Events

Past Event

Joe Formaggio - MIT

February 26, 2020
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
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705 Pupin Hall

"Weighing Neutrinos"

Neutrino oscillation experiments performed throughout the latter half of the twentieth century have yielded valuable information about the nature of neutrinos. The data gathered has provided the first positive evidence for neutrinos having mass, the first alteration of the Standard Model. Yet, the mass scale of neutrinos continues to be experimentally elusive. My talk will present the most recent results from the Karlsruhe Neutrino mass experiment (KATRIN), an experiment designed to measure the mass of the neutrino directly. I will also discuss future efforts to measure the mass scale of neutrinos.


Joseph Formaggio received his B. S. degree from Yale University in physics in 1996. Thereafter, he received his Ph.D. in physics from Columbia University, where he did his dissertation on neutrino physics by analyzing data taken at the NuTeV experiment located at the Fermi National Laboratory. His research focused on searches for exotic particles predicted by certain theoretical extensions of the standard model of particle physics. In 2001, he joined the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Washington, where he was later appointed as a research assistant professor. He has been at MIT as Associate Professor since 2010 and was appointed Division Head, Experimental Nuclear and Particle Physics, as of July 1, 2015.