Y2 Neutrino Physics (spring 2017)

Part of module 17301 "Nuclear Physics and Neutrinos"

School of Physics and Astronomy ♦ University of Birmingham

Dr E Goudzovski

Contact details: Physics West 212, email eg@hep.ph.bham.ac.uk. [more info]

General information

The lectures are on Tuesdays at 17:00 in Aston Webb Main LT and on Fridays at 16:00 in Haworth LT 101.
First lecture: Friday 17 February 2017 at 16:00.
Last lecture: Friday 24 March at 16:00.
Revision lecture: Wednesday 26 April at 10:00 (Aston Webb Main LT).

Lectures

№	Date	Summary	Notes	Suggested texts and papers
1	17 Feb	Introduction to particle physics The system of units Distance and energy scale Basics of relativistic kinematics Reaction thresholds	[pdf]	Textbooks: Martin & Shaw (chapters 1, 2); Perkins (chapter 1); Griffiths (chapters 1, 3)
2	21 Feb	Fundamental particles and interactions Quarks and leptons Forces, their ranges and strenghts Internal quantum numbers and conservation laws Feynman diagrams Examples of electromagnetic processes	[pdf]	Textbooks: Martin & Shaw (chapters 1, 2, 8); Perkins (chapters 1, 2); Griffiths (chapters 1, 2)
3	24 Feb	The weak force; early history of the neutrino Weak lepton decays Hadron structure and decays Spectra of α- and β-decays Ellis & Wooster experiment (1927) Postulation of the neutrino (1930)	[pdf]	Textbooks: Martin & Shaw (chapters 3, 6, 8); Perkins (chapter 7); Sutton (chapters 1, 2); Solomey (chapter 1) Particle Data Group review: the quark model Ellis & Wooster experiment: Nature 119 (1927) 563
4	27 Feb 18:00	How to detect a neutrino? Nuclear reactors as anti-neutrino sources Neutrino detection via inverse β-decay Cross-section and mean free path Cross-section of the inverse β-decay Designing a reactor neutrino detector	[pdf]	Textbooks: Martin & Shaw (chapter 2); Perkins (chapter 7.4); Sutton (chapter 3); Solomey (chapter 4)
5	3 Mar	Discoveries of the leptons Discovery of the electron antineutrino (1956) Discoveries of the 2nd generation leptons Discoveries of the 3rd generation leptons	[pdf]	Textbooks: Sutton (chapters 3, 4); Solomey (chapters 4, 5, 9). Cowan & Reines experiment: PR 117 (1960) 159 ν_μ discovery: PRL 9 (1962) 36 τ discovery: PL 35 (1975) 1489 ν_τ discovery: PLB 504 (2001) 218
6	7 Mar	Neutrino mass and mixing Absolute neutrino mass measurements Neutrino mixing Two-flavour oscillations Oscillation length, appearance and survival probabilities Three-flavour mixing formalism	[pdf]	Textbooks: "Absolute mass measurements" in Soler et al. Martin & Shaw (chapter 2.3); Perkins (chapter 9.7); Sutton (chapter 4); Griffiths (chapters 11.2, 11.4, 11.5) Mainz m_ν experiment: EPJC 40 (2005) 447 PSI m_ν experiment: PRD 53 (1996) 6065 Particle Data Group review on neutrino mass and oscillations (2015): [pdf] Maple demonstration of neutrino oscillations.
7	10 Mar	Atmospheric neutrino experiments Atmospheric neutrino production The Cherenkov effect Water Cherenkov neutrino detectors Super-Kamiokande Evidence for atmospheric ν oscillations Cherenkov neutrino telescopes	[pdf]	Textbooks: Martin & Shaw (chapter 2.3.2); Kleinknecht (chapter 5.3); Perkins (chapter 9.7.2); "Atmospheric Neutrinos" (p.147-170) in Soler et al. Super-K: PRL 81 (1998) 1562
8	14 Mar	Solar neutrino experiments (part I) The sun as thermonuclear reactor The Homestake chlorine experiment Gallium experiments (SAGE, GALLEX/GNO) Solar ν measurements with water Cherenkov detectors The solar neutrino problem	[pdf]	Textbooks: Martin & Shaw (chapter 2.3.2); Perkins (chapter 9.7.1); Sutton (chapter 6); Solomey (chapter 4); "Solar Neutrinos" (p.217-238) in Soler et al. Homestake: APJ 496 (1998) 505 SAGE: PRC 80 (2009) 015807 GNO: PLB 616 (2005) 174 Kamiokande: PRL 77 (1996) 1683 Super-Kamiokande: PRD 83 (2011) 052010
9	17 Mar	Solar neutrino experiments (part II) Sudbury neutrino observatory (SNO) Neutrino detection via CC, NC and ES processes Resolution of the solar neutrino problem Low-energy solar ν: Borexino experiment Matter effects for solar ν	[pdf]	Textbooks: see lecture 8. SNO: arXiv:1109.0763 Borexino: PRL 107 (2011) 141302 (⁷Be); PRL 108 (2012) 051302 (pep)
10	21 Mar	Accelerator neutrino experiments Neutrino production by accelerators Physics programme of accelerator experiments Recent results from the MINOS, T2K and OPERA experiments	[pdf]	Textbooks: "Accelerator-based experiments" (p.183-216) in Soler et al. A collection of MINOS results: [here] T2K (disappearance): PRL 112 (2014) 181801 T2K (appearance): PRL 112 (2014) 061802 OPERA (appearance): PRD 89 (2014) 051102
11	24 Mar	Reactor experiments; lepton flavour & number violation KamLAND and Daya Bay experiments Neutrino-induced lepton flavour violation Dirac and Majorana neutrinos Neutrinoless double beta decay Current problems in neutrino physics	[pdf]	Textbooks: Martin & Shaw (chapters 2.3, 11.6); Perkins (chapters 9.6, 9.6, 9.7); Sutton (chapter 3); Solomey (chapters 3,6); "Experiments with Reactors" and "Neutrinoless double beta decay" in Soler et al. Daya Bay: PRL 112 (2014) 061801 KamLAND: PRL 100 (2008) 221803
12	26 Apr 10.00	Revision lecture	[pdf]

Past examination papers

The most recent papers:

2012 exam: [pdf]
2013 exam: [pdf]
2014 exam: [pdf]
2015 exam: [pdf]

Reading list

Neutrino physics is a modern and evolving subject, therefore there is no single textbook covering the whole course. For the first part of the course, several general particle physics and neutrino-specific texts are recommended. For the second part of the course, the reading list mostly consists of the original papers (see the table above).

We aim to keep a good number of the books that you may need in the library (subject to shelf space constraint). If you have tried to take out a book and there were none left, please register this with the TSO using [this link]. Please state the book, the module and whether you put a reservation request in.

Availability of the recommended books at the University library: [here].
University library catalogue: [here].

Neutrino specific

F.J.P. Soler, C.D. Froggatt, F.Muheim (ed.). Neutrinos in Particle Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology, Taylor and Francis, ISBN 978-1-4200-8239-5 (2009).
C. Sutton. Spaceship Neutrino, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-36404-3 (1992).
N. Solomey. The Elusive Neutrino, Scientific American Library, ISBN 0-7167-5080-5 (1997).
F. Close. Neutrino, Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0-19-957459-9 (2010).
R.N. Mohapatra and P.B. Pal. Massive neutrinos in physics and astrophysics (3rd edition), World Scientific, ISBN 978-9812380715 (2002). (Also earlier editions: 1991 and 1998).[eBook]
K. Zuber. Neutrino Physics (2nd edition), CRC Press, INSB 978-1-4200-6471-1 (2011).
M. Fukugita and T. Yanagida. Physics of Neutrinos and Applications to Astrophysics, Springer, ISBN 978-3-6420-7851-4 (2003).

General particle physics

B.R. Martin and G. Shaw. Particle Physics (3rd edition), Wiley and Sons, ISBN 978-0-470-03294-7 (2008).
D.H. Perkins. Introduction to high energy physics (4th edition), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521621968 (2010). Emphasis on 'historical' physics/methods.
D. Griffiths. Introduction to elementary particles (2nd edition). Wiley and Sons, ISBN 978-3-527-40601-2.
B.R. Martin. Particle physics: a beginner's guide, Oneworld Publications, ISBN 1851687866 (2011).
F. Halzen and A.D. Martin. Quarks and Leptons: An Introductory Course in Modern Particle Physics, Wiley and Sons, ISBN 0-471-88741-2 (1984). More advanced than required for our course.
B.R. Martin. Nuclear and Particle Physics (2nd edition) Wiley and Sons, ISBN 978-0-470-74275-4 (2009).
R. Cahn and G. Goldhaber. The experimental foundations of particle physics (2nd edition), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-52147-5 (2009).
G.D. Coughlan and J.E. Dodd. The ideas of particle physics: an introduction for scientists (2nd edition), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521385067 (1991).

Particle detectors

K. Kleinknecht. Detectors for particle radiation (2nd edition), Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-64854-8 (1998). The library has a couple of copies of 1st ed. which will also be useful.
C. Grupen and B. Shwartz. Particle Detectors (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-18795-4 (2011).

Other

Neutrino unbound: a comprehensive summary of neutrino physics

Dr E Goudzovski / eg@hep.ph.bham.ac.uk