques for future LArTPC experiments. This talk will show recent results on MicroBooNE detector performance from our first 18 months of running and a method to measure the cosmic-ray reconstruction efficiency using an external cosmic-ray counter.
        Speaker: Mr Stefano Roberto Soleti (University of Oxford)
        Slides
      • 9:15 AM
        The Liquid Argon in a Testbeam (LArIAT) Experiment 15m
        The Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber in a Test Beam (LArIAT) experiment at the Fermilab's Test Beam Facility exposes a liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) to a test beam to study LArTPC responses to a variety of charged particles. Event identification and reconstruction techniques as well as cross section measurements from LArIAT will provide critical input to existing liquid argon neutrino experiments such as MicroBooNE, SBND, and ICARUS as well as help to improve future precision neutrino oscillation measurements in the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). LArIAT has recently completed its third run period testing 5mm wire pitch as is proposed to be used in DUNE and 3mm wire pitch as is used in current short-baseline neutrino experiments. Additionally, LArIAT has deployed new scintillation light detection devices and techniques that will serve as an R&D testbed for the future planned experiments. The work presented here include new inclusive pion-argon cross-section measurements recently completed as well as recent progress on kaon and proton cross-sections measurements on argon underway in LArIAT.
        Speaker: Dr Andrea Falcone (UTA)
        Slides
      • 9:30 AM
        CAPTAIN: Current Neutron and Future Stop Pion Neutrino Measurements 15m
        All neutrino oscillation experiments face the problem of reconstructing the incoming neutrino energy using only the visible interaction products. Unfortunately, the initial neutrino interaction is not well understood, and some of the interaction products not are visible. In preparation the analysis of neutrino oscillation data collected using liquid argon time projection chambers, the Cryogenic Apparatus for Precision Tests of Argon Interactions with Neutrinos (CAPTAIN) program makes crucial measurements addressing these problems in two distinct phases. The first uses Mini-CAPTAIN to measure the cross section of neutrons impinging on an argon target with a kinetic energy of more that 50 MeV. This measurement will help determine the signature of neutrino generated neutrons in a LArTPC. Mini-CAPTAIN, a 400-kg fiducial mass LArTPC, is currently deployed in a neutron beamline at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center (LANSCE) at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The LANSCE beam provides a well known flux of neutrons up to a kinetic energy of 800 MeV. The total cross section will be measured as a function of neutron kinetic energy, and partial cross sections for n + Ar → p + X and n + Ar → π± + X will be measured above the threshold for the produced protons and pions. I will report results from an February 2016 engineering run during which Mini-CAPTAIN collected neutron data with a photon-detection system, discuss the upcoming neutron data and their implications for the long-baseline oscillation analysis at DUNE. Finally, I will discuss a future deployment of CAPTAIN, a 5-ton fiducial mass LArTPC, at a stopped-pion neutrino source and the implications of the measurements for the future DUNE supernova physics program.
        Speaker: Prof. Clark McGrew (Stony Brook University)
        Slides
      • 9:45 AM
        The ANNIE experiment - Status and perspectives 15m
        The Accelerator Neutrino Neutron Interaction Experiment (ANNIE) aims at measuring the neutron abundance in the final state of neutrino-nucleus interactions. This measurement will have a direct impact on our understanding of neutrino interactions and will lead to a better reduction of systematics errors and an improvement of signal-background discrimination in future large neutrino detectors, thus impacting long baseline oscillation experiments as well as proton decay searches and supernova detection. With a volume of about 30 tons of pure water doped with gadolinium to enhance neutron tagging efficiency, ANNIE will provide a measurement of the neutron yield of neutrino interactions as a function of the neutrino energy in the well-characterized Booster Neutrino Beam at Fermilab. The modularity of ANNIE will allow it to perform the very first live test of a novel kind of photodetectors called LAPPDs (Large Area Picosecond Photodetectors) in a neutrino detector. The technology behind the ANNIE detector will have a noticeable impact on the development of future large water Cherenkov detectors as well as on photodetection techniques for neutrino physics. This presentation will describe the status of the first phase of the experiment, dedicated to background measurements, and the capabilities of the next physics phase expected to start next year.
        Speaker: Dr Vincent Fischer (UC Davis)
        Slides
      • 10:00 AM
        Research and development of the IsoDAR experiment 15m
        The ISOtope Decay-At-Rest (IsoDAR) experiment is designed to provide a unique search for short baseline $\bar{\nu_e}$ oscillations. By measuring $\bar{\nu_e}$ disappearance over an L/E of approximately 0.6-7.0 m/MeV with a kiloton class detector like KamLAND, we can conclusively test the current global allowed regions for a 3+1 sterile neutrino hypothesis. IsoDAR expands on several key technologies to make this measurement possible. These include the development of a high-current H2+ ion source, an investigation into using a radio-frequency quadrupole as a buncher/pre-accelerator for the axial injection into a compact cyclotron, and the design of a high-power beryllium target. In this talk, we will present the latest results.
        Speaker: Spencer Axani (MIT)
        Slides
      • 10:15 AM
        Double Calorimetry in Liquid Scintillator Detectors 15m
        Liquid Scintillator (LS) detectors have been at the forefront of neutrino physics thanks to their scalability. Realizing large detectors has indeed been pivotal to compensate for the extremely elusive nature of neutrino interactions. The LS’ capability to act at the same time as both the interaction medium and the detection medium, allowed to use LS detectors as homogeneous calorimeters with an energy resolution in the range 5%-10% at 1MeV. The experimental method used to reconstruct the energy deposited in the detector usually reflects the detector’s own light level and dynamic range. In the case of a low light level, where the average number of scintillation photons detected by each photomultiplier (PMT) is less than one, the deposited energy can be inferred by the number of active PMTs in a given time window. We refer to this technique as "photon counting". On the contrary, if the average number of detected photons per PMT is larger than one, the PMT output current needs to be integrated to build an unbiased energy estimator. Both estimators have pros and cons. Photon counting is in general more robust, since it is more resilient to any feature affecting either the PMT or the readout electronics, such as a non-linear and/or unstable response. Charge integration, on the contrary, makes it possible for the detector to cover a wide dynamic range, and allows, in turn, to instrument the detector surface with fewer larger PMTs. Double Calorimetry (DC) is a novel detection concept envisioning -for the first time- both energy estimators to be implemented in the same LS detector by means of dedicated hardware. DC has been designed in particular for detectors that need to achieve an unprecedented energy resolution, for which they need to collect the largest possible amount of scintillation light, and to control to their best ability systematic uncertainties. That is, to minimize both the stochastic and the non-stochastic energy resolution terms. Within this presentation, DC is to be realized by means of two sets of PMTs, one meant to work in photon counting mode and one in charge integration mode. We aim to show that, while the latter can be used perform the main calorimetry measurement -that is, to collect the largest fraction of scintillation light-, the former is able to provide a unique handle to better quantify and possibly reduce most of the energy-related systematic uncertainties. We conclude by showing how DC is expected to allow the largest LS detector currently under construction (JUNO) to reach the unprecedented 3% energy resolution at 1 MeV needed to determine the neutrino mass ordering.
        Speaker: Marco Grassi (APC - IN2P3)
        Slides
      • 10:30 AM
        Supernova detection capabilities of gadolinium doped water and water-based liquid scintillator detectors 15m
        New technologies have been developed in the last decade that may provide significant improvements in the physics capabilities of water-based detectors. These technologies, such as gadolinium-doping and water-base liquid scintillator (wbLS), may lead to better characterizations of supernova bursts, in turn providing a clearer picture of the underlining core-collapse physics. An overview of the sensitivity of these technologies to supernova neutrinos will be provided for a 1-kiloton detector, as well as the opportunities and challenges such technologies can provide in terms of pointing capabilities. This work was performed under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Energy by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory under Contract DE-AC52-07NA27344. Release number LLNL-ABS-728808.
        Speaker: Dr Marc Bergevin (LLNL)
        Slides
      • 10:45 AM
        DARWIN: a 50-Ton Liquid Xenon Detector for Dark Matter and Neutrino Physics 15m
        DARWIN is the next generation liquid xenon experiment to probe the weak interactions for dark matter and neutrino physics. With a target mass ten times more than the current world’s largest liquid xenon detector (XENON1T), DARWIN will probe the WIMP-nucleon cross section down to the 10^-49 cm^2 region, measure the solar pp-neutrino flux down to sub-percent precision, probe the neutrino-nucleus coherent scattering, and search for neutrinoless double beta decays from more than 3.5-ton of Xe-136. The experiment is currently in the design phase. The technical challenges, possible solutions and design details will be presented.
        Speaker: Prof. Kaixuan Ni (UC San Diego)
        Slides
    • 11:00 AM 11:20 AM
      Coffee break 20m Conference Center

      Conference Center

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    • 11:20 AM 12:50 PM
      Working Group: Astroparticle physics and cosmology Pacific Ballroom AB

      Pacific Ballroom AB

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      • 11:20 AM
        DM searches at LHC 30m
        The recent results from the ongoing Large Hadron Collider, various direct and indirect dark matter detection experiments and data from PLANCK satellite observations have introduced considerable constraints on the particle physics model ideas. This talk will address the current status of the surviving particle physics models and their predictions.
        Speaker: Prof. Bhaskar Dutta (Texas A&amp;M University)
        Slides
      • 11:50 AM
        Dark Matter Search with the PICO 60 Bubble Chamber 20m
        Dark matter searches with fluorinated target materials have an excellent sensitivity for spin dependent interactions. Bubble chambers can hold large amounts of fluorine and have an extraordinary ability to suppress gamma backgrounds and reject alpha background. A bubble chamber can also be operated with varying target liquids allowing to test different dark matter couplings. The PICO 60 detector recently concluded a run with a dark matter search exposure of 1.2 ton-days filled with C_3F_8. We will report the results from this run and present updates on the sensitivity of PICO 60 to low mass dark matter interactions. The PICO collaboration is currently deploying a new bubble chamber with 40 litres of active volume and reduced background. We will report the progress and sensitivity of this chamber. With the recent successes of the bubble chamber technique PICO proposes to construct a 500 litre chamber using the same technology. This experiment is expected to be located at SNOLAB, construction could start as early as 2018.
        Speaker: Mr Carsten Krauss (University of Alberta)
        Slides
      • 12:10 PM
        Status of the COSINE-100 Experiment 20m
        COSINE-100 is a dark matter direct detection experiment using low-background NaI(Tl) crystals to test the DAMA collaboration's claimed detection of the dark matter annual modulation. The first phase of the experiment, situated at Yangyang Underground Laboratory in South Korea, consists of 8 NaI(Tl) crystals with a total mass of ~106 kg and ~2000 liters of liquid scintillator as an active veto. The physics run of the experiment began in September 2016. The current status of the COSINE-100 experiment will be presented including the experimental design, detector installation, physics analysis, and the initial performance of the experiment. The timeline and prospects of the experiment will also be discussed.
        Speaker: Jay Hyun Jo (Yale University)
        Slides
      • 12:30 PM
        Search for Low Mass Dark Matter with CRESST-III 20m
        CRESST (Cryogenic Rare Event Search with Superconducting Thermometers) is a direct dark matter (DM) search experiment located in the Gran Sasso underground laboratory (LNGS, Italy). The third stage of CRESST (CRESST-III) which successfully started in summer of 2016 and is currently taking data, aims at a significant improvement of the sensitivity in the low mass (< 10 GeV/c2) parameter space for spin-independent DM-nucleus scattering. The experiment uses scintillating CaWO4 crystals operated as cryogenic detectors at a temperature of ~10mK as target material for DM-nucleus scattering. By the simultaneous measurement of the heat signal from the CaWO4 target crystal and the emitted scintillation light in a separate cryogenic light detector, radioactive backgrounds can be discriminated from a potential dark matter signal. Extensive R&D activities have been carried out to achieve a nuclear recoil energy threshold of < 100eV, a fully scintillating detector housing, and an improved radiopurity of the CaWO4 target crystals. In this talk the current status and future perspectives of the CRESST-III experiment will be presented.
        Speaker: Dr Michael Willers (Technical University of Munich)
        Slides
    • 11:20 AM 1:35 PM
      Working Group: Flavor and Precision Physics Emerald Bay A

      Emerald Bay A

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      Convener: Prof. Jens Erler (IF-UNAM)
      • 11:20 AM
        The proton radius puzzle 40m
        In 2010 the proton charge radius was extracted for the first time from muonic hydrogen, a bound state of a muon and a proton. The value obtained was five standard deviations away from the regular hydrogen extraction. Taken at face value, this might be an indication of a new force in nature coupling to muons, but not to electrons. It also forces to reexamine our understanding of the structure of the proton. In this talk I will describe an ongoing theoretical research effort that seeks to address and resolve this "proton radius puzzle". In particular, I will present a reevaluation of the proton structure effects, correcting 40 years of such calculations, and the development of new effective field theoretical tools that would allow to directly connect muonic hydrogen and muon-proton scattering.
        Speaker: Prof. Gil Paz (Wayne State University)
        Slides
      • 12:00 PM
        Electrophobic Scalar Boson and Muonic Puzzles 25m
        A new scalar boson which couples to the muon and proton can simultaneously solve the proton radius puzzle and the muon anomalous magnetic moment discrepancy. Using a variety of measurements, we constrain the mass of this scalar and its couplings to the electron, muon, neutron, and proton. Making no assumptions about the underlying model, these constraints and the requirement that it solve both problems limit the mass of the scalar to between about 100 keV and 100 MeV. We identify two unexplored regions in the coupling constant-mass plane. Potential future experiments and their implications for theories with mass-weighted lepton couplings are discussed.
        Speaker: Mr Yu-Sheng Liu (University of Washington)
        Slides
      • 12:25 PM
        Connecting lepton flavor violation and the muon anomalous magnetic moment 25m
        The quest for the UV completion of the Standard Model can be addressed not only by means of direct collider signatures of new physics, but also via the effects of currently inaccessible physics on low-energy observables. Lepton flavor violating transitions and measurements of the leptonic magnetic moments offer gripping tests for new physics from low to high energies. In this talk the interplay between both signatures is described in a model-independent way and their usefulness is highlighted for several specific UV completions of the Standard Model. We stress that the potential excess observed in the measurement of the muon magnetic moment over the Standard Model prediction in recent experiments could be testable in the near future through lepton flavor violation.
        Speaker: Mr Moritz Platscher (Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik (MPIK))
        Slides
    • 11:20 AM 1:05 PM
      Working Group: Neutrino Physics: Neutrino Mass and 0nu Double Beta Decay Pacific Ballroom C

      Pacific Ballroom C

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      • 11:20 AM
        Distinguishing between Dirac and Majorana neutrinos in the presence of general interactions 15m
        We revisit the possibility of distinguishing between Dirac and Majorana neutrinos via neutrino-electron elastic scattering in the presence of all possible Lorentz-invariant interactions. Defining proper observables, certain regions of the parameter space can only be reached for Dirac neutrinos, but never for Majorana neutrinos, thus providing an alternative method to differentiate these two possibilities. We first derive analytically and numerically the most general conditions that would allow to distinguish Dirac from Majorana neutrinos, both in the relativistic and non-relativistic cases. Then, we apply these conditions to data on $\nu_\mu$-$e$ and $\bar{\nu}_e$-$e$ scatterings, from the CHARM-II and TEXONO experiments, and find that they are consistent with both types of neutrinos. Finally, we comment on future prospects of this kind of tests.
        Speaker: Dr Xun-Jie Xu (Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg)
        Slides
      • 11:35 AM
        Neutrino Mass Models 15m
        I will give a summary of 3 projects that I have worked on: 1)Dark Gauge U(1) Symmetry for an Alternative Left-Right Model An alternative left-right model of quarks and leptons, where the SU(2)$_R$ lepton doublet $(\nu, l)_R$ is replaced with (n, l)$_R$ so that n$_R$ is not the Dirac mass partner of $\nu_L$,has been known since 1987. Previous versions assumed a global U(1)S symmetry to allow n to be identified as a dark-matter fermion (scotino). We propose here a gauge extension by the addition of extra fermions to render the model free of gauge anomalies,and just one singlet scalar to break U(1)S. This results in two layers of dark matter,one hidden behind the other. This is the gauged version of the arXiv:0901.0981, arXiv:1002.0692 2)Gauge U(1)R Family Symmetry and Scotogenic Fermion Masses SM is extended by a $U(1)_R$ Gauge Family Symmetry under which only Right handed fermions are charged. 3'rd family masses are generated at the tree level, to generate masses for the other 2 families we utilize scotogenic mechanism via introduction of extra particles in the dark sector. 3)Scotogenic Inverse Seesaw model of Neutrino mass A variation of the original 2006 radiative seesaw model of neutrino mass through dark matter is shown to realize the notion of inverse seesaw naturally. The dark-matter candidate here is the lightest of three real singlet scalars which may also carry flavor. 4) I might also talk on the Neutrino Mass generated radiativly by the non-Abelian Vector Dark Matter.
        Speaker: Oleg Popov (Department of Physics and Astronomy, UC Riverside)
        Slides
      • 11:50 AM
        The start up of the CUORE experiment at LNGS 15m
        The Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE) is the first bolometric experiment reaching the 1-ton scale. The detector consists of an array of 988 TeO2 crystals arranged in a cylindrical compact structure of 19 towers. The construction of the experiment and, in particular, the installation of all towers in the cryostat was completed in August 2016: the experiment is now in pre-operation phase and data taking is commencing. In this talk, we will discuss the achievements and technical challenges of the construction phase, the performance of the detector during pre-operation and the first results from the full detector runs.
        Speaker: Mr Antonio Branca (INFN Padova)
        Slides
      • 12:05 PM
        Initial results and status of the Majorana Demonstrator experiment 15m
        Neutrinoless double-beta decay (NLDBD) is a hypothesized process where two neutrons decay into two protons and two electrons simultaneously without emitting neutrinos. This decay is possible only if neutrinos are Majorana particles, i.e. fermions that are their own antiparticles. NLDBD is the only experimentally feasible way to establish the Majorana nature of neutrinos. Neutrinos being Majorana particles would explicitly violate lepton number conservation, and hence may point to a way to understand the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe. Located at the 4850' level of the Sanford Underground Research Facility, the Majorana Demonstrator experiment is an ultra-low background experiment searching for neutrinoless double-beta decay in Ge-76. The technical goal of the experiment is to demonstrate a background rate at or below 3 counts/(ton-year) in the region of interest (ROI) around the 2039 keV NLDBD Q-value. The Demonstrator is comprised of 44 kg (30 kg enriched in Ge-76) of high purity Ge (HPGe) detectors separated into two modules. Construction and commissioning of both modules completed in Summer 2016 and both modules are now acquiring physics data. In this talk, I will discuss the status of the Demonstrator and some initial results from recent physics runs.
        Speaker: Prof. Wenqin Xu (University of South Dakota)
        Slides
      • 12:20 PM
        Status of the NEXT experiment after the first data-taking run with the NEW prototype 15m
        NEXT is an experiment aiming for the discovery of the neutrinoless double beta decay in 136Xe. Using a high-pressure TPC with electroluminescence amplification and a combination of PMTs and SiPMs as detection technologies, the energy resolution has been measured to be better than 1% FWHM @ Qbb with smaller prototypes. The underground operation of the latest prototype (NEW) has recently begun and the first calibration data taken since November provide excellent prospects for the future.
        Speaker: Mr Gonzalo Martínez Lema (Universidade de Santiago de Compostela)
        Slides
      • 12:35 PM
        CUPID-0: a cryogenic calorimeter with particle identification for double beta decay search. 15m
        With their excellent energy resolution, efficiency, and intrinsic radio-purity, cryogenic calorimeters are primed for the search of neutrino-less double beta decay (0nDBD). The sensitivity of these devices could be further increased by discriminating the dominant alpha background from the expected beta like signal. The CUPID-0 collaboration aims at demonstrating that the measurement of the scintillation light produced by the absorber crystals allows for particle identification and, thus, for a complete rejection of the alpha background. The CUPID-0 detector, assembled in 2016 and now in commissioning, consists of 26 Zn82Se scintillating calorimeters for about 2x10^25 0nDBD emitters. In this contribution we present the preliminary results obtained with the detector and the perspectives for a next generation project.
        Speaker: Mrs Maria Martinez (Roma La Sapienza)
        Slides
      • 12:50 PM
        Status of the SNO+ Experiment 15m
        The SNO+ experiment is located at SNOLAB in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. It will employ 780 tons of liquid scintillator loaded, in its initial phase, with 1.3 tons of 130Te (0.5% by mass) for a low-background and high-isotope-mass search for neutrino-less double beta decay. SNO+ uses the acrylic vessel and PMT array of the SNO detector with several experimental upgrades and necessary adaptations to fill with liquid scintillator. The SNO+ technique can be scaled up with a future high loading Phase II, able to probe to the bottom of the inverted hierarchy parameter space for effective Majorana mass. Low backgrounds and a low energy threshold allow SNO+ to also have other physics topics in its program, including geo- and reactor neutrinos, Supernova and solar neutrinos. This talk will describe the SNO+ approach for the double-beta decay program, the current status of the experiment and its sensitivity prospects.
        Speaker: Richard Bonventre (Lawrence Berkeley National Lab)
        Slides
    • 12:50 PM 2:20 PM
      Lunch break 1h 30m Conference Center

      Conference Center

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    • 2:20 PM 3:50 PM
      Joint Working Group: Astroparticle and Neutrino Physics Pacific Ballroom ABC

      Pacific Ballroom ABC

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      Convener: Valentina De Romeri (IFIC UV/CSIC)
      • 2:20 PM
        Fast neutrino flavor conversions near the SN core 15m
        We point out that neutrino fluxes from a supernova can show substantial flavor conversions almost immediately above the core. Using linear stability analyses and numerical solutions of the fully nonlinear equations of motion, we perform a detailed study of these fast conversions. Using fluxes and angular distributions predicted by supernova simulations, we find that fast conversions can occur within tens of nanoseconds, only a few meters away from the putative neutrinospheres. If these fast flavor conversions indeed take place, they would have important implications for the supernova explosion mechanism and nucleosynthesis.
        Speaker: Mr Alessandro Mirizzi (University of Bari)
        Slides
      • 2:35 PM
        Recent results from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory 20m
        The IceCube Neutrino Observatory, located at South Pole Station Antarctica, is currently the world's largest neutrino telescope with an instrumented volume greater than 1 gigaton. With sensitivity to neutrinos ranging in energies from approximately 10 GeV to the EeV-scale, IceCube has established a rich scientific program that includes the advent of neutrino astronomy and leading measurements of atmospheric neutrino oscillations. Latest results from the observatory, including expectations for the planned next generation detector, will be presented.
        Speaker: Prof. Darren Grant (University of Alberta)
        Slides
      • 2:55 PM
        KM3NeT/ORCA: Measuring neutrino oscillations and the mass hierarchy in the Mediterranean 15m
        ORCA (Oscillations Research with Cosmics in the Abyss) is the low-energy branch of KM3NeT, the next generation underwater Cherenkov neutrino detector currently being built in the Mediterranean. Its primary goal is to resolve the long-standing question of the neutrino mass hierarchy, i.e. whether the mass eigenstate $\nu_3$ is heavier (normal hierarchy) or lighter (inverted hierarchy) than the $\nu_2$ and $\nu_1$ states. Atmospheric neutrinos crossing the Earth matter undergo matter effects, which are resonant in the few GeV energy range and are influenced by the mass hierarchy. The ORCA design foresees a dense configuration of multi-PMT optical modules, exploiting the excellent optical properties of deep seawater to accurately reconstruct both cascade events (mostly $\nu_e$) and track events (mostly $\nu_\mu$) down to a few GeV. Hence, with a wide range of baselines through the Earth and a total instrumented mass of several megatons, ORCA will have very good sensitivity to the mass hierarchy. This contribution reviews the methods and technology, and discusses the sensitivity studies both for the neutrino mass hierarchy and for obtaining new constraints on other key parameters such as the atmospheric mixing angle $\theta_{23}$. Additional prospects, e.g. using atmospherics to probe new physics or constrain the matter composition of the Earth, will be discussed as well.
        Speaker: Mr Simon Bourret (APC, Université Paris Diderot)
        Slides
      • 3:10 PM
        Neutrino Portal Dark Matter 20m
        Dark matter that interacts with the standard model (SM) through the “neutrino portal” is a possibility that is relatively less well studied than other scenarios. In such a setup, the dark matter communicates with the SM primarily through its interactions with (both mostly sterile and mostly active) neutrinos. In this talk, I will motivate neutrino portal dark matter and discuss some new tests of this possibility.
        Speaker: Dr David McKeen (University of Pittsburgh)
        Slides
      • 3:30 PM
        Coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering, dark matter, and Beyond Standard Model physics 20m
        I will discuss the prospects for near future coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering experiments to test Standard Model physics and Beyond Standard Model physics. I will discuss how existing dark matter direct detection technology can be employed to explore novel neutrino interactions and explore hidden sector models using reactor, stopped pion, and solar sources. I will also comment on the implications of such physics on upcoming dark matter direct detection experiments. With their low threshold and large exposure, current and future direct detection efforts will begin to encounter an irreducible neutrino background, and thus probe not only dark matter parameter space, but coherent neutrino-nucleus interactions as well.
        Speaker: James Dent (U Louisiana)
        Slides
    • 3:50 PM 4:20 PM
      Plenary Pacific Ballroom ABC

      Pacific Ballroom ABC

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      Convener: Prof. Vittorio Palladino (Univ &amp; INFN Napoli, Italy)
      • 3:50 PM
        Synthesizing Cosmological Data 30m Pacific Ballroom ABC

        Pacific Ballroom ABC

        UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

        Highlight.
        Speaker: Prof. Alessandro Melchiorri (Roma)
        Slides
    • 4:20 PM 4:40 PM
      Coffee break 20m Conference Center

      Conference Center

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    • 4:40 PM 6:40 PM
      Plenary Pacific Ballroom ABC

      Pacific Ballroom ABC

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      Convener: Walter Winter (DESY)
      • 4:40 PM
        Working Group Summary: Neutrino Physics (Experiment) 30m Pacific Ballroom ABC

        Pacific Ballroom ABC

        UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

        WG summary.
        Speaker: Mary Bishai (Brookhaven National Laboratory)
        Slides
      • 5:10 PM
        Working Group Summary: Neutrino Physics (Theory) 30m Pacific Ballroom ABC

        Pacific Ballroom ABC

        UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

        WG Summary.
        Speaker: Pedro Machado (Fermilab)
        Slides
      • 5:40 PM
        Working Group Summary: Electroweak Interactions (Experiment) 30m Pacific Ballroom ABC

        Pacific Ballroom ABC

        UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

        WG summary.
        Speaker: Sarah Demers (Yale)
        Slides
      • 6:10 PM
        Working Group Summary: Electroweak Interactions (Theory) 30m Pacific Ballroom ABC

        Pacific Ballroom ABC

        UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

        WG summary.
        Speaker: Wolfgang Altmannshofer (University of Cincinnati)
        Slides
    • 8:30 AM 9:00 AM
      Light Breakfast 30m Conference Center

      Conference Center

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    • 9:00 AM 11:00 AM
      Plenary Pacific Ballroom ABC

      Pacific Ballroom ABC

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      Convener: Prof. Jens Erler (IF-UNAM)
      • 9:00 AM
        Working Group Summary: Flavor and Precision Physics (Experiment) 30m
        WG summary.
        Speaker: Dr Angela Papa (Paul Scherrer Institut)
        Slides
      • 9:30 AM
        Working Group Summary: Flavor and Precision Physics (Theory) 30m
        WG summary.
        Speaker: Prof. We-Fu Chang (National Tsing Hua University)
        Slides
      • 10:00 AM
        Working Group Summary: Astroparticle Physics and Cosmology (Experiment) 30m
        WG summary.
        Speaker: Carsten Rott (Sungkyunkwan University)
        Slides
      • 10:30 AM
        Working Group Summary: Astroparticle Physics and Cosmology (Theory) 30m
        WG summary.
        Speaker: Jan Hamann (The University of Sydney)
        Slides
    • 11:00 AM 11:30 AM
      Coffee break 30m Conference Center

      Conference Center

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

    • 11:30 AM 12:35 PM
      Plenary Conference Center

      Conference Center

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA

      Convener: Prof. Henry Sobel Sobel (University of California)
      • 11:30 AM
        WIN2017 Summary 1h
        Summary.
        Speaker: Dr Boris Kayser (Fermilab)
        Slides
      • 12:30 PM
        WIN2019 5m
        Speaker: Prof. Antonio Marrone (U. of Bari &amp; INFN Bari)
        Slides
    • 12:35 PM 12:50 PM
      End of the conference 15m Conference Center

      Conference Center

      UC Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA