Colloquium 110: Neutrinos: Discoveries and Anomalies (Dr. Liu Jianglai, Mar.27, 2013)

Title: Neutrinos: Discoveries and Anomalies

Speaker: Dr. Liu Jianglai,Shanghai Jiao Tong Unversity

Location: Room 111, Physics Building

Time: 15:00-16:00p,March. 27th, 2013

Abstract:

In the original Standard Model of particle physics, there are three massless and active neutrino flavors in nature. The discovery of oscillations between neutrino flavors in the past 15 years has firmly established that neutrinos are massive particles, and each flavor is a mixture of three mass quantum states. Such mixing can be parameterized by three Euler angles. To date, all three mixing angles have been measured, including the recent discovery of q13 at Daya Bay.

On the other hand, the road to discovery in neutrino physics is usually tortuous. This talk will start with a few historical anomalies in neutrino physics, some with happy endings, some not. In the second half of this talk, I will explain an on-going anomaly that is related to the hypothetical sterile neutrinos, and discuss a new experiment under preparation that may help to solve this mystery.