The observation of neutrino oscillations has shown that neutrinos are massive and hence that the Standard Model of particle physics has to be extended. In this talk I will discuss recent theory developments in neutrino oscillation and scattering physics, and in neutrino mass models which can be used to guide experimental explorations of the neutrino sector.
The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is the future flagship particle physics experiment of the US HEP program. It will measure the mass ordering within a few years, will make precision measurements of various neutrino oscillation parameters, and has the potential to make measurements of CP-violation in the neutrino sector with >5 (>3) sigma significance for 50% (>75%) of the...
Many mysteries still surround the neutrino. Despite being the most common massive particle in the universe, its basic properties, such as their mass, are still unknown, as they interact very rarely with matter. They are produced copiously during the life cycles of stars. Measuring neutrinos from the sun, pioneered by the Davis experiment at SURF, has confirmed the nuclear fusion processes...
Rare event searches allow us to search for new physics inaccessible with other means by leveraging specialized radiation detectors. Machine learning provides a new tool to maximize the information provided by these detectors. The information is sparse, which forces these algorithms to start from the lowest level data and design customized models to produce results. The focus of this seminar...
Abstract: I will review recent work performed by my group on the genome and phenome analyses of individual microbial cells in their natural environment. I will introduce the key concepts, rationale and instrumentation behind these technologies, along with examples of their application. Next, I will focus on results from deep subsurface microbiome studies, including SURF. Together, these...
Despite being the most abundant particle in the universe with mass, several key characteristics of the neutrino remain unknown. A theorized decay process called neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ) offers a unique method to probe properties of the mysterious neutrino, including its quantum nature and mass. The Large Enriched Germanium Experiment for Neutrinoless double-beta Decay (LEGEND) is...
NOvA and T2k are long-baseline accelerator neutrino experiments that are sensitive to oscillation phenomenon governed by the atmospheric mass-squared splitting. In particular, both experiments are sensitive to the CP-violating phase in the neutrino sector. Although both experiments measure the same oscillation process, their measurements are complementary and record data over different...
Abstract: The use of biology in consumer product goods has been a common practice for many years. However, only recently have consumers started to appreciate and intentionally look for products that feature novel biological compound. Extremophiles are a relatively untapped resource for the health and wellness product space. Delavie Sciences has leveraged extremophiles for the creation of...
The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) is a 20 kton liquid scintillator detector under construction 650 m underground in China. JUNO will feature a rich physics portfolio with neutrinos from many sources including nuclear reactors, supernovae, cosmic-ray interactions in the atmosphere, the Sun, and the Earth. The primary neutrino target will consist of a 35.4 m diameter acrylic...
Abstract: The Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) with its vast underground footprint provides opportunities for research activities beyond astroparticle physics, rare event searches and neutrino physics. SURF is hosting biology research focusing on microorganisms in extreme environments, biofilms, as wells as astrobiology and in-situ cultivation. A brief overview of the research...
The next generation neutrinoless double beta (0νββ) decay experiments aim to achieve sensitive to a decay with a half-life of ~1028 years. A germanium-76 (Ge-76)-based experiment can achieve the discovery potential for this rare decay process due to its excellent energy resolution and ability to reject scattered gamma-ray events. LEGEND-1000 prefers large-size detectors (>3 kg per detector)...
In order to make precision measurements of Neutrino oscillation parameters, the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) will improve both statistical and systematic uncertainties that current generation experiments are susceptible to. DUNE's neutrino beam of unparalleled intensity and 17 kton/module target mass will serve to mitigate statistical uncertainties to a level where systematic...
XENONnT employs a large target mass and dual-phase TPC to achieve unparalleled sensitivity in rare event searches. The neutrinoless double-beta ($0\nu\beta\beta$) decay searches at XENONnT encounters limitations due to gamma-rays emitted by the detector material. Therefore, a TextCNN (convolutional neural network for text) model with waveform augmentation is designed to extract maximum...
Methane-oxidizing bacteria (MOB) play a crucial role in the global methane cycle, serving as significant actors in biogeochemical cycling. However, their physiological response to changing oxygen concentrations remains incompletely understood. This study, in part, demonstrates how two MOB species, Methylosinus trichosporium OB3b and Methylomonas sp. WSC-7, respond to changing oxygen...
Massive neutrinos impart an experimental signature in the endpoint region of beta-decay spectra. The KArlsruhe TRitium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment uses a high-activity tritium source and a high-resolution spectrometer to place the most stringent upper limit on the effective neutrino mass of 0.8 eV/c^2 (90% CL). Experimental improvements and further data taking will bring KATRIN towards its...
This presentation provides an overview of the recent advancements in High Purity Germanium (HPGe) crystals at the University of South Dakota (USD). The focus of this research lies in the meticulous characterization of HPGe crystals, addressing critical parameters such as impurity concentration, dislocation density, and diameter control during crystal growth.
Our goal is to improve the...
Methane, a potent greenhouse gas, has garnered significant attention due to its environmental impact and economic potential. Enhancing methane catalysis poses challenges in both chemical and biological sectors. Biological methane conversion offers advantages such as higher conversion rates, improved selectivity, self-renewal properties, and economically feasible upstream processing. The...
The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a next-generation long baseline neutrino experiment, which will measure the oscillation probabilities of neutrinos and antineutrinos at unprecedented precision to quantify the Charge-Parity (CP) violation in the leptonic sector. These measurements require a precision detector calibration that constrains the uncertainties from relevant detector...
Kritika Thakur1, Chirag Abrol2, David R. Salem1, and Rajesh K. Sani1,2, Tanvi Govil1
1 Karen M. Swindler Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, South Dakota Mines, Rapid City, SD, USA
2 Department of Chemistry, Biology, and Health Sciences, South Dakota Mines, Rapid City, SD, USA
In the quest for sustainable biopolymers, Polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs) stand out for their...
In the United States, addressing the detrimental effects of freeze-thaw phenomena on highway infrastructure alone costs approximately $2 billion annually. Frost-heave and thaw-weakening pose significant challenges to civil infrastructure in cold regions. Psychrophiles have evolved a range of adaptations to cope with the stresses imposed by freeze-thaw cycles. This research project presents the...
A biofilm is a layer of microbial cells associated with a surface enclosed in an extracellular polymeric matrix. Research in biofilms is associated with the benefits and drawbacks of its growth, which include roles in bioremediation and wastewater treatment as the pros and influence on human health as the cons. We have initially grown biofilms on a glass surface and subsequently obtained its...
1 Karen M. Swindler Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, South Dakota Mines, Rapid City, SD, USA
2 Department of Chemistry, Biology, and Health Sciences, South Dakota Mines, Rapid City, SD, USA
Sustainable production of biofertilizers offers an environmentally friendly alternative to chemical fertilizers, mitigating runoff and reducing industrial production. Here, we propose...
The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a long-baseline neutrino experiment that will send an intense beam of neutrinos through two particle detectors: a near detector located at Fermilab (Chicago), and far detector located at ~1.5 km underground at Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in South Dakota.
The first far detector module (FD1) will employ Horizontal Drift (HD)...
Hints of neutrino oscillations were first apparent in the solar electron neutrino deficit observed by the Davis Solar Neutrino experiment in the Homestake Mine (Lead, SD). Subsequent experiments showed that neutrinos oscillate - proving they are massive. This, paired with the Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein (MSW) effect explaining how matter alters oscillations, allows for a full explanation of...
When completed, the far detector of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), which will be located nearly a mile underground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, SD, will be the world’s largest and most advanced liquid argon time projection chamber-based neutrino detector. DUNE's goal is to answer open questions on neutrino properties and to explore potential...
Abstract: The Accelerator Neutrino Neutron Interaction Experiment (ANNIE) is a 26-ton water Cherenkov neutrino detector along the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) at Fermilab. Its primary physics goals are the measurement of final-state neutron yield of neutrino interactions and of charged-current cross section of muon neutrinos. ANNIE is also a prime staging ground for up-and-coming technologies...
Sulfate Reducing Bacteria (SRB) demonstrate remarkable metabolic adaptability spanning various environments, including marine sediments, wastewater systems, and oil reservoirs, highlighting their substantial metabolic flexibility influenced by the variability in pH conditions. Nevertheless, the precise molecular mechanisms underlying their adaptation strategy remain elusive. Investigating the...
DUNE needs 40 kilotons of LAr fiducial mass to achieve its core CPV physics goal specified in the 2014 P5 report. To complete the fiducial mass, the DUNE phase 2 program requires two more FD modules in addition to FD1 and FD2. The construction of phase II FD3 is endorsed in every budget scenario in the 2023 P5 report. DUNE envision its phase II FD3 with a much more capable photon detection...
Antonia Gibbs (1) and Jasmeet Kaur (2), Chirag Abrol (2), Tanvi Govil (1), Heidi Sierveding (3), and Rajesh K. Sani (1,2)
1 Karen M. Swindler Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, South Dakota Mines, Rapid City, SD, USA
2 Department of Chemistry, Biology, and Health Sciences, South Dakota Mines, Rapid City, SD, USA
3 Civil and Environmental Engineering (CEE), South Dakota...
Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers (LArTPCs) are set to be one of the main detector technologies for the next generation of neutrino experiments. While LArTPCs have already been proven to be exceptional detectors for GeV-scale physics, their sensitivity to the MeV scale is still limited by backgrounds and non-optimal energy resolution.
SoLAr is a R&D project aiming to boost the...
Voluminous generation of electronic waste (e-waste) is a global trend, with 53.6 Mt of generation in 2019; it is further expected to reach 74.9 Mt by 2030 world-wide. This waste is a secondary source of various valuable metals including critical and rare metals, and processes of recovering these metals has been seen with the concept of urban mining. While pyrometallurgical and...
Theia is a proposed large-scale neutrino detector designed to discriminate between Cherenkov and scintillation signals in order to facilitate a rich program of precision and rare-event physics. The baseline design consists of a tank filled with a novel scintillator, such as water-based liquid scintillator (WbLS), along with fast, spectrally-sensitive photon detection, in order to leverage both...
With radiopurity controls and targeted design modifications a kton-scale liquid argon time projection chamber similar to DUNE could be used for enhanced low energy physics searches. This includes improved sensitivity to supernova and solar neutrinos, and other rare event searches. This talk will present simulation studies to evaluate physics sensitivities of such a module. It will also discuss...
Abstract: The microbiome is a community of microbes living together in a specific habitat. Microbiome is the all-rounder player in nature that participates in dual functions in natural processes. They are the producers of green-house gases, and consumers too. The bioenergy and environmental processes to produce the fuels, chemicals and materials with net zero emissions are mandatory to achieve...
Optical readout of large scale dual-phase liquid Argon TPCs is an attractive and cost effective
alternative to charge readout. Following the successful demonstration of 3D optical readout with
the ARIADNE 1-ton detector, the ARIADNE+ experiment was deployed using the
protoDUNE “cold box” at the CERN neutrino platform imaging a much larger active region of
2mx2m. ARIADNE+ uses 4 Timepix3...
The Standard Model, as it currently stands, is not able to explain some of the most important questions about our universe such as what was the mechanism that led to the observed antimatter-matter asymmetry. Answers to these fundamental questions may come from neutrinos, which are one of the least understood particles. One of the most interesting possibilities is that neutrinos could be...
The search for neutrinoless double beta decay is currently the most sensitive tool to study the possible identity of neutrinos and anti-neutrinos and with-it new physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. A world-wide effort is under way to mount a new generation of experiments, utilizing ton-amounts of decaying substance, deployed in detectors with unprecedented background. The...
Neutrino experiments will have leading sensitivity to several dark matter and dark sector models. I discuss signals from a range of different dark sector models, from induced nucleon decay in mesogenesis models to production, scattering, and decay of dark sector states in neutrino beams. I present simulation tools for boosted dark matter and induced nucleon decay signals. I discuss some...
We know dark matter exists and we have been trying to directly detect it for almost 40 years. Experiments searching for the heavily-favored candidate, the GeV-scale WIMP, have thus far yielded null results. Recently, the field has pushed towards a new class of “hidden sector” particles, with masses below the proton. To observe this type of “light” dark matter, new, extremely sensitive...
Massive and deep underground detectors such as the future Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) will offer a great opportunity to search for rare, beyond-the-Standard-Model (BSM) physics signals including baryon number violating (BNV) processes. One such BNV process is nucleus-bound neutron-antineutron transition, followed by antineutron annihilation on a nearby neutron/proton that...
The DUNE experiment will have a rich set of physics topics, including neutrino oscillation and Beyond Standard Model (BSM) physics. Of great importance to the latter of these goals in baryon number violation (BNV), especially including proton decay (PDK), neutron-antineutron transformations, and dinucleon decay. All suffer from atmospheric neutrino backgrounds, which at times mimic these rare...
The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) is a 20 kton multipurpose underground liquid scintillator (LS) detector currently under construction in China, with a 650-meter rock overburden (1800 m.w.e.) for shielding against cosmic rays. One of the capabilities of JUNO detector is to search for the baryon number violation processes, which would be a crucial step towards testing the...
The DarkSide-20k liquid-argon dark-matter detector is a two phase TPC currently under construction at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) in Italy. It is the next phase in the Global Argon dark Matter Collaboration’s efforts and will start operations in 2026. The 50-tonne (20-tonne fiducial) mass of low radioactivity underground argon will comprise a two-phase time projection chamber...
Machine learning (ML) techniques are increasingly being used in the analysis of data in particle physics as well as in neutrinoless double-decay experiments. ML approach is often suitable to discriminate between signal and background events in cases where signal and background spectrum are well-known and when the spectra can be fed into ML algorithms for training. Also, various ML-based pulse...
We investigate the phenomenology of light GeV-scale fermionic dark matter in $U(1)_{L_\mu - L_{\tau}}$ gauge extension of the Standard Model. Heavy neutral fermions alongside with a $S_1(\overline{3}$,$1$,$1/3$) scalar leptoquark and an inert scalar doublet are added to address the flavor anomalies and light neutrino mass respectively. The light gauge boson associated with...
The CRESST experiment (Cryogenic Rare Event Search with Superconducting Thermometers) focuses on detecting dark matter particles scatter off nuclei in cryogenic detectors using different materials such as CaWO$_4$, Al$_2$O$_3$, LiAlO$_2$, and Si. Capable of identifying nuclear recoils with detection thresholds as low as 10 eV, CRESST is highly effective in the pursuit of low mass dark matter...
This abstract introduces Hall effect measurements for evaluating Germanium crystal properties and proposes using machine learning to improve accuracy amidst challenges like equipment failures and sample fluctuations. It focuses on high-purity Germanium for rare event detection. Traditional methods for assessing impurity levels are limited, prompting the exploration of machine learning. The...
The low mass (< 10 GeV/$c^2$) dark matter parameter space presents several candidates of interest, but requires devices with excellent energy resolution operated in ultra-low background environments to perform meaningful searches. SuperCDMS SNOLAB is a broadband direct dark matter search experiment projected to achieve world-leading sensitivity under 5 GeV/$c^2$ mass for nucleon-coupled dark...
LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) is a dark matter direct detection experiment using a dual-phase xenon time projection chamber with a 7-ton active volume, which recently set a world leading limit for spin-independent scattering at 36 GeV/c2, rejecting cross sections above 9.2×10−48 cm2 at the 90% confidence level. Machine learning techniques have been explored at various stages of data analysis, for...
The DAMIC-M (DArk Matter In CCDs at Modane) experiment will use skipper CCDs to search for low mass (sub-GeV) dark matter underground at the Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane (LSM). With a kg-scale silicon target mass and sub-electron energy resolution, the detector will surpass the exposure and threshold of previous experiments. Thus, DAMIC-M will have world-leading sensitivity to a variety of...
As new dark matter detectors turn on, it’s useful to think about what dark matter discovery will look like.
This talk will discuss two aspects of building trust in dark matter results: (1) data blinding through adding “salt,” or fake signal, and (2) the possibilities in combining underground detector information to further constrain backgrounds.
Several dark matter experiments (this talk...
The TESSERACT experiment will perform direct-detection searches for MeV-scale dark matter using transition-edge sensors (TESs) and multiple cryogenic target materials. The target materials (superfluid helium-4, gallium arsenide, and polar sapphire) are complementary to dark matter searches in the MeV range, and each produces photon and quasiparticle signals. Comparing these signals will allow...
As we seek to meet global decarbonization goals there is an urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by transitioning to clean sources of energy and increasing total energy efficiency. The crystalline rocks that make up the primary constituents of the earth's continental crust have a high specific heat, making them efficient reservoirs for storing thermal energy. Where these rocks are...
The MicroBooNE liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) operated in the BNB and NuMI neutrino beamlines as part of the short baseline neutrino (SBN) program at Fermilab from 2015-2021. The experiment collected the world’s largest neutrino-argon scattering data set, which it has used to publish over 60 results covering its primary physics goals: (1) investigate the MiniBooNE low-energy...
The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is the next-generation long-baseline experiment aimed at measuring Charge-Parity Violation (CPV) in the neutrino sector along with unambiguously resolving the neutrino mass hierarchy. In addition, DUNE can also search for physics Beyond the Standard Model (BSM), nucleon decay, supernova and solar neutrinos. DUNE will consist of a near detector at...
The closer accelerator-based experiments get to the burning regime of interest for stellar nucleosynthesis, the lower the reaction probability becomes. With this exponential drop off in cross-section the issue of background interference in signals becomes more problematic even with modern detection techniques. Aboveground experiments suffer from background interactions from cosmic ray...
Demand for plasmid DNA has increased tremendously with growth in cell and gene therapies and surged following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. Scaling up manufacturing capacity for production of high-quality plasmid DNA to meet demand will require automated solutions using industrial automation components that are more durable, dynamic, and powerful than lab instruments. This plasmid...
The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a project that includes four 17.5-kton modules with liquid argon that will be located about a mile underground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in Lead, South Dakota. One of its primary goals is to observe and characterize neutrinos coming from a supernova burst in the Milky Way and surrounding galaxies. In the case of a...
We are going to present the CYGNO/INITIUM project for the development of a high precision optical readout gaseous Time Projection Chamber (TPC) for directional Dark Matter search and solar neutrino spectroscopy, to be hosted at Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS). CYGNO peculiar features are the use of sCMOS cameras and PMTs coupled to a multiple GEM amplification structure to readout a...
The Deep Underground Neutron Experiment (DUNE) uses a neutrino beam and near detectors at Fermilab and four 10 kilotonne liquid argon Far Detector modules at SURF in South Dakota in order to measure fundamental neutrino properties and to search for supernova neutrinos, nucleon decay, and a plethora of other physics topics. While DUNE's far detectors are powerful tools for studying a wide...
Readout cables for signal sensors are a fundamental component of rare event searches for dark matter and neutrinoless double beta decay. While they possess unique electrical and mechanical properties, polyimide-based flexible cables can be a significant contributor to the total detector background, due to their relatively high content of long-lived primordial radionuclides like 238U and 232Th...
The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) at the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) is an international project that will be the largest particle physics experiment ever built in North America. The DUNE project will use massive liquid argon time projection chambers (LArTPCs) to provide insight on fundamental questions such as the origin of the matter/antimatter asymmetry in the...
Achieving detector-grade germanium crystals necessitates employing advanced purification methods to eliminate impurities from standard-grade materials. At the University of South Dakota, we specialize in a meticulous zone refining process tailored to ensure exceptional purity and quality. In this presentation, we delve into the nuances of semiconductor types and provide an overview of how...
This work explores a fascinating oddity in semiconductor dielectric behavior at very low temperatures, with a particular focus on germanium detectors operating at helium temperatures. The relative capacitance rapidly decreases below 11 K and stabilizes at 6.5 K, which is similar to the fully depleted state that was measured at 77.8 K under ambient circumstances. Interestingly, this...
In the standard model of particle physics (SM), the neutrino is an elementary particle that is significantly lighter than other massive particles and can exist in one of three flavor or mass states. Because of this, neutrinos can change states as they undergo a process called neutrino oscillations. Neutrino-oscillation parameters have been measured in many experiments and are mostly consistent...
Presently, there is a significant focus on synthesizing antibacterial nanomaterials for various antibacterial applications, necessitating modifications to the chemical processes involved. In this study, we present the synthesis of chitosan-stabilized calcium peroxide (CCP) nanomaterials (NMs) using a facile precipitation technique with varying reaction temperatures. The crystalline structure...
