Accelerator-based neutrino oscillation searches
This paper attempts to summarize the neutrino oscillation section of the Workshop on Future Directions in Particle and Nuclear Physics at Multi-GeV Hadron Beam Facilities. There were very lively discussions about the merits of the different oscillation channels, experiments, and facilities, but we believe a substantial consensus emerged. First, the next decade is one of great potential for discovery in neutrino physics, but it is also one of great peril. The possibility that neutrino oscillations explain the solar neutrino and atmospheric neutrino experiments, and the indirect evidence that Hot Dark Matter (HDM) in the form of light neutrinos might make up 30% of the mass of the universe, point to areas where accelerator-based experiments could play a crucial role in piecing together the puzzle. At the same time, the field faces a very uncertain future. The LSND experiment at LAMPF is the only funded neutrino oscillation experiment in the United States and it is threatened by the abrupt shutdown of LAMPF proposed for fiscal 1994. The future of neutrino physics at the Brookhaven National Laboratory AGS depends the continuation of High Energy Physics (HEP) funding after the RHIC startup. Most proposed neutrino oscillation searches at Fermilab depend on the completion of the Main Injector project and on the construction of a new neutrino beamline, which is uncertain at this point. The proposed KAON facility at TRIUMF would provide a neutrino beam similar to that at the AGS but with a much increase intensity. The future of KAON is also uncertain. Despite the difficult obstacles present, there is a real possibility that we are on the verge of understanding the masses and mixings of the neutrinos. The physics importance of such a discovery can not be overstated. The current experimental status and future possibilities are discussed below.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 10189260
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-93-3408; CONF-930389-24; ON: DE94000818; TRN: 93:025447
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Future directions in particle and nuclear physics at multi-GeV hadron beam facilities,Upton, NY (United States),4-6 Mar 1993; Other Information: PBD: 1993
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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