Grant: Subatomic Physics Envelope - Project

The T2K experiment uses a high intensity muon-neutrino beam produced at the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC) in Tokai, Japan. The beam is directed 2.5 degrees off-axis to the 50 kTon water Cerenkov detector, Super-Kamiokande (SK), which sits 295 km away in the Kamioka mine. By using an off-axis beam the energy spectrum of the muon-neutrinos is narrower, and concentrated around the maximum probability for muon-neutrino disappearance at SK. The muon-neutrino beam is also measured by a near detector at 280 m (ND280) from the neutrino beam production target. The near detector provides the overall normalisation for the muon-neutrino rate, and measures the energy spectrum of the neutrinos before oscillation. Part of the ND280 detector complex is a set of three large volume Time Projection Chambers (TPCs) which provide excellent charged particle tracking, and particle identification using its momentum and dE/dx measurements. The T2K experiment, and neutrino physics in general, are at an exciting point in history. Neutrinos can quantum mechanically change in flight from muon-neutrino to tau-neutrino and from electron-neutrino to muon-neutrino, as observed by SNO, Super-Kamiokande (SK), and several other neutrino experiments. One goal of T2K is to observe the change of muon-neutrino to electron-neutrino, completing our understanding of how neutrinos oscillate, and setting the stage for the possible observation of CP violation in the lepton sector. With its current data set, T2K is seeing a 2.5 sigma excess of electron-neutrinos at its far detector, hinting at the possibility of soon measuring this final oscillation. This proposal is to continue my research on neutrinos with the T2K near detector, where I will to lead an effort to improve the reliability of the TPC by working on an upgrade to the data concentrator card, and to develop new analyses to unmask the nature of how neutrinos interact.