KamLAND-Zen and NuDot: The Future of Liquid Scintillator Detectors

by Prof. Lindley Winslow (MIT)

Thursday 4 Aug 2016, 15:00 → 16:00 US/Eastern

Universe

Large liquid-scintillator-based detectors have proven to be exceptionally effective for low energy neutrino measurements due to their good energy resolution and scalability to large volumes. KamLAND-Zen now has the most stringent limits on neutrinoless double-beta decay reporting a half-life >1x10^26 years for 136Xe. The addition of directional information using Cherenkov light and fast timing would enhance the scientific reach of these detectors, especially for searches for neutrino-less double-beta decay. NuDot is a 1m3 prototype detector that will demonstrate this technique using fast photodetectors and eventually quantum-dot doped liquid scintillator. The ultimate goal is a measurement of two neutrino double-beta decay with direction reconstruction. The current KamLAND-Zen results and NuDot progress will be discussed.