(Online) CUMBERLAND LODGE 2021
Are you there Neutrino? It’s me, the Standard Model.
Neutrino Physics: experimental, theoretical and philosophical approaches
AbOUT
Are you there Neutrino? It’s me, the Standard Model.
This year's Maxwell Society's 70th Annual Conference is on Neutrino Physics: the experimental, the theoretical and the philosophical approaches.
Sign up to our Facebook event and get your tickets from our Eventbrite: bit.ly/MaxwellNeutrinoConference
Limited spaces so sign up now!.
There is so much that we don't know about neutrinos. Aptly named, their name means "little neutral one," as they have a small mass and carry no charge.
They are a long-studied particle that still elude concrete definition.
We know them as subatomic particles that interact through only gravity and the weak force. Their lack of interaction with other matter means that they are very difficult to detect. Consequently, neutrinos still remain largely a mystery to us.
We will explore how neutrinos stack up to our currently known idea of the Standard Model. We will be looking at them through an experimental and theoretical view, as well as discussing how philosophy can be used in physics.
Join us on this week long conference to learn more about the neutrino and the most current research and theories around it!
There will be opportunities to gain certificates for participation, as well as networking events in the evenings for you to connect with others who attend.
This conference is open to the general public. The content will be aimed towards physics undergraduates, but we encourage anyone interested to sign up.
Stay updated with news via our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/KCLMaxwell)
Sadly, due to the pandemic and safety guidelines, we are not able to host it at Cumberland Lodge this year, and we hope to be able to host an in person conference when it is again safe to do do.
Timetable and Brochure Academic Liason
Brochure and Timetable
SPEAKERS
Alexander franklin
(KCL)
ABSTRACTS
Neutrinos, the Sun, other stars, and lifeBA
- D. Indumathi
Scientists believe that all matter is made up of elementary particles, that is, fundamental building blocks. Neutrinos are one among them but very special. This talk will introduce these particles and highlight the key role they play in describing how the Sun and other stars shine, and how life on Earth will not be possible without these exotic particles. Along the way, we will mention why neutrinos are taking centre-stage in many experiments current and proposed across the globe. The India-based Neutrino Observatory is one such proposal and we will briefly highlight the key goals of this project.
Neutrinos helping to explain the Universe
- Prof. Francesca di Lodovico
Neutrinos are a key ingredient to possibly explain the current matter-antimatter in the Universe. Studying whether neutrinos and antineutrinos behave in the same way and also whether neutrinos behave like the usual matter or not are main topics of the current and future neutrino experiments.
Astrophysical neutrinos and beyond
- DR Teppei Katori
Neutrino astronomy is a new field to study celestial objects with neutrinos. Optical telescopes observe star lights emitted from the star surface with different wavelengths. Unlike light, neutrinos are emitted only from deep-inside of the stars and galaxies, and they are related to the most extreme phenomena in the universe such as supernova and supermassive black holes. These high-energy neutrinos may show us new fundamental physics too! In this talk, I will introduce neutrino telescopes in the world, and the physics of astrophysical neutrinos.
Neutrinos, the Sun, New Physics and Dark Matter Detectors
- Prof. Malcolm Fairbairn
I will talk about how neutrino detectors and dark matter detectors will both explore neutrinos in the future, and what this can tell us about neutrinos, physics beyond the standard model and the Sun.
How Scientific Problems Shape Theory Development
- Dr Radin Dardashti
The everyday practice of scientists is to a large extent determined by the scientific problems they are confronted with. The conceptual analysis of scientific problems and how they change, therefore, may allow for a fine-grained investigation of the development of a scientific discipline. In this talk I discuss what constitutes a scientific problem, what its elements are and how they change. I will illustrate the advantages of a more problem-focused approach in understanding the development of modern particle physics and hopefully shed some light on some open problems in particle physics and whether they constitute “genuine” problems.
Sterile neutrinos: towards a unified theory of cosmology and
particle physics
- DR Oleg Ruchayskiy
Several well-established observational phenomena -- neutrino masses and oscillations, the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the Universe, dark matter -- do not find their explanation within the otherwise successful Standard Model of particle physics. This means that some new, yet unknown particles and interactions should exist. We do not know their properties, not even their masses. It may well be that these particles have so far evaded their detection not because they are beyond the reach of our accelerators, but because they are below the sensitivity of our detectors.
In this talk, I will present a scenario that unifies particle physics with cosmology, while adding only three new particles to the Standard Model -- heavy neutral leptons (also known as “sterile neutrinos”). Although this extension looks very “mild” and “minimalistic”, it provides a resolution to the beyond-the-Standard-Model problems, testable both in the lab and in space.
Cumberland lodge archive
Find out about previous Cumberland Lodge weekends here.