On Saturday I flew to Detroit where I am participating in the APS Division of Particle and Fields conference at Wayne State University. This was exciting for me as I both get to present an EXO talk and I get to return to my “homeland”. This is the first time I’ve been back to Michigan in over 5 years. I’m spending my time outside of the conference catching up with family, friends, and seeing the area.
The conference has been full of exciting physics, and I’m not yet to the end of the 2nd day! There are 4 parallel sessions, and each one has a neutrino session. In addition to the big accelerator based experiments (like MINOS and NOvA) there have also been theory talks, astrophysical neutrino talks, and representation from the smaller experiments. Unfortunately some of the neutrino talks are in other parallel sessions, like the particle-astro or “Low energy searches for physics beyond the standard model”, and I’ve had to choose between two really interesting talks. I’ve heard about an new analysis method that could be applicable to EXO, hierarchy tests with supernova neutrinos, and tests for Lorentz violations with neutrinos. I’ve always thought that neutrinos were an exciting and fast developing field, but I am still surprised by everything they can be related to!
