Particle Physics Seminars at BNL

Analysis Methods in Neutrino Experiments

by Dr Thomas Junk (Fermilab)

US/Eastern
Universe

Universe

Description
Current and planned neutrino experiments address fundamental questions in the neutrino, astrophysical, nuclear, and new physics sectors with ambitious, large-scale facilities and detectors. Maximizing the sensitivity and physics reach of these experiments is the guiding principle for the design of the apparatus as well as the analysis techniques applied to infer results from the data. These experiments, however, pose challenges in this process: the data frequently have ambiguities and some quantities are not measurable, such as the momenta of outgoing neutrinos or recoiling nuclei. Detectors with high density and spatial granularity provide a large number of measured values for each event that must be sifted through to obtain even basic reconstructed quantities. The impact of the values of model parameters on the predicted event rates is not linear but is frequently oscillatory. Systematic uncertainties must be highly constrained in order to tease out small effects. To address these challenges, a variety of sophisticated techniques have been adapted from earlier experiments, such as well-established statistical methods and analysis techniques. New, innovative tools developed in other fields, such as deep-learning methods, are being applied to neutrino experiments. I will give a survey of some of the interesting developments being applied and planned for the future.
Slides