Search for Leptonic CP Violation with the T2K-II Experiment

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Alfons Weber
• Subject Area: Nuclear and Elementary Particle Physics, Quantum Mechanics, Relativity, Fields
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 517206441

The T2K experiment is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment located in Japan, sending neutrinos from the J-PARC accelerator centre over almost 300 km to the Super-Kamiokande neutrino detector. The experimental program of more than 10 years of data taking allowed T2K to provide significant results for the understanding of neutrino oscillations, including the discovery of electron neutrino appearance in a muon neutrino beam, and a very precise measurement of the parameters describing this process. T2K-II is the upgrade of this experiment using a more intense neutrino beam, an upgraded near detector and an improved Super-Kamiokande far detector. The project proposed, will have 5 main components: 1. commissioning the upgraded near detector, 2. developing the capability to reconstruct neutrons and create a selection of events containing neutrons in the final state, 3. using these events to constraint in the neutrino oscillation analysis uncertainties, 4. using these events to conduct a neutrino cross-section measurement, and 5. supporting the general operation of the T2K near detectors. The sensitivity of the experiment will be improved as a result of this work, and we might be able to observe with more than 3 sigma sensitivity if neutrino and their anti-matter equivalent (anti-neutrinos) behave differently. This difference, called CP-violation, may help to explain why there is more matter than anti-matter in the universe.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Co-Investigator: Dr. Lukas Koch