P/T Colloquium: Searching for Physics Beyond the Standard Model with Neutrinos

Thursday, 7/31/08, 3:45 PM

TA-3: Physics Auditorium

Speaker: Dr. R. G. Van de Water, Los Alamos National Laboratory,
P-25 Subatomic Group
The past ten years has seen a revolution in neutrino physics.
Measurements of neutrino oscillations clearly indicate that neutrinos have mass. The Standard Model is able to incorporate this as an extension, but neutrino mass opens up the possibility of exotic
neutrino properties. Observation of such properties would be a clear
indication of new physics. The recent MiniBooNE neutrino oscillation
results have ruled out the simple two neutrino oscillation explanation
of the LSND signal. However, MiniBooNE unexpectedly observes a
significant excess of electron like events at low energy. If real,
i.e. not some mundane instrumental background, this excess could be a
hint of interesting Standard or non-Standard Model processes. Details
of the MiniBooNE experiment, *NEW* low energy results, future
measurements, and possible implications will be discussed.