SPACE AND COSMIC RAY PHYSICS SEMINAR

University of Maryland
Atlantic Building, Room 2400 4:30 PM Monday, November 18, 2019
Coffee, Tea & Snacks 4:15-4:30 PM

Pieter Mumm
NIST Center for Neutron Research

Neutrinos from Nuclear Reactors

Nuclear reactors are one of the most intense, pure, and controllable sources of neutrinos available. As a result, reactor neutrinos have been an important tool for both discovery and refined measurement in our evolving understanding of fundamental physics. Over the last several decades, reactors were central to the discovery of neutrinos and played a significant role in our understanding neutrino oscillation. We are now entering an era of precision measurement. At the same time reactor experiments have brought to light puzzling discrepancies between theoretical expectations and measurement. These hint at problems with the nuclear physics of reactor models or perhaps even additional physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. This seminar will tell this story.