APEC Seminar (Astronomy - Particle Physics - Experimental Physics - Cosmology)

Speaker: Viacheslav Li (Hawaii U)
Title: miniTimbeCube: Building The World's Smallest Neutrino Detector
Date (JST): Fri, Apr 20, 2018, 10:00 - 11:00
Place: Seminar Room at IPMU Kamioka Satellite
Related File: 2057.pdf
Abstract: The goal of this talk is to describe the creation and testing of the world's smallest antineutrino detector, which was designed and built at the University of Hawai`i at Manoa, and was deployed at the NIST research nuclear reactor facilities in Maryland during 2014--2016. We focus on the main components of this new-generation detector, as well as the data taking, analysis, and conclusions we drew from the project.

The novelty was in having a very small volume (2 liters) compared to all other neutrino detectors, with fast-timing electronics and photodetectors in a very confined space. The idea was to reconstruct the direction of particles propagating inside the scintillator using information from the first arrival of both Cherenkov and scintillation photons. While the project did not succeed in detecting neutrinos in its first outing, many important lessons were learned which we take to the next-generation NuLat instrument, under construction at present.