First Physics Results from HARP, and Implications for Precision Neutrino Physics

por Michel Sorel (IFIC)

viernes 18 nov. 2005 12:00 → 13:00 Europe/Madrid

Sala Seminarios IFIC (Edf. Institutos de Investigación)

Neutrino physics needs experimental guidance of unprecedented accuracy to help answering the many open theoretical questions present in the field. I will discuss how high-intensity, conventional neutrino beams are being used now to address some of these questions, such as: Did atmospheric neutrinos provide an unambiguous proof of neutrino oscillations? Do light sterile neutrinos exist? What can we learn about the electroweak theory and the nuclear structure by studying neutrino interactions? The extent to which we can answer these questions depends critically on how well we think we understand these neutrino beams. I will discuss how the precise knowledge of neutrino production is in turn coupled to the precise knowledge of hadron production in proton-nucleus interactions. The goal of the HARP experiment at CERN is to provide the most accurate and complete picture to date on hadron production of relevance to neutrino physics. The first physics results from HARP will be presented, and their implications for the K2K, MiniBooNE, and neutrino scattering experiments will be discussed.