Research

Current Experiments

Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment (Daya Bay) The Daya Bay reactor neutrino experiment is a US-China-Russia collaboration to search for and measure the yet unknown neutrino mixing angle theta13. The experiment is located at the Daya Bay nuclear power plant near Hong Kong, China. Data taking will start in Spring 2011. Our group has overall responsibility in the US for the design and construction of the antineutrino detectors. We oversee the assembly and installation of the antineutrino detectors at Daya Bay. In addition, we are in charge of the the acrylic target vessels and the target mass measurement system for the experiment. http://dayawane.ihep.ac.cn/twiki/bin/view/Public/ Daya Bay publications recent talks photos

Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE) CUORE is a tightly packed array of 988 TeO2 bolometers operated at 10mK to search for neutrinoless double beta decay and to measure the absolute mass of neutrino. Neutrinoless double beta decay is a yet unobserved process. It can only occur if neutrinos are their own antiparticles. Our group is developing a novel calibration system for the energy calibration of individual bolometers with radioactive sources at 10mK. We are also involved in the analysis of data from CUORICINO and simulations and sensitivity studies. http://crio.mib.infn.it/wigmi/pages/cuore.php CUORE publications recent talks photos

R&D Efforts

Dark Matter Search at the South Pole (DM-Ice) More than 20% of the Universe consists of dark matter. While the existence of dark matter has been firmly established, dark matter particles have not been detected yet. We are developing detectors for a dark matter search 2.5km deep in the South Pole ice. http://dm-ice.physics.wisc.edu/. dark matter publications recent talks photos trip report to Antarctica

Bolometric Detectors for Neutrino Mass Experiments Crygenic detectors have been used extensively in astrophysics and provide exciting opportunities for future applications in neutrino physics. We are investigating the use of microcalorimeters for a direct measurement of the neutrino mass and are studying advanced bolometer concepts for a next generation double beta decay experiment.

Completed Projects

Kamioka Liquid Scintillator Antineutrino Detector (KamLAND) The Kamioka Liquid Scntillator Antineutrino Detector (KamLAND) is a reactor neutrino experiment in Japan. In 2003 KamLAND made the first measurement of reactor antineutrino disappearance, and has made the most precise measurement of Deltam^2_12 (one of the neutrino mixing parameters) to date. Heeger was responsible for the development and operation of an advanced 4pi calibration system. This system was commissioned in summer 2006 and used in the recent precision measurement of the neutrino oscillation parameters with KamLAND. http://kamland.lbl.gov KamLAND publications

Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory measured the total flux of neutrinos from the Sun as well as its flavor composition. The results from SNO demonstrated that solar neutrinos undergo flavor transformation on their voyage from the interior of the Sun to Earth. This resolved the long-standing Solar Neutrino Problem. http://www.sno.phy.queensu.ca/ SNO publications