School of Physics & Astronomy Colloquium: Michael Wilking, UMN

Title: The Search for CP Violation in Neutrinos

 

Abstract: The standard model of particle physics, formulated in the 1970's, was a tremendous achievement that unified 3 of the 4 known forces, was consistent with all known terrestrial phenomena, and successfully predicted the existence of the as-yet-undiscovered final pieces of the theory (top quark, tau neutrino, and the higgs boson). However, in 1998, it was discovered that neutrinos have a small, but non-zero, mass, which is not naturally predicted by the standard model. This discovery suggests very interesting new physics phenomena, particularly if Charge-Parity (CP) violation is discovered in leptons. This talk will review the status of the search for CP violation in leptons, and the plans for the next-generation Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE).