PAN Seminar: Where are the Sterile Neutrinos? Bryce Littlejohn, IIT
This event is in the past.
2:45 p.m. to 4 p.m.
666 W. Hancock
Detroit, MI 48201
The past three decades of experimental neutrino measurements have accumulated observations of potential anomalous short-baseline flavor transformation from different sectors of varied neutrino source (proton accelerators, reactors, and intense radioactive sources) and energy (from sub-MeV to GeV scales). They serve as an intensifying experimental impetus for pursuing beyond Standard Model (BSM) physics accessible through the neutrino sector, such as new neutrino mass states and hidden-sector couplings. With the generation mechanism of neutrino mass currently unknown, these BSM searches are also theoretically well-motivated. In this talk, I will provide an updated view of today’s short-baseline neutrino anomaly landscape, focusing on how new and recent results are evolving community assessments of this sub-field. In particular, a plethora of recent null results from widely varied experiment sectors appears to be turning community sentiment against simple sterile neutrino scenarios and redirecting interest towards a more diverse array of BSM explanations.