Detector R{\&}D for Free and Bound Neutron Oscillation and Annihilation at NNbarX

ORAL

Abstract

The NNbarX experiment is proposed to search for free neutron-antineutron oscillations using ultra-cold neutrons from a spallation (particle collisions on heavy nuclei) source at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab). Currently the CSUDH sub-group of the NNbarX Collaboration is working on simulations of free and bound neutron oscillations in several planned experiments involving oxygen, carbon, and liquid argon to help fix the design of the detectors, the experimental configuration, and the initial data selection criteria for NNbarX. CSUDH undergraduate students working on this project over the summer used a simulation program originally developed for nucleon event tracking for neutron-antineutron oscillations at Super-K I and modified it for use in NNbarX. When construction of the experiment is finished in 2021, it will be able to confirm or rule out the leading theories of grand unification; these include models with the seesaw mechanism, right-left symmetry, supersymmetry (SUSY), and strings.

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Authors

  • Jeff C. Guevara

    California State University, Dominguez Hills

  • Kenneth S. Ganezer

    CSU Domingo Hills, California State University, Dominguez Hills

  • Jim Hill

    California State University, Dominguez Hills

  • Brandon Hartfiel

    California State University, Dominguez Hills

  • Melissa Blacketer

    California State University, Dominguez Hills

  • Sergey Savrasov

    Hartnell College, Cal State Univ- Long Beach, University of California, Davis, School of Natural Science, University of California, Merced, Seagate Technology, Materials Science and Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan, University of California - Berkeley, University of Colorado, Boulder -- Dept of Physics, University of California, Berkeley -- Dept of Chemistry, UC Merced, California State University, Fresno, California Institute of Technology, California State University, Long Beach, La Canada Flintridge, CA, Department of Physics, Florida A\&M University, Tallahassee, FL-32307, Physical and Life Sciences, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA-94550, Cal State Univ East Bay, American River College, UC Santa Cruz, Notre Dame High School, Benedict College, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Tuskegee University, California State University, Dominguez Hills, Sonoma State University, Carnegie Observatories, University of California, Los Angeles, Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, UK, University of California, Santa Barbara, University of Alabama, MPIfR, Bonn, Germany, Stanford University, University of California - Davis