SIR Physics Investigation Abstract
DESIGNING AND BUILDING PROTOTYPE WIRE CHAMBERS FOR DOUBLE-CHOOZ
Presenter:
Nicholas Hinton, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy, 1500 West Sullivan Road, Aurora, IL, 60506
Mentor:
Dr. Maury Goodman, Argonne National Laboratory
Abstract:
It has been discovered that neutrinos oscillate from one flavor to another. This finding brought about the need to measure the mixing angles of the three types of oscillations. Now, scientists are working on improving the accuracy of the measurement of the angle theta-13. This is a difficult measurement because neutrinos are difficult to detect, and there are many different types of unwanted background noise. In this mentorship, we worked on developing and constructing prototypes for the wire chambers used in the Double-CHOOZ project to reduce the backgrounds. We tested various elements of the design (which kind of adhesive would work best, what kind of labels to use, etc...) when creating our model. Also, we designed a system for identifying the individual wire chambers in their respective modules (84 chambers per module, 30 modules in all). After the sample module was finished, it was sent to Tennessee to be tested by other scientists working on the Double-CHOOZ project.