Astroparticle Colloquia

PTOLEMY: A detector for the oldest neutrinos in the Universe

by Prof. Christopher G. Tully (Princeton Univ.)

Europe/Rome
Gran Sasso Laboratory

Gran Sasso Laboratory

Description
Neutrinos once held nearly half of the energy density of the entire Universe.  Not able to decay, exceedingly light, and not able to interact except through the exchange of force carriers nearly 100 times the proton mass, the neutrinos of the early universe quickly decoupled from the rest of the particles of the hot Big Bang, but not from gravity.  The presence of relativistic neutrinos shaped the Hubble expansion rate for over 100 thousand years and their net flows out of and into regions of dark matter over- and under-density outpaced the motion of baryons, dispersing the seeds of structure formation.  Beyond this time, we have yet to directly detect evidence for the relic neutrinos, but we believe that at least two species of neutrinos are now non-relativistic.  The PTOLEMY detector is designed to capture relic neutrinos, one by one, and to measure a signal that directly depends on their absolute mass, their number density, that the massive ones are non-relativistic and to eventually map the neutrino sky, providing a neutrino image of short wavelength inflationary modes.  Every element of PTOLEMY requires ingenuity, pushing the limits of what was done before.  Amazing progress on world-leading technologies in RF sensing, 2D materials, transition-edge superconducting micro-calorimeters and a novel electromagnetic filter is culminating in the construction of a new end-to-end spectrometer at LNGS by early 2024 and is on target to achieve the world-leading energy resolution to measure electrons from relic neutrino capture.  Every element of the spectrometer will be scrutinized with a specific focus on the physics effects of support materials for the capture nuclei, where sub-eV molecular transitions could be the biggest challenge for light elements.
 

People interested to join in person to attend the colloquium should fill the registration form below by the 24 of May