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Neutrino Frontiers - October 23 to 26, 2008
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA

Thursday, October 23, 2008 - Morning

Boris Kayser (Fermilab)
What We Know, and What We Would Like to Find Out
no abstract available
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Gianluigi Fogli (University of Bari)
Neutrino Masses and Mixings: A Global Analysis
We report updated constraints on neutrino mass-mixing parameters, in the light of recent neutrino oscillation data and cosmological observations. We discuss their interplay with the final neutrinoless double  decay results in 76Ge claimed by part of the Heidelberg-Moscow Collaboration, using recent evaluations of the corresponding nuclear matrix elements and their uncertainties. Finally, focusing on the unknown mixing angle theta_13, we discuss two converging hints of  theta_13 > 0, each at the level of  1 sigma: their combination provides a global estimate implying a preference for theta_13 > 0 with non-negligible statistical significance.
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Steve Elliott (LANL)
Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay Experiments
The recent demonstrations of oscillations in the atmospheric and solar neutrino data convincingly indicate that neutrinos do have mass. Those data however, do not tell us the absolute mass scale but only the differences of the square of the neutrino masses. Even so, we now know that at least one neutrino has a mass of about 50 meV or larger. Studies of double beta decay rates offer hope for determining the absolute mass scale. In particular, zero-neutrino double beta decay (ββ(0ν)) can address the issues of lepton number conservation, the particle-antiparticle nature of the neutrino, and its mass. In fact, upcoming generations of ββ(0ν) experiments will be sensitive to neutrino masses in the exciting range of below 50 meV.  An overview of ββ(0ν) and its relation to neutrino mass will be discussed followed by a profile of a overall ββ(0ν) program. In this presentation, I will summarize the physics goals for double-beta decay experiments and the experimental issues that require attention to ensure that the proposed experiments reach these goals.
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Andre de Gouvea (Northwestern University)
What is the Energy Scale of the Physics Responsible for Neutrino Masses?
I review different mechanisms for generating neutrino masses, concentrating on establishing how to differentiate different mechanisms. In more detail, I first discuss the standard model augmented by gauge singlet fermions and then describe an effective operator approach that aims at describing all different heavy new physics scenarios that can lead to small Majorana neutrino masses.
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Regina Rameika (Fermilab)
An Overview of the Future US Accelerator Neutrino Program
I will review the status of future accelerator neutrino projects in the US, in particular the  NOvA Project and plans for a new long baseline experiment at the DUSEL. I will discuss this program in the context of other neutrino projects happening on both shorter and longer time scales, in the US and internationally.
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Thursday, October 23, 2008 - Afternoon

Kam-Biu Luk (University of California at Berkeley)
Reactor Neutrino Experiments
An operating nuclear reactor is a copious source of pure low-energy electron antineutrinos. This offers an excellent opportunity to design experiments for studying the properties of the neutrino. In this talk, the recent, present and future prospects for reactor neutrino experiments will be presented.
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Mary Bishai (Brookhaven National Lab)
Status of The Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment
The Daya Bay reactor neutrino experiment comprises multiple identical GD-loaded liquid scintillator detectors located at various locations near the Daya Bay nuclear power plant complex in Guangdong Province, China. The goal of the Daya Bay experiment is to measure the last unknown neutrino mixing angle, theta_13, with a sensitivity in sin^2(2 theta_13) of 0.01 (90% CL) by searching for evidence for electron anti-neutrino disappearance from the Daya Bay reactors. The groundbreaking ceremony for the experiment was held on Oct 13, 2007 and the installation of the last detector is scheduled for 2010. A review of the current status of the experiment and expected sensitivities is presented.
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Gregory Pawloski (Stanford University)
Recent Results from the MINOS Experiment
A summary of recent measurements made by the MINOS collaboration.
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Morgan Wascko (Fermilab)
Results from Mini-BooNE
no abstract available
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Carl Bromberg (Michigan State University)
A Few Small Steps in LArTPC Detector Technology
Two Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers (LArTPC) at Fermilab are now observing cosmic ray tracks. Ionization is detected in three dimensions employing stereo induction and collection wire planes, as developed by the ICARUS collaboration. New techniques in liquid Argon purification, feed-through design, chamber construction, electronics modularity, and signal processing have resulted in a near turnkey system for the ArgoNeuT collaboration. Further testing and construction of the MicroBooNE experiment are part of a program toward multi-kiloton class LArTPC detectors.
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Valeri Tioukov (INFN Napoli)
Integrated Program on Accelerator Neutrino Experiments in Europe
Short review on the Integrated Program on Accelerator Neutrino Experiments in Europe. The main emphasis is on long base line accelerator experiments. First events from the CNGS neutrino beam detected in the OPERA experiment.
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Chiara Salvioni (University of Insubria)
The Road Towards CUORE: Latest Cuoricino Results and CUORE-0
CUORE is a next generation experiment aimed at the detection of neutrinoless Double Beta Decay of the nuclide 130Te. The experiment, which will take place in the Gran Sasso National Laboratory (Italy), will look for this rare decay using the macrobolometric technique with a prospected array of 988 detectors. Each bolometer will be constituted by a 5x5x5 cm3 TeO2 crystal, for a total mass of about 200 kg of 130Te, and will be mantained at a temperature of 10 mK. CUORE will probe the effective mass of the neutrino with a sensitivity of a few tens of meV. If an excess of counts are observed above background at the 2.5 MeV corresponding to the Q-value of the decay, CUORE will answer several questions that are still open in the field of neutrino physics, such as the determination of the particle's Majorana nature and of the absolute mass scale. A prototype for CUORE in Gran Sasso, named Cuoricino, has just closed after five years proving its importance as a stand-alone experiment. The next step will be the construction and operation of CUORE-0, the first CUORE tower, which will provide a test for the final CUORE surface cleaning and detector assembly procedures. CUORE-0 will quickly improve the Cuoricino limit if the projected results in surface background rejection are achieved.
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Erica Andreotti (University of Insubria, Como)
Calorimetric Approach to the Direct Measurement of the Neutrino Mass: The MARE Project
The direct kinematic measurement of the electron anti-neutrino mass is one of the tools available in order to assess the neutrino absolute mass scale. Due to the difficulty of this kind of measurements it is important to have more than one experiment involved in this search. In particular the calorimetric approach can be alternative and complementary to the ôtraditionalö tritium end-point study performed with beta spectrometers. In this context the MARE experiment, which is based on the study of the beta spectrum of a 187Re source embedded in a low temperature microcalorimeter, will play a crucial  role. The MARE project will be realized thanks mainly to the convergence of three  experiences, matured within the MANU (Genova), MIBETA (Milano) and Wisconsin-NASA groups. In this talk, I will present the status of the MARE experiment and I will show the potential of the calorimetric approach, giving an estimate of the present and foreseen statistical sensitivity on neutrino mass and illustrating which the possible sources of systematic uncertainty are. I will mainly focus on the activities in progress to reach 2 eV sensitivity, using arrays of semiconductor thermistors and AgReO4 absorbers. The results so far obtained in this sector will be presented and discussed. The final aim of the MARE project is to reach a statistical sensitivity of about 0.2 eV, the same predicted for the next generation spectrometric experiment KATRIN. As I will discuss, this result can be achieved thanks to a further implementation of the detector technologies (under study), a multiplication of the read-out channels and a complete understanding of  all sources of systematic uncertainty.
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Friday, October 24, 2008 - Morning

Eiichiro Komatsu (University of Texas at Austin)
The 5-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Cosmological Interpretation
We have announced the results from 5 years of observations of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) on March 5. In this talk I will give the cosmological interpretation of the WMAP 5-year data, and discuss implications for dark matter, dark energy, neutrinos, cosmic reionization, and inflation.
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Uros Seljak (ETH-Zurich and UC-Berkeley)
Neutrino Properties from Cosmological Observations (I)
no abstract available
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Ofer Lahav (University College London)
Neutrino Masses from Cosmology
TBA
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Hasan Yuksel (University of Delaware)
Neutrinos as Probes or Candidates of Dark Matter
Dark Matter, an invisible and elusive substance originally proposed by Zwicky to explain the mass to light ratio of the Coma galaxy cluster, still evades revealing its true identity.  While weakly interactive massive particles as candidates are studied extensively, many others have also been proposed, spanning many orders of magnitude in mass.  I will focus on various  possibilities including scenarios in which neutrinos are expected to play a significant part.  Sterile neutrinos (which would be a very plausible addition to the Standard Model) can play the role of the Warm Dark Matter and their mass and mixing can be constrained directly through their radiative decays. Alternatively, normal active neutrinos (which are the least detectable Standard Model particles) conservatively bind the total self-annihilation cross section of heavy Cold Dark Matter candidates as their final annihilation products.
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Jose Cembranos (University of Minnesota)
Neutrino: The Last Witness
Neutrinos are the weakest interacting fields inside the standard model of particles. This fact, in addition to their small masses, allows them to carry information about space regions and times that we cannot access in any other known way. However, and for the same reason, their efficient detection, and subsequent acquisition of such information, represents one of the most challenging tasks in experimental physics. In this contribution, we will discuss some insights and teachings we can learn about cosmology and astrophysics from detection of neutrino fluxes.
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Osamu Seto (University of Minnesota)
Dynamical Neutrino Mass Generation and Its Consequence in Dark Matter
In extended MSSM with a singlet $S$ as in the NMSSM and right-handed neutrinos $N$ with couplings $SNN$, right-handed Majorana neutrino mass is generated dynamically at the electroweak symmetry breaking. We show, as a consequnece of this model, its superpartner, right-handed sneutrino, can be a viable candidate for WIMP cold dark matter in the Universe.
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Friday, October 24, 2008 - Afternoon

Gary Steigman (The Ohio State University)
Early Universe Constraints On Neutrinos And Baryons
Neutrinos and Baryons play key roles in the early evolution of the Universe.  The predictions and observations of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and of the Cosmic Microwave Background radiation permit us to explore this early evolution at 20 minutes and 400 thousand years, constraining the baryon asymmetry, the lepton asymmetry and, the radiation content of the Universe at these epochs.  The comparison of these constraints permits us to address non-standard models of cosmology and particle physics under conditions inaccessible to terrestrial laboratories.  In my talk I will review the current status of these constraints and their implications for non-standard physics and cosmology.
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Steen Hannestad (University of Aarhus)
Neutrino Properties from Cosmological Observations (II)
In the past few years there has been an increased interest in using cosmological structure formation data to probe neutrino properties – most notably the neutrino mass. I will review the current status of cosmological bounds on neutrino masses and other properties, and discuss future prospects for cosmological neutrino mass measurements.
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George Fuller (University of California - San Diego)
Cosmological Implications for Neutrino Physics
no abstract available
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Sacha Davidson (IPN de Lyon)
Looking for CP Violation Among the Leptons
Observing CP Violation in the lepton sector would support the idea that the baryon asymmetry was made via leptogenesis. However, detecting CP Violation in neutrino oscillations  seems to require an expensive machine.  I (hope to) discuss signals of CP violation in  other leptonic processes, such as mu-e conversion.
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Enrico Nardi (INFN - Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati)
Leptogenesis
Leptogenesis is a class of scenarios where the baryon asymmetry of the Universe is produced from a lepton asymmetry generated in the decays of a heavy sterile neutrino. I explain the motivation for leptogenesis and  review the basic mechanism. Then I focus on recent developments in the understanding of leptogenesis, and in particular on the significance of flavour physics.
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Kenji Kadota (University of Michigan)
Sterile Neutrino Dark Matter and Leptogenesis in Warped Extra Dimensions
I will discuss the realization of the sterile neutrino dark matter and the leptogenesis around the weak scale in a warped extra dimension model.
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Saturday, October 25, 2008 - Morning

Anthony Mezzacappa (Oak Ridge National Laboratory)
Neutrino Transport in Core Collapse Supernovae: Lessons Learned and the Challenges that Lie Ahead
no abstract available
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Adam Burrows (Princeton University)
Mechanisms of Core-Collapse Supernovae and Hypernovae
TBD
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Jeremiah Murphy (University of Washington)
Criteria for Core-Collapse Supernova Explosions by the Neutrino Mechanism
We investigate the criteria for successful core-collapse supernova explosions by the neutrino mechanism. We find that a critical-luminosity/mass-accretion-rate condition distinguishes non-exploding from exploding models in hydrodynamic one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) simulations.  We present 95 such simulations that parametrically explore the dependence on neutrino luminosity, mass accretion rate, resolution, and dimensionality. While radial oscillations mediate the transition between 1D accretion (non-exploding) and exploding simulations, the non-radial standing accretion shock instability characterizes 2D simulations. We find that it is useful to compare the average dwell time of matter in the gain region with the corresponding heating timescale, but that tracking the residence time distribution function of tracer particles better describes the complex flows in multi-dimensional simulations.  Integral quantities such as the net heating rate, heating efficiency, and mass in the gain region decrease with time in non-exploding models, but for 2D exploding models, increase before, during, and after explosion. At the onset of explosion in 2D, the heating efficiency is $\sim$2\% to $\sim$5\% and the mass in the gain region is $\sim$0.005 M$_{\sun}$ to $\sim$0.01 M$_{\sun}$.  Importantly, we find that the critical luminosity for explosions in 2D is $\sim$70\% of the critical luminosity required in 1D. This result is not sensitive to resolution or whether the 2D computational domain is a quadrant or the full 180$^{\circ}$. We suggest that the relaxation of the explosion condition in going from 1D to 2D (and to, perhaps, 3D) is of a general character and is not limited by the parametric nature of this study.
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Huaiyu Duan (University of Washington)
Collective Flavor Transformation of Supernova Neutrinos
no abstract available
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James Kneller (IPN Orsay)
The Dynamical MSW Effect in Supernovae
The MSW effect in supernova depends upon the neutrino energy but also upon the time due to the dynamics of the density profile. Thus the evolving flavor signal from the next Galactic supernova can be used to learn about the interior of the explosion. We present (phase retaining) calculations of the neutrino signal and show how the signal in detectors can test the supernova paradigm.
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Alexander Heger (University of Minnesota)
The Impact of Neutrino Magnetic Moment on the Evolution of Massive Stars
TBD
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Saturday, October 25, 2008 - Afternoon

Wick Haxton (University of Washington)
Challenges and Opportunities for a New Generation of Solar Models
no abstract available
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Cristiano Galbiati (Princeton University)
Solar Neutrino Experiments
no abstract available
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Nikolai Tolich (University of Washington)
Using Neutrinos to Study the Earth
Mantle convection and earthquakes are generally thought to be driven by the heat produced from uranium and thorium decays inside the earth. The KamLAND experiment has recently observed neutrinos originating from these decays, pioneering a new way to probe the earth's interior. While this measurement is consistent with earth models based on the chemical composition of meteorites and heat flow measurements on the earth's surface, it is not precise enough to constrain those models. It is interesting to note that we still know less about the nuclear reactions within the earth, just below out feet, than within the sun, an object 92 million miles away. Future more precise measurements of neutrinos from the earth will have a significant impact on our understanding of the earth by constraining mantle convection and earth formation models. I will discuss plans for proposed experiments to precisely measure the neutrino flux from the earth.
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Brian Fields (University of Illinois)
Core-Collapse Cornucopia:  Sky Surveys and the Cosmic Supernova Neutrino Background
Within the observable universe today supernova explosions occur at enormous rates,   and the (anti)neutrinos from these events form a diffuse background which dominates the net cosmic neutrino content at ~10-30 MeV.  The diffuse cosmic supernova neutrino backgrond (DSNB) depends on both the supernova emission spectra  and the cosmic supernova rate history.  To date, the cosmic supernova rate has been estimated indirectly, via measures of the light output of the progenitor stars.  However, in the next decade, it will be possible to obtain the cosmic supernova rate directly by counting.   Optical sky surveys will repeatedly and deeply scan large portion of the celestial sphere, and will discover up to 10^5 core-collapse events per year out to z~1.  We show that these events will allow one to infer firm estimates of a large fraction of the DSNB, particularly at higher energies; this will reduce the cosmological uncertainties in the DSNB prediction and thus sharpen the DSNB probe of supernova physics.  Furthermore, the observed supernova counts in sky surveys will provide a hard and model-independent lower bound to the DSNB.  Turning the problem around, a detection of the DSNB, together with supernova counts from sky surveys, will provide strong constraints on "invisible" core-collapse events obscured either by dust or due to "failed" explosions.
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John Beacom (Ohio State University)
The Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background
The Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background was produced by all past core-collapse supernovae in the universe.  While it has not yet been detected, the present flux limit from Super-Kamiokande is already strong enough to constrain realistic predictions.  I discuss the uncertainties on the predictions, what will be needed to ensure detection, and what we will learn from these studies.
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Matt Kistler (Ohio State University)
Supernovae and Nu Astrophysics
With the large number of possible ways to form a massive star and the continuous improvement of the techniques involved in making observations, there always seems to be something new in the field of supernovae.  We discuss how this should continue to be the case, as new neutrino and conventional telescopes can be used to systematically monitor massive stars in the local universe before, during, and after they explode.  Neutrinos are particularly useful since they travel unhindered through the outer layers of the dying star, providing information concerning the core collapse otherwise unavailable, resulting in many interesting consequences for astrophysics.
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Sunday, October 26, 2008

Eli Waxman (Weizmann Institute)
High Energy Neutrino & Cosmic-Ray Astronomy
The observations of high energy radiation and cosmic rays, produced in astrophysical objects, pose challenges to our understanding of relativistic astrophysical sources. Open questions range from the physics of accretion onto black holes, through the physics of relativistic plasmas and particle acceleration, to the neutrino flavor mixing matrix. I will review some of the major open questions and will discuss the prospects for making progress towards their resolution, with a focus on large scale neutrino experiments which are operating and under construction.
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Francis Halzen (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
High-Energy Neutrino Astronomy: Towards a Kilometer-Scale Neutrino Observatory
no abstract available
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Gianpiero Mangano (INFN)
The Relic Neutrino Background: Theoretical Understanding and Experimental Perspectives
I'll present a review of the present theoretical understanding of the properties of the relic neutrino background and of experimental challenges for its direct detection.
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Hidekazu Tanaka (Columbia University)
The SciBooNE Neutrino Experiment at Fermilab
The precise measurement of neutrino-nucleus cross-sections in the few GeV energy range is an essential ingredient in the interpretation of neutrino oscillation experiments. For the measurement of the cross-sections, a new experiment, SciBooNE, has been proposed and approved in Fermilab. From June 2007, SciBooNE has started operation and data taking. The experiment is carried out by installing the K2K SciBar detector in the FNAL Booster Neutrino Beamline. The marriage of a high rate, low energy neutrino beam and the fine granularity of SciBar detector is unique for precise measurements of neutrino cross sections since both are already built and have been operated very successfully. We will present new results from the SciBooNE.
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Baha Balantekin (University of Wisconsin-Madison)
The Next Frontier in Neutrino Physics: Third Mixing Angle from Reactor Experiments to Core-Collapse Supernovae
I will describe our current knowledge of the third neutrino mixing angle, theta12, and attempts to measure it.  I will describe the importance of this mixing angle in core-collapse supernovae and the related issues in r-process nucleosynthesis.
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