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VERSION:2.0
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PRODID:UW-Madison-Physics-Events
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SEQUENCE:0
UID:UW-Physics-Event-3044
DTSTART:20130913T203000Z
DURATION:PT1H0M0S
DTSTAMP:20260419T212111Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20130910T135924Z
LOCATION:2241 Chamberlin Hall (coffee at 4:30 pm)
SUMMARY:Project Poltergeist\, a Ghostly Neutrino and a Specter\, Physi
 cs Department Colloquium\, Patrick Huber\, Virginia Polytechnic Instit
 ute & State University
DESCRIPTION:It is not quite Halloween yet... In this talk we will disc
 uss how<br>
\nProject Poltergeist shaped neutrino physics for decades 
 to come and made nuclear reactors the workhorse of early oscillation s
 earches. A renaissance of reactor neutrino experiments around 2010 lea
 d to the very precise measurement of one of the mixing parameters\, th
 eta13 -- in the run-up to this measurement flux calculations from the 
 1980's were scrutinized and surprisingly the flux was found to be high
 er than previously expected leading to the so-called reactor anomaly. 
 The reactor anomaly points a type of neutrino even more elusive than r
 egular neutrinos\, the ghostly sterile neutrino. We will review the ca
 lculations performed so far and highlight some of the open questions. 
 In the final part of the talk we will point out how current attempts t
 o settle the question of the sterile neutrino will impact our future a
 bility to use neutrinos to peer into the cores of nuclear reactors to 
 safeguards against the diversion of plutonium\, which may play an impo
 rtant role in banishing the specter of nuclear terrorism.
URL:https://www.physics.wisc.edu/events/?id=3044
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