BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 CALSCALE:GREGORIAN PRODID:UW-Madison-Physics-Events BEGIN:VEVENT SEQUENCE:2 UID:UW-Physics-Event-8419 DTSTART:20231030T170000Z DTEND:20231030T190000Z DTSTAMP:20260414T031157Z LAST-MODIFIED:20231030T163604Z LOCATION:4274 Chamberlin Hall SUMMARY:Innovative Approaches in Neutrino Telescope Research and Analy sis\, Graduate Program Event\, Jeffrey Lazar\, Department of Physics G raduate Student DESCRIPTION:Despite it’s immense success\, the Standard Model of par ticle physics is unable to provide an explanation of the nature of dar k matter and the origin of neutrino masses. A desire to jointly explai n these two mysteries motivates careful studies of neutrino properties . The goal of this thesis is to highlight efforts to explore possible connections of neutrinos to beyond Standard Model physics. In particul ar\, we will focus on searches for high-energy\, astrophysical neutrin os\, and describe new tools that have enabled or will soon enable new searches.
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\nFirst\, we will describe the χaroν package\, which simulates the neutrino yields from dark matter annihilation and decay. This will lead us into an analysis looking for an excess of neu trinos from the direction of the Sun using data from the IceCube Neutr ino Observatory. Such an excess would be a signature of dark matter ca ptured by scattering on solar nuclei and annihilating to Standard Mode l particles. In addition\, we will describe using this same analysis f ramework to search for the predicted\, but yet-unobserved flux of sola r atmospheric neutrinos created when cosmic rays interact and produce meson in the thin solar atmosphere. Next\, we will turn our attention to flavor physics\, and discuss how new physics may manifest in the ra tio of neutrino flavors at Earth. In particular\, we will discuss the importance of tau neutrino identification in understanding the flavor triangle. Then we will introduce the TauRunner package which simulates the passage of the highest energy neutrinos through the arbitrary med ia\, including previously neglected effects. This new simulation frame work will then be applied to simulating ultra- high-mass dark matter i n the solar core\, in an attempt to evade the solar opacity limit. Fin ally\, we will describe the simulation framework that has been develop ed for the Tau Air-Shower Mountain-Based Observatory. This proposed\, next-generation detector in the Colca Valley of Peru could provide a t au-pure flux of neutrinos in the 1 PeV–100 PeV energy range.
\n< br> \nFinally\, we will describe the Prometheus simulation package\, a n open-source framework for simulating neutrino telescopes with arbitr ary geometries in water and ice. For the first time\, this allows for a consistent simulation framework between the global network of neutri no telescopes that is currently being constructed. Furthermore\, this allows for the rapid prototyping of new reconstruction and data storag e techniques with easy\, cross-detector application. We provide three examples of such techniques: a machine-learning-based reconstruction c apable of running faster than the trigger rate of neutrino telescopes\ ; a machine-learning-based reconstruction of dimuon events in an ice-b ased detector\; and a demonstration of efficiently storing event-level data from neutrino telescopes in quantum memory. URL:https://www.physics.wisc.edu/events/?id=8419 END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR