Nigel Lockyer, the director of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, will give a public lecture on Thursday, November 19 at 7:00 p.m . His talk is entitled "Neutrinos are Everywhere: Towards a New Understanding of the Quantum Universe”. The talk will be held in the Carey Auditorium of the Hesburgh Library, with a reception following the talk in the Jordan Hall Galleria.
Neutrinos are the most numerous matter particles in the universe, but the least understood. The peculiar properties of neutrinos suggest connections to many of the big mysteries of particle physics, including the possibility that the matter we are made of originated from neutrinos. Today a host of new experiments are trying to unlock the secrets of these elusive particles. Fermilab is gearing up to produce a megawatt proton beam neutrino source capable of sending high energy neutrinos to giant liquid argon detectors located 1300 kilometers away and a mile underground in South Dakota. The detectors will be built and operated by a newly formed scientific collaboration called DUNE (for Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment), a global effort of 145 universities and labs from 26 countries. DUNE will be the first truly international mega-science project hosted in the U.S., and a game-changing experiment for neutrino science.
Lockyer began his tenure as director of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, America’s premier laboratory for particle physics research, on September 3, 2013. An experimental particle physicist, Lockyer was most recently director of TRIUMF, Canada’s national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics. He was also a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of British Columbia.
The talk is free and open to the public.