Supervisors: Dr. Luke Pickering (RAL/PPD) + Dr Linda Cremonesi (Queen Mary, University of London)
Neutrinos are absurdly abundant, unfathomably light, and incredibly reluctant to interact with everyday matter, which makes their study especially challenging. Intriguingly, neutrinos change species (oscillate) as they travel and if neutrinos and antineutrinos oscillate differently, then they may be key to answering one of the biggest questions in fundamental physics: Where did all the antimatter go?The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a kilotonne-scale, 1300 km long, long-baselineneutrino oscillation experiment, configured for unprecedented sensitivity to neutrino and antineutrino oscillation. DUNE is currently in the early construction phase, with ongoing data-taking in multiple prototype detectors happening in parallel with the industrial-scale construction of the first of four 17 kilotonne far detector modules.This jointly supervised studentship will have both a software focus from QMUL on the near detector (ND) simulation and particle reconstruction software, and a physics analysis focus from RAL through the development of the high-level DUNE-PRISM oscillation analysis. The studentship includes an opportunity to spend up to 6 months on Long Term Attachment at the University of Minnesota, working on the DUNE-PRISM movement system prototype.The software focus will be on building expertise in running, interrogating, and improving the ND simulation and reconstruction software to make novel, data-driven contributions to the detector model and uncertainties, which are required for DUNE's neutrino data analysis. The analysis focus will comprise developing the first 'end-to-end' DUNE-PRISM-empowered oscillation analysis. DUNE-PRISM is a novel analysis concept that can, quite literally, side-step many of the neutrino-matter interaction modelling difficulties that threaten to limit current long-baseline experiments. This is achieved by placing the DUNE near detector on rails and moving it in and out of the centre of the neutrino beam. This critical analysis development work will form the basis for multiple world-leading neutrino oscillation measurements once DUNE turns on.
For more details, contact Luke Pickering (luke.pickering@stfc.ac.uk) or Linda Cremonesi (l.cremonesi@qmul.ac.uk).
