Guy Ron (Jerusalem) "The Proton Radius - Old Measurements and New Ideas"
2018-11-06 16:00 - 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | HYBRID 50A-5132 (Sessler Conference Room), https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/91782268585, 50A-5132
ABSTRACT:
The radius of the proton, generally assumed to be a well measured and understood quantity has recently come under scrutiny due to highly precise, yet conﬂicting, experimental results. These new results have generated a host of interpretations, none of which are completely satisfactory.
I will discuss the existing results, focusing on the discrepancy between the various extractions. I will brieﬂy discuss some theoretical attempts at reso-lution and focus on new scattering measurements, both planned and already underway, that are attempting to resolve the puzzle

Lucie Tvrznikova (Yale) "Sub-GeV dark matter searches and electric field studies for the LUX and LZ experiments "
2018-11-08 16:00 - 17:00 | HYBRID 50A-5132 (Sessler Conference Room), https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/91782268585, 50A-5132
ABSTRACT:
The Large Underground Xenon (LUX) and the LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) detectors were designed to directly observe the interaction of dark matter (DM) with xenon target nuclei and thus probe much of the unexplored DM parameter space. I will discuss two novel direct detection methods, Bremsstrahlung and the Migdal effect, that were used by LUX to place limits on DM with masses of 0.4-5 GeV. I will also describe the development of a fully 3D model of electric fields that varied during the detector’s final 332 live-days of data acquisition. Since direct measurement of electric fields was not possible, this work enabled a thorough understanding of the detector throughout its operation. Lastly, I will present new results from the Xenon Breakdown Apparatus (XeBrA) built at LBNL to characterize the dielectric breakdown under high voltage in liquid xenon and liquid argon. Results from XeBrA will inform LZ and the future of noble liquid detector engineering.

Christian Herwig (U. Pennsylvania) " Targeting natural supersymmetry with top quarks"
2018-11-13 16:00 - 17:00 | HYBRID 50A-5132 (Sessler Conference Room), https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/91782268585, 50A-5132
Abstract:
What is the roadmap for the discovery of new physics in the
post-Higgs-observation era? The concept of naturalness can provide a
useful guiding principle, considering the interplay between new, heavy
physics and the electroweak scale. I will describe a new search for
natural models of supersymmetry from the ATLAS experiment via the
production of light top squarks. I will also discuss the impact of
precision top-quark measurements on future searches, highlighting a
recent measurement of quantum interference in top-quark production.

Stephane Brunet Cooperstein (Princeton) "Observation of Higgs Boson Decay to Bottom Quarks by the CMS Experiment"
2018-11-15 16:00 - 17:00 | HYBRID 50A-5132 (Sessler Conference Room), https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/91782268585, 50A-5132
ABSTRACT:
Since the discovery of the Higgs boson six years ago, great progress has been made in measuring precisely its properties. These measurements have primarily been made via rare Higgs boson decays to two photons or two Z bosons due to their distinct experimental signatures. Although 60% of the Higgs bosons are predicted to decay to bottom quarks, it was not originally expected to observe this Higgs boson dominant decay mode until much later in the LHC program due to an overwhelming background of bottom quarks produced via strong interactions. This milestone observation was achieved this summer by both the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the LHC. This seminar presents the observation of the Higgs boson decay to bottom quarks by the CMS experiment, with an emphasis on the latest results using data collected in 2017. The observation was made possible by incorporating deep learning techniques and novel analysis methods. This constitutes the first observation of a Yukawa coupling to down-type quarks. Moreover, it demonstrates the feasibility of the first precision measurements of Higgs bosons in the VH production mode in the near future.

Jesse Liu (U. Oxford) "Opening New Frontiers for Supersymmetry and Dark Matter at the LHC"
2018-11-20 16:00 - 17:00 | HYBRID 50A-5132 (Sessler Conference Room), https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/91782268585, 50A-5132
ABSTRACT:
Smoking gun signals for new physics at the LHC elude us.
What gaps remain under the lamppost? Where do we focus the next
generation of searches? This talk tackles these pressing problems by
highlighting new frontiers opened by recent theoretical surveys,
extending ATLAS beyond its design capability, and state-of-the-art
analysis strategies. Sensitivity to key supersymmetry targets
motivated by naturalness and WIMP dark matter are just surpassing two
decade old LEP limits. Striking blind spots remain around 100 GeV mass
scales that invite creative discovery strategies for future efforts.

Elodie Deborah Resseguie (U. Pennsylvania) "Electroweak SUSY Searches on ATLAS"
2018-11-27 16:00 - 17:00 | HYBRID 50A-5132 (Sessler Conference Room), https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/91782268585, 50A-5132
ABSTRACT:
Supersymmetry (SUSY) gives a solution to the naturalness problem of the Standard Model (SM) while providing a candidate for dark matter, solving two mysteries in modern physics. As the LHC collects more data and sets strong constraints on SUSY in the strong force sector within reach of the collider, new SUSY particles produced by electroweak (EWK) processes remain significantly less unconstrained. The EWK production of SUSY particles can be observed by their decay via the W and Z gauge bosons to final states with two or three leptons and missing transverse momentum from invisible particles. Two SUSY models are considered: one with a Wino next-to-lightest SUSY particle (NLSP) and Bino LSP, motivated by dark matter, and another with a Higgsino LSP, motivated by naturalness. The Higgsino LSP models are particularly challenging due to the small mass, or “compressed”, splittings, leading to low energy W and Z bosons. This requires specialized techniques for triggering, optimizing, and estimating backgrounds. I will present the latest ATLAS searches for both models, including the first result for Higgsino production since LEP, as well the outlook for future studies.

Karri DiPetrillo (Harvard U.) "Searching for long-lived particles with displaced vertices in ATLAS "
2018-11-29 16:00 - 17:00 | HYBRID 50A-5132 (Sessler Conference Room), https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/91782268585, 50A-5132
ABSTRACT:
Most searches for new physics at the Large Hadron Collider assume that a new particle produced in pp-collisions decays almost immediately, or is non-interacting and escapes the detector. However, a variety of new physics models predict particles which decay inside the detector at a discernible distance from the interaction point. Such long-lived particles would create spectacular signatures and evade many prompt searches. In this talk I will focus on a search for long-lived particles in events with a displaced vertex and a muon. I will also discuss challenges for the Muon Spectrometer in the face of increasing LHC luminosity.

Danielle Norcini (Yale) "PROSPECTing for reactor neutrinos at short baselines"
2018-12-04 16:00 - 17:00 | HYBRID 50A-5132 (Sessler Conference Room), https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/91782268585, 50A-5132
ABSTRACT:
Experiments at nuclear reactors have played a key role in determining the properties of the weakly-interacting neutrinos. PROSPECT is a next-generation experiment studying reactor neutrinos at very short baselines (< 10m) in an environment with limited shielding from cosmogenic backgrounds. Commissioned in March 2018, the compact, segmented detector unambiguously observed neutrinos in its first 2 hours of operation. In the months following, PROSPECT has performed a world-leading search for “sterile” neutrino oscillations and made the world-leading measurement of the uranium-235 antineutrino energy spectrum. This talk will detail the detector design, construction, and first physics results.

Scott Haselschwardt (UCSB) " Expected Performance of the LZ Outer Detector and a Radioassay of its Gadolinium-Loaded Liquid Scintillator"
2018-12-11 16:00 - 17:00 | HYBRID 50A-5132 (Sessler Conference Room), https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/91782268585, 50A-5132
ABSTRACT:
The LZ (LUX-ZEPLIN) experiment is a second generation direct dark matter detector under construction at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, South Dakota, USA. LZ will use a 7 tonne central liquid xenon target, arranged in a dual-phase time projection chamber (TPC), to seek evidence for nuclear recoils from a hypothesized galactic flux of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). Surrounding the LZ TPC will be an outer detector (OD) consisting of 17.3 tonnes of LAB-based gadolinium-loaded liquid scintillator (GdLS). The OD’s primary functions will be to tag neutron single-scatter events in the liquid xenon which could mimic a WIMP dark matter signal and to characterize the radiation environment of LZ. In this talk, I summarize the expected performance of the OD and report on the design and results of the “Screener”, a small liquid scintillator detector consisting of ≈ 23 kg of the GdLS to be used in the OD. The Screener was operated in the ultra-low-background environment of the former LUX water shield in the Davis Laboratory at SURF for radioassay of the GdLS. Careful selection of detector materials and use of ultra-low-background PMTs allows the measurement of a variety of radioimpurities. In particular, the 14C/12C ratio in the scintillator is measured, while the use of pulse shape discrimination allows the concentration of isotopes throughout the 238U, 235U, and 232Th chains to be measured by fitting the collected spectra from α and β events. The GdLS is found to meet the requirements for LZ, however, more aggressive purification is being implemented for the final GdLS product that ensures the OD will successfully carry out its role in the hunt for WIMP dark matter.

Brooke Russell (Yale) "Leveraging LArTPC Technology to Definitively Resolve the MiniBooNE Anomaly - An Elctron Neutrino Appearance Search at MicroBooNE"
2018-12-13 16:00 - 17:00 | HYBRID 50A-5132 (Sessler Conference Room), https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/91782268585, 50A-5132
ABSTRACT:
MicroBooNE is a single-phase liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) short-baseline accelerator neutrino experiment located at Fermilab on the Booster neutrino beamline. MicroBooNE’s foremost scientific objective is to address the low energy excess of single shower electromagnetic events seen by the precursor MiniBooNE experiment. Leveraging the fine-grained drifted ionization charge signal from particle interactions, LArTPCs provide detailed topological and calorimetric information for physics analyses. By capitalizing on the interplay between scintillation light and 3D ionization charge imaging, a high efficiency, low background analysis is in development to address MiniBooNE’s anomalous result. The status of this analysis is described.

Sunny Vagnozzi (Stockholm University) "Recent Developments in Neutrino Cosmology"
2018-12-20 16:00 - 17:00 | INPA Common Room (50-5026), 50-5026
ABSTRACT:
A robust detection of neutrino masses is avowedly among the key goals of several upcoming Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and Large-Scale Structure (LSS) surveys. In this talk, I will describe recent progress in neutrino cosmology on three fronts. Firstly, I will illustrate the wealth of information on the sum of the neutrino masses obtainable from current cosmological probes, focusing on LSS data. Current upper limits begin favoring the normal neutrino mass ordering, emphasizing the need to develop statistical tools for quantifying this preference. Next, I will discuss galaxy bias as a limitation towards fully capitalizing on neutrino information hidden in LSS data, proposing a method for calibrating the scale-dependent galaxy bias using CMB lensing-galaxy cross-correlations. Moreover, in massive neutrino cosmologies the bias as usually defined is scale-dependent even on large scales: neglecting this effect will lead to incorrectly inferred parameters. Finally, I will take on a different angle and discuss degeneracies between neutrinos and other cosmological parameters. I will show how in certain physically motivated dynamical dark energy models the neutrino mass upper limits tighten instead of broadening, discussing implications for future laboratory determinations of the mass ordering. I will also discuss how neutrino unknowns affect constraints on inflationary models.

Dmitry Budker (UCB/Mainz) "Recent Results in Mains on the Search for Ultralight DM or Parity Violation in a Chain of Yb Isotopes, and Related Developments"
2019-01-03 16:00 - 17:00 | HYBRID 50A-5132 (Sessler Conference Room), https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/91782268585, 50A-5132

Stefano Soleti (Oxford/Harvard U.) "Searching for a Low-Energy Excess at MicroBOONE"
2019-01-08 16:00 - 17:00 | INPA Common Room (50-5026), 50-5026
ABSTRACT:
The last twenty years have seen a spectacular improvement in our understanding of neutrino oscillations and neutrino physics in general. However, several experiments have shown some puzzling results which do not fit the standard three-flavor mixing scheme of neutrinos. In particular, the LSND and MiniBooNE experiments observed an excess of low-energy electron neutrinos, which could be interpreted as the signature of a fourth, non-weakly interacting, neutrino. The goal of the MicroBooNE experiment, a liquid argon time projection chamber currently running at Fermilab, is to assess the nature of this excess. In this talk the first automated electron neutrino search in a LArTPC will be presented. This result is the first step towards a measurement of the low-energy excess at MicroBooNE.

Cheng-Ju Stephen Lin (LBNL) " ProtoDUNE: Path Towards Building the Largest Liquid Argon Neutrino Detectors"
2019-01-17 16:00 - 17:00 | HYBRID 50A-5132 (Sessler Conference Room), https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/91782268585, 50A-5132
Abstract:
A large international collaboration has been formed to carry out an ambitious project to build the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) for investigating fundamental questions in neutrino and proton decay physics. The DUNE far detector consists of four time-projection chambers (TPC) filled with 70,000 tons of liquid argon. It wil by far be the largest liquid argon neutrino experiment ever built. The ProtoDUNE experiment aims to validate the design and construction of the DUNE far detector by operating two kton-scale prototype detectors in a charged-particle beam at CERN. These two detectors will help assess different technologies for TPC ionization drift and readout (single and dual phase TPC) that are being considered in DUNE. In this talk I will discuss the challenges of building the large prototype detectors and present some preliminary results from operation of the single-phase ProtoDUNE detector.

Joannes Lange (Yale) "Probing Galaxy Formation and Cosmology in the Non-Linear Regime"
2019-01-22 16:00 - 17:00 | HYBRID 50A-5132 (Sessler Conference Room), https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/91782268585, 50A-5132
Abstract:
Current and future galaxy surveys have the potential to transform our understanding of both galaxy formation and cosmology. The distribution of galaxies and matter on small, non-linear scales (~Mpc) holds the most statistical constraining power but is also the most challenging to model. In this talk, I will concentrate on three distinct probes on small scales: galaxy clustering, galaxy-galaxy lensing and satellite kinematics. I will present new measurements of the tension between clustering and lensing in the BOSS survey. The most promising explanations for this tension, baryonic feedback, assembly bias and cosmological parameters different from the Planck CMB constraints, are discussed. Furthermore, I will present an updated, more robust analysis to extract constraints on the galaxy-halo connection from satellite kinematics. The accuracy of this approach is tested using a large number of realistic mock catalogs and shown to yield unbiased, highly competitive constraints. I then apply this updated analysis to the SDSS survey and compare the inferences from satellite kinematics to those from previous studies. Finally, I will discuss future directions for modeling non-linear scales which will allow to unlock the full potential of upcoming surveys like DESI or LSST.

Ximo Poveda Torres (CERN) " The Top-Higgs Connection: Measuring ttH Production with the ATLAS Experiment
2019-01-24 16:00 - 17:00 | HYBRID 50A-5132 (Sessler Conference Room), https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/91782268585, 50A-5132
Abstract:
The measurement of the Yukawa coupling of the top quark and
the Higgs boson, namely the two most massive fundamental particles
observed so far, is a crucial piece for understanding the mechanism of
fermion mass generation. The most promising way to directly probe this
coupling is by measuring the Higgs boson production in association with
a top quark pair (ttH). ATLAS recently observed ttH production using
√s=13 TeV LHC pp collision data, exploiting several Higgs boson decay
channels. Current ttH results will be summarized in this seminar, and
prospects for future measurements will also be discussed.

Jose Luis Bernal (Barcelona U.) "Synenergies and Fundamental Physics from the Large Scale Structure
2019-01-29 16:00 - 17:00 | HYBRID 50A-5132 (Sessler Conference Room), https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/91782268585, 50A-5132
Abstract:
Galaxy surveys and the study of the Large Scale Structure (LSS) have played an important role in establishing the standard cosmological model, LCDM, and will push the envelope of observational cosmology the next decades, thanks to experiments such as DESI and Euclid. In this talk, I will show how we can use LSS observations and techniques to address the tension in the Hubble constant, the origin of supermassive black holes and the nature of dark matter.

Furthermore, the ever larger volumes surveyed by next-generation galaxy surveys will enable access to the ultra-large scales, where signatures of General Relativity and inflation are significant. This will allow us to probe the nature of gravity and the very first instants of the Universe, but also requires a very specific methodology, which I will discuss during the talk.

Kendrick Smith (Perimeter Institute) "CHIME: The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment"
2019-02-14 16:00 - 17:00 | HYBRID 50A-5132 (Sessler Conference Room), https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/91782268585, 50A-5132
Abstract:
CHIME is a new interferometric telescope at radio frequencies 400-800 MHz.
The mapping speed (or total statistical power) of CHIME is among the largest
of any radio telescope in the world, and the technology powering CHIME could
be used to build telescopes which are orders of magnitude more powerful.
Recently during precommissioning, CHIME started finding new fast radio
bursts (FRB’s) at an unprecedented rate, including a new repeating FRB.
Understanding the origin of fast radio bursts is a central unsolved problem
in astrophysics, and we anticipate that CHIME’s statistical power will play an
important role in solving it. In this talk, I’ll give a status update on CHIME, with
emphasis on FRB’s.

Nathan Lourie (U. Pennsylvania) "Sub-arcminute Galactic Polarimetry with the Next Generation Balloon-borne Large-Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (BLAST-TNG)"
2019-02-19 16:00 - 17:00 | HYBRID 50A-5132 (Sessler Conference Room), https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/91782268585, 50A-5132
Abstract:
Mapping the polarized thermal dust emission from our galaxy is important for many fields of astrophysics, and recent observations reveal a complex network of filamentary structures which pervade the interstellar medium and molecular clouds, and are rich with prestellar cores. In the infrared and submillimeter, polarized dust emission traces magnetic field patterns which reveal key insights in to the physical processes which regulate the formation of filaments and stars, while for measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) this dust emission is the dominant foreground.
The Next Generation Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (BLAST-TNG) is a submillimeter mapping experiment planned for a long-duration balloon (LDB) flight from McMurdo Station, Antarctica during the 2018-2019 season. BLAST-TNG is the successor to the BLAST-Pol telescope which flew from Antarctica in 2010 and 2012, and produced degree-scale maps of molecular clouds at arcminute resolution. BLAST-TNG will detect submillimeter polarized interstellar dust emission, tracing magnetic fields in galactic molecular clouds. BLAST-TNG will be the first polarimeter with the sensitivity and resolution to probe the ~0.1 parsec-scale features that are critical to understanding the origin of structures in the interstellar medium. BLAST-TNG will also be able to make the deepest maps to date of the dust emission in the types of dark, diffuse regions of the sky favored by state of the art CMB polarization experiments. BLAST-TNG will probe angular scales not well-characterized to date, and explore correlations between diffuse dust emission and structures in the cold neutral medium at submillimeter wavelengths where the intensity of the thermal dust signal dominates.

Masayuki Wada (Princeton) " WIMP Dark Matter Search from Ionization Channel in DarkSide-50"
2019-02-21 16:00 - 17:00 | HYBRID 50A-5132 (Sessler Conference Room), https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/91782268585, 50A-5132
Abstract:
In spite of a wide range of observational evidence, the mystery of dark matter is still present and dark matter remains to be directly detected. One of the most popular Dark Matter candidates is the Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP). In this talk, I present two results from the DarkSide-50 experiment for high-mass WIMP search and for low-mass WIMP search. In the low-mass WIMP search, there is an excess over the known background events at the small number of electrons region (Ne < 7). An updated study on this excess will be presented.

LianTao Wang (U. Chicago) " Physics of Future Colliders"
2019-02-28 16:00 - 17:00 | HYBRID 50A-5132 (Sessler Conference Room), https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/91782268585, 50A-5132
ABSTRACT:
After the discovery of the Higgs boson, the future of high energy physics became a central question. There have been several proposals of future colliders which would continue the exploration of the high energy frontier beyond the reach of the LHC. Their fate could be determined in this couple of years. I will give an overview of the physics cases for these proposals, and offer my own perspective on the road ahead.

Yoshikazu Nagai (U. Colorado) "Understanding Neutrino Beams: Hadron Production Measurements with NA61/SHINE"
2019-03-05 16:00 - 17:00 | HYBRID 50A-5132 (Sessler Conference Room), https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/91782268585, 50A-5132
ABSTRACT:
A precise prediction of the neutrino flux is a key ingredient for achieving the physics goals of accelerator-based neutrino experiments. In modern experiments, neutrino beams are created from the decays of secondary hadrons produced in hadron-nucleus interactions. Hadron production is the leading systematic uncertainty source on the neutrino flux prediction; therefore, its precise measurement is essential.
The NA61/SPS Heavy Ion and Neutrino Experiment (NA61/SHINE) is a fixed-target experiment at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron which studies hadron production in hadron-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus collisions for various physics goals. For neutrino physics, light hadron beams (protons, pions, and kaons) are collided with a light nuclear target (carbon, aluminum, and beryllium) and spectra of outgoing hadrons are measured. In this talk, I will present recent results and ongoing analyses of hadron production measurements at NA61/SHINE for precise neutrino flux predictions in the T2K and Fermilab-based long-baseline neutrino experiments. I will also discuss the necessity and prospects of further hadron production measurements for the next generation neutrino experiments with NA61/SHINE beyond 2020, after the Long Shutdown 2 of the accelerator complex at CERN.

Emanuele Castorina (UCB) "Cosmology with Neutral Hydrogen in the Post Eeionization Era"
2019-03-07 16:00 - 17:00 | HYBRID 50A-5132 (Sessler Conference Room), https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/91782268585, 50A-5132
ABSTRACT:

Measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropies and, more recently, of the distribution of galaxies at late times led us to the definition of a concordance cosmological model, the so called LCDM model. Despite its phenomenological success, several fundamental questions about the origin and fate of our Universe remain unanswered in the simplest LCDM scenario. What mechanism, if any, has set up the initial conditions of the Universe? What is nature of Dark Energy? What is the value of neutrinos masses, and are there any other light particles?
Several upcoming experiments, like DESI, LSST and Simons Observatory, promise to shed light on some of these misteries, but will still be very far from the cosmic variance limit.
In fact most of the observable volume of the Universe lives at redshift z>2, where observing galaxies at high number densities becomes increasingly more difficult.
A possible solution is offered by neutral hydrogen (HI), which is ubiquitous in our Universe at z<6. In emission, HI can be mapped using the infamous 21 cm line at radio frequencies.
In this talk, after summarizing the current status of 21 cm observations, I will present the science case for a Stage-II 21 cm experiment targeting the redshift range 2<z<6, and show it will dramatically improve our knowledge of DE and inflation, while keep reducing errorbars on other cosmological parameters.

Simon Knapen (IAS) "The Soft Frontier in Dark Matter Direct Detection"
2019-03-12 16:00 - 17:00 | HYBRID 50A-5132 (Sessler Conference Room), https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/91782268585, 50A-5132
ABSTRACT:
Searches for high energy signatures from beyond the standard model physics have advanced greatly, but a lot of ground remains to be covered for soft, low energy signals. In the context of dark matter direct detection, future single-phonon detectors will be sensitive to dark matter with a mass as low as roughly 10 keV. In this regime, the conventional nuclear recoil picture no longer applies and new theoretical tools are needed to correctly calculate the scattering rate. I will discuss the prospects for detector concepts based on superfluid helium and polar material targets, where in the latter case we find a large daily modulation of the scattering rate.

Dean Robinson (UCSC/LBNL) " Model-Independent Pathways to New Physics"
2019-03-14 16:00 - 17:00 | HYBRID 50A-5132 (Sessler Conference Room), https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/91782268585, 50A-5132
ABSTRACT:
New methods and novel strategies are needed in the search for physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM). Motivated by signals of lepton flavor universality violation in semileptonic B decays, I’ll discuss state-of-the-art theoretical developments and new model-independent theoretical tools that are required to self-consistently and efficiently classify these, or other, potential BSM effects within experimental analysis frameworks. I’ll then discuss the development, theory motivations and reach for a proposed subdetector at the LHCb experiment — CODEX-b — capable of competitively searching for decays-in-flight of exotic long-lived particles, which can be signals of a wide range of well-motivated BSM theories.

Richard Bonventre (LBNL) "Investigating Lepton Flavor and Number Violation with the Mu2e and SNO+ Experiments"
2019-03-19 16:00 - 17:00 | HYBRID 50A-5132 (Sessler Conference Room), https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/91782268585, 50A-5132
Abstract:
Neutrino oscillation measurements have shown that lepton flavor is not conserved, and that the standard model must be extended to include neutrino mass. Neutrino-less double beta decay measurements will help understand the nature and origin of neutrino mass, while searches for charged lepton flavor violation will probe whether there is additional flavor-related physics beyond the standard model.
The SNO+ experiment will employ 780 tons of liquid scintillator loaded with 1.3 tons of 130Te for a low-background and high-isotope-mass search for neutrino-less double beta decay. SNO+ will run in multiple phases with different target materials, allowing it to additionally study geo- and reactor neutrinos, solar neutrinos, and search for invisible modes of nucleon decay. First results from the SNO+ water phase will be presented. The Mu2e experiment will search for the charged-lepton flavor violating (CLFV) neutrino-less conversion of a negative muon into an electron in the field of a nucleus. Mu2e will improve the previous measurement by four orders of magnitude, reaching a 90% C.L. sensitivity to CLFV conversion rates of 8 × 10−17 or larger. The experiment is sensitive to a wide range of new physics at high mass scales, complementing direct searches at colliders. Mu2e is under design and construction at the Muon Campus of Fermilab; we expect to start taking physics data in 2023.

Miaoyuan Liu (Fermilab) ""Measure what is measurable and make measurable what is not so — Uncover new physics with bosons at the LHC and upgrades of the CMS detector to maximize the discovery potential""
2019-03-21 16:00 - 17:00 | HYBRID 50A-5132 (Sessler Conference Room), https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/91782268585, 50A-5132
Abstract:

The Standard Model describes the building blocks of matter and their interactions. It has been tested extensively with experimental data and found to be incredibly successful in describing nature. Discovering the Higgs boson in 2012 at the LHC completed the picture of the SM. The LHC is at the forefront of directly searching for new physics which is Beyond-Standard-Model (BSM), and I will discuss searches for supersymmetric partners of the electroweak bosons, as well as measurement of an extremely rare process with three WWW bosons as stringent tests of the SM. I will also discuss the instrumentation which enables such studies. The discussion includes the recently completed CMS Phase-1 pixel upgrade, as well as the R&D studies towards solving the future trigger and computing challenges using innovative machine learning approaches in future high energy experiments.

Florian Beutler (U. Portsmouth) "Exploring Fundamental Physics with Galaxy Redshift Surveys"
2019-03-28 16:00 - 17:00 | HYBRID 50A-5132 (Sessler Conference Room), https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/91782268585, 50A-5132
Abstract:
In this talk, I will present various ways in which we can use galaxy redshift surveys to constrain fundamental physical models. This year the DESI experiment will launch, collecting a dataset of about 50 million galaxies and Quasars. Using observables like Baryon Acoustic Oscillations and Redshift-space distortions we can use this dataset to measure the sum of the neutrino masses and the number of neutrino species as well as test models of dark energy and modified gravity. Moreover, we can test models of the very early Universe (inflation) through primordial non-Gaussianity and primordial oscillations. The multitude of upcoming survey experiments (LSST, Euclid, WFIRST, DESI) offers exciting prospects to put the standard model of cosmology (LCDM) to the test.

Aleksandra Dimitrievska and Karol Krizka "A Very Selective Summary of the Moriond QCD and EW Sessions"
2019-04-23 16:00 - 17:00 | HYBRID 50A-5132 (Sessler Conference Room), https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/91782268585, 50A-5132
Abstract:
Many new results from a wide range of particle physics experiments and
theoretical predictions were shown at the 54th Rencontres de Moriond.
On the experimental side, they included updated ATLAS/CMS analyses
(many using the full Run 2 dataset), probes CP-violation, new
experimental inputs to the muon g-2 prediction, updated neutrino
measurements, results from direct searches for Dark Matter, dynamics
in heavy ion collisions and many more. They were supplemented on the
theory side by higher orders calculations achieving new levels of
precision. We will present a biased selection of the most interesting
results from Moriond EW and QCD sessions.

Hitoshi Murayama (UCB/LBNL) "When a Symmetry Breaks"
2019-04-25 16:00 - 17:00 | HYBRID 50A-5132 (Sessler Conference Room), https://lbnl.zoom.us/j/91782268585, 50A-5132
ABSTRACT:

What is common among a magnet, a halibut, a rack of laundry, your heart on the left of your body, and the Higgs boson? The concept of spontaneous symmetry breaking is ubiquitous among many natural phenomena. I’ll describe the basic concept and its applications. In particular, the original concepts from Anderson, Nambu, Goldstone, and Higgs do not quite work in many systems that include a magnet on your fridge. I generalize the concept so that it is applicable to all known natural phenomena around us. I will also touch on recent related ideas on dark matter and dark energy.

Video:
https://physicstalks.lbl.gov/2019/misc/HitoshiMurayama.html
