The Department of Physics and Astronomy cordially invites all to a colloquium talk featuring Dr. R.G. Hamish Robertson, Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics, University of Washington. Dr. Robertson will present his talk, “Progress Toward Measuring the Mass of the Neutrino” on Tuesday, Sept. 22, at 4:10 p.m. in Webster B17.
Meet with our guest speaker and enjoy refreshments before the talk at 3:45-4:10 p.m. in the foyer on floor G above the lecture hall.
Abstract:The discovery of neutrino oscillations gives us proof that neutrinos have mass, the first direct contradiction of the minimal standard model of particle physics. But how much mass? That is something oscillations cannot give, other than to tell us that the average of the three masses must be at least 0.02 eV. Laboratory measurements of the beta spectrum of tritium have steadily advanced: the masses are now known to be less than 2 eV. A very large and ambitious experiment called KATRIN that offers an order of magnitude gain in sensitivity is taking shape in Germany. And a novel, very different idea called “Project 8” has just passed its proof-of-concept test, a scheme that might have even greater sensitivity. The mass measurement is needed to build the new standard model, and it would, in addition, help pin down the equation of state of dark energy in cosmology.
