Department of Physics

neutrino and nuclear physics

Our group investigates the properties and interactions of neutrinos. This includes both the phenomenon of neutrino oscillations as well as using the neutrino to probe the structure of the nucleon and nucleus.

The phenomenon of neutrino oscillations, where a neutrino of one type spontaneously transforms into another, has important and far-reaching implications for particle physics and cosmology. For this to occur, at least one neutrino must be massive and the heretofore-observed lepton-flavor conservation law must be violated. We have observed a signal in our MiniBooNE experiment that may imply that there are more than three generations of neutrinos and “sterile” neutrinos may exist.

Neutrinos interact only via weak nuclear force, thus they can probe nucleons and nuclei in unique fashion that may reveal beyond-standard model effects. If the energy of the neutrinos is low then they interact with nuclei coherently and are sensitive to the total weak charge of the nucleus.

We are employing this technique in the COHERENT experiment to understand the nucleus and search for new physics. In addition, there may be unknown particles produced in the intense beams used to make neutrinos. They may be related to the elusive dark matter that has been seen, up to now, only via gravitational interactions.

These experiments require large, sensitive detectors that we design and build in our labs at IU, then take to various national laboratories to run.

Visit the Tayloe lab website