Abstract: It has been nearly a century since neutrinos were first postulated, and we continue to uncover new mysteries about them, including neutrino oscillations that are challenging the Standard Model of particle physics. The study of neutrino oscillations may provide insight into why there is more matter in today's universe than antimatter. Increasing advances in neutrino detector technologies continue to make neutrino experiments more precise in their studies of neutrino oscillations. As we enter a precision era in neutrino physics, the next-generation neutrino oscillation experiment DUNE will utilize detector technologies that will use argon as their nuclear target for the first time, and will therefore require a precise understanding of neutrino interactions on the argon nucleus. As the only running liquid-argon neutrino detector in the world, MicroBooNE can provide input on neutrino-argon interaction uncertainties that need to be constrained for DUNE. In this talk, I will present the latest results of a neutrino interaction cross-section analysis in MicroBooNE that can help us understand the current limits of modeling nuclear effects in neutrino-argon interactions. I will then present a crucial component of DUNE, a high-pressure gas argon detector with a low detection threshold and fine-grained tracking capability which can provide a data-driven constraint on neutrino-Ar cross sections in previously inaccessible kinematic regions. More specifically, I will present how the findings from the MicroBooNE analysis can provide input toward the design and prototyping work of this future high-pressure gas argon detector.
The College of Arts