Searching for Supernova Neutrinos in the nEXO Experiment

nEXO is a planned rare nuclear decay search in xenon-136. The experiment will tell us whether the neutrino, somewhat like a charge-less and extremely light electron, and its antiparticle are identical. However, nEXO has extremely low backgrounds and thus is sensitive to a lot more than just decays in xenon-136. Core-collapse supernovae are stellar explosions that signify the birth of either a neutron star or black hole. In our galaxy, we predict to have around two per century. When the star collapses onto its core, it emits a huge burst of neutrinos which should be detectable by the nEXO experiment. These neutrinos will give us lots of information on both neutrino and supernova physics, both of which are poorly understood and difficult (rare) to observe. This project aims to identify the expected signals from the supernova neutrinos in nEXO, thereby recording the data for many years to come.

Faculty Supervisor:

Thomas Brunner;Daryl Haggard

Student:

Partner:

Stanford University

Discipline:

Physics

Sector:

Education

University:

McGill University

Program: