Speaker: Amanda Weinstein (Iowa State)

Host: Chunhui Chen

Title: Precision in a Flash: ANNIE and the Future of Neutrino Detection

Abstract:

The 2023 P5 report reaffirmed the importance of next-generation neutrino experiments within the US high-energy physics program and underscored the crucial importance of research and development (R&D) to realizing that program’s goals. The Accelerator Neutrino Neutron Interaction Experiment (ANNIE) is a 26-ton water Cherenkov detector that operates in the path of the Booster Neutrino Beam at Fermilab. ANNIE aims to measure the final-state neutron abundance in neutrino-nucleus interactions by leveraging the enhanced neutron capture cross-section provided by gadolinium-loaded water (Gd-water). The insight into neutrino interactions this measurement will provide has the potential to reduce systematic uncertainties for next-generation, high-precision neutrino experiments. Simultaneously, ANNIE serves as a proving ground for cutting-edge detector technologies, including novel photosensors and novel neutrino detection media. ANNIE is the first experiment to detect beam neutrino interactions in gadolinium-loaded water using Large Area Picosecond Photodetectors and the first to detect beam neutrino interactions in water-based liquid scintillator. I will discuss the significance of these milestones in the ANNIE R&D program and next steps, as well as potential future applications of these technologies in particle and nuclear physics.