Neutrino Astronomy with Dr. Bruce Cortez

The Peninsula Astronomical Society is delighted to host a talk by Dr. Bruce Cortez, Former and Current Nuclear Physicist, Research Associate at UC Irvine. The talk is free and open to the public.

Topic
It is possible to get an early warning of a supernova by observing neutrinos. These incredibly light particles travel at nearly the speed of light and come out ahead of the massive explosion. But to catch them requires an incredibly sensitive detector. Fortunately, sensitive detectors were already on-line in 1987 to capture neutrinos from the supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Improvements in detection mean we can potentially detect and pinpoint the next supernovae. But neutrinos are everywhere, generated by stars and many other astronomical events. This talk will explain the various detectors and a brief history modern particle physics.

Speaker
Dr. Bruce Cortez was one of the originators of neutrino astronomy, having worked on two pioneering experiments in the 1980's that saw neutrinos from Supernova SN1987a. He received his BS in physics from Caltech and PhD from Harvard. At Harvard, he was instrumental in the concept, design, and construction of the IMB detector in the US. As a post-doc, he worked on upgrading the Kamioka experiment in Japan. These detectors searched for proton decay, neutrino oscillations, neutrinos from the sun and other rare phenomena. After a long career at AT&T working on fiber optics networking, he is now back as a research associate at University California at Irvine, applying machine learning techniques to the analysis of data from the second generation Kamioka experiment (Super-Kamiokande), lowering the energy threshold for detecting neutrinos from the sun. Bruce is based in New Jersey.

Logistics
This meeting is in person at the Los Altos Public Library and online.
Zoom details:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/84638058843?pwd=Se8DUVpTb1PeaUEvGKhyd3ESZhKUl3.1
Meeting ID: 846 3805 8843
Passcode: 3.14159265