Tiny But Mighty: Neutrinos and the New Frontiers of Science

Friday, February 15, 2013: 3:00 PM-4:30 PM
Room 206 (Hynes Convention Center)
Neutrinos are one of the hottest topics in particle physics today and not because of how fast they fly. Many scientists believe that these tiny particles may hold the key to one of the biggest questions in physics: why do we live in a universe made of matter? The revolutionary discovery that neutrinos have mass and can change from one type to another has led to an explosion of extreme experiments to measure their properties. To trap these elusive particles, scientists have built huge arrays of detectors deep under Antarctic ice, deep under European waters, and deep within mines in North America and Asia. By measuring neutrinos created by powerful accelerators, in nuclear reactors, and by astrophysical processes in the cosmos, physicists are piecing together the puzzle of these particles, pinning down their masses, and determining exactly what role they played in the evolution of the early universe. In this symposium, a panel representing neutrino experiments from around the world will introduce the tiny but mighty neutrino, the extreme environments necessary to create and capture them, and survey recent and upcoming results from neutrino physics.
Organizer:
Katie Yurkewicz, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Moderator:
Young-Kee Kim, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Speakers:
Geralyn S. Zeller, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
Nature's Mysterious Messengers
Chang Kee Jung, State University of New York
The Challenging Art of Creating and Catching Human-Made Neutrinos
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