Simulating muon detectors for the DUNE experiment
The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a particle physics experiment currently under construction that will detect neutrinos created at Fermilab (in Illinois) and sent through the Earth to a large underground detector in South Dakota. Because neutrinos usually travel through matter undetected, measuring and quantifying neutrino beams is quite difficult. However, whenever a neutrino is produce another particle called a muon is also produced. This project will involve simulating the DUNE neutrino beam and using that simulation to study signals in beamline muon detectors, in order to understand whether these detectors can detect various potential problems that might occur during operation of the neutrino beam.
According to the Standard Model of Particle Physics, neutrinos are one of the 17 particles that make up our universe, and they are peculiar particles in many ways. They can travel through light years of lead before interacting, they come in three types (electron, muon, and tau), and can shape-shift between these three types as they travel through space. The DUNE experiment will be the flagship Particle Physics experiment on US soil over the next decade or more. This project offers the opportunity of learning about neutrinos and DUNE.