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[PAST EVENT] Leonidas Aliaga-Soplin , Physics - Oral Exam for the Ph.D.
March 30, 2016
10am - 1pm
Abstract:
The determination of the neutrino flux presents a challenge for current and future short and long baseline neutrino experiments. The uncertainties associated with the production and attenuation of the hadrons in the beamline materials along with those associated to the beam optics have a big effect in the flux spectrum knowledge. For experiments like MINERvA, understanding the flux is crucial since it enters directly into every measurement of neutrino-nucleus cross-sections. The foundation of this work is predicting the neutrino flux at MINERvA using dedicated measurements of hadron production in hadron-nucleus collisions and incorporating in-situ MINERvA data that can provide additional constraints. This work also includes the prospect for predicting the flux at other detectors like the NOvA Near detector and MicroBooNE. The procedure and conclusions of this thesis will have a big impact on future hadron production experiments and on determining the flux for the upcoming DUNE experiment.
Bio: Leonidas Aliaga-Soplin is a native of Lima, Peru. He graduated from Pontificia Universidad Catolica Del Peru, in Lima, Peru in 2008 in M.S Physics. He began his graduate studies at William & Mary in the fall of 2009, where he started working as a collaborator in MINERvA experiment under the supervision of Dr. Mike Kordosky. His research has been focused on the NuMI flux determination primarily for MINERvA but also extending to other Fermilab neutrino detectors. After graduating, Leonidas will begin working at the Fermilab Scientific Computing Division at Batavia, IL on the NOvA experiment.
The determination of the neutrino flux presents a challenge for current and future short and long baseline neutrino experiments. The uncertainties associated with the production and attenuation of the hadrons in the beamline materials along with those associated to the beam optics have a big effect in the flux spectrum knowledge. For experiments like MINERvA, understanding the flux is crucial since it enters directly into every measurement of neutrino-nucleus cross-sections. The foundation of this work is predicting the neutrino flux at MINERvA using dedicated measurements of hadron production in hadron-nucleus collisions and incorporating in-situ MINERvA data that can provide additional constraints. This work also includes the prospect for predicting the flux at other detectors like the NOvA Near detector and MicroBooNE. The procedure and conclusions of this thesis will have a big impact on future hadron production experiments and on determining the flux for the upcoming DUNE experiment.
Bio: Leonidas Aliaga-Soplin is a native of Lima, Peru. He graduated from Pontificia Universidad Catolica Del Peru, in Lima, Peru in 2008 in M.S Physics. He began his graduate studies at William & Mary in the fall of 2009, where he started working as a collaborator in MINERvA experiment under the supervision of Dr. Mike Kordosky. His research has been focused on the NuMI flux determination primarily for MINERvA but also extending to other Fermilab neutrino detectors. After graduating, Leonidas will begin working at the Fermilab Scientific Computing Division at Batavia, IL on the NOvA experiment.