Pathways to Improved Representation in Advanced Nuclear Science

Our project will foster Skyline College student involvement in ongoing research and development for the next Enriched Xenon Observatory (nEXO). An international collaboration of 150 individuals representing 40 institutions, nEXO will perform a nuclear physics experiment to search for neutrinoless double-beta decay (0νββ) in Xe-136. Skyline College, a minority-serving institution (MSI), will give students the chance to participate in original research in nuclear physics, with an aim to increase the likelihood that students from underrepresented populations will pursue graduate studies in nuclear physics, thereby helping to diversify the field. Our 8 student trainees will develop hardware and software to support nEXO R&D in: (a) purity tests of candidate detector materials; (b) vacuum and xenon gas management; (c) data acquisition and analysis. The nEXO detector is a Time Projection Chamber (TPC) containing 5 t of liquid xenon enriched to 90% in the isotope Xe-136. Candidate 0νββ events that originate in the 90% Xe-136 sample will be identified by the TPC. With an expected decay half-life much greater than 10^25 years, 0νββ is extremely rare. Other processes, such as trace radioactivity from impurities in the TPC, or ionizing cosmic ray events, are far more common and are a large background. It is therefore important to construct the nEXO TPC out of ultra-clean and radiopure materials and to place the experiment deep underground to shield it from cosmic rays. Student learning outcomes: (1) trainees are acquainted with the field of experimental nuclear physics; (2) have confidence in their ability to independently pursue graduate studies in experimental nuclear physics; (3) have a sense of the career possibilities in nuclear physics; (4) have an understanding of how a modern nuclear physics experiment is run. Skills to be acquired: (1) computer programming; (2) electronics test and assembly; (3) rapid prototyping; (4) design of experiments.