Physics Colloquium, November 7, 2006
Glue, Horns and Steel: Neutrino Oscillation Experiments Today and Beyond Jon Urheim

Indiana University

After decades of searches, quantum-mechanical oscillations of neutrinos from one type to another have been uncovered by experiments studying neutrinos from the sun and from cosmic ray interactions in the earth's atmosphere. Yet in some ways these observations have raised more questions than they have answered. A recently commissioned beam line at Fermilab is now sending neutrinos under Wisconsin to northern Minnesota, allowing experimenters to study the effect with measurements of greater precision, and to address the new questions. Among these is whether the origin of the baryon asymmetry of the Universe (to which we owe our very existence!) could lie in the neutrino sector. I will describe the current and planned experiments using this beam, what they have told/may tell us, why they are so hard to do in the first place, and what this all has to do with the price of oil anyway.

Dr. Urheim's Web Site

4:00 p.m., Physics Research Building (PRB), Room 1080

Reception at 3:45 p.m., Atrium, PRB