Neutrinos at Fermilab (Second Part)

"Long-baseline neutrino oscillation physics in the U.S. is centered at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), in particular at the Neutrinos at the Main Injector (NuMI) beamline commissioned in 2004-2005. Already, the MINOS experiment has published its first results confirming the disappearance of ν_μ’s across a 735 km baseline. The forthcoming NOνA experiment will search for the transition ν_μ→ν_e and use this transition to understand the mass hierarchy of neutrinos. These, as well as other conceptual ideas for future experiments using the NuMI beam, will be discussed. The turn-on of the NuMI facility has been positive, with over 310 kW beam power achieved. Plans for increasing the beam intensity once the Main Injector accelerator is fully-dedicated to the neutrino program will be presented."

This is Sacha Kopp abstract in his recent "Long-Baseline Neutrino Physics in the U.S." talk at NOW 2006 in Italy.

He ends his talk like this:

The NuMI line is commissioned and performing well. As the Tevatron collider ramps down, Fermilab will be a dedicated neutrino facility, and the accelerator complex will be re-commissioned toward higher beam power.

MINOS is still operating at Fermilab. A beam of neutrinos is sent to Minnesota and detected there, in the way the neutrinos oscillate and thus their mass difference can be measured. This is the result of close to twenty years of great work by the scientists involved. This was the first experiment of its size, now there are several either in operation or in construction in different parts of the world.

Neutrinos do not decay, they just change from one type to another, only when a detector is in their way they appear as one type or the other, as a class though, neutrinos are forever.

The US is fortunate to have an experiment of such transcendence operating in its territory. Internal sources tell me that it was approved, even if it sounded so difficult, because other expensive facilities, like the SSC in Texas, were not supported.

Now the next best thing is the NLC (Next Linear Collider), let us hope that American taxpayers see the importance of keeping these big experiments in the US.

It is interesting how a hadron collider is turning into a lepton source.

On his turn José Valle writes in the summary talk at NOW 2006:

The progress in the physics of neutrino oscillations in the last few years has been truly remarkable. Oscillations are now established, implying that neutrinos have masses, as first suggested by theorists in the early eighties, both on general grounds and on the basis of various versions of the seesaw mechanism. This is a profound discovery that marks the beginning of a new age in neutrino physics.