Neutrino properties and fundamental symmetries

This is the final report of a three-year, Laboratory-Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). There are two components to this work. The first is a development of a new detection scheme for neutrinos. The observed deficit of neutrinos from the Sun may be due to either a lack of understanding of physical processes in the Sun or may be due to neutrinos oscillating from one type to another during their transit from the Sun to the Earth. The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) is designed to use a water Cerenkov detector employing one thousand tonnes of heavy water to resolve this question. The ability to distinguish muon and tau neutrinos from electron neutrinos is crucial in order to carry out a model-independent test of neutrino oscillations. We describe a developmental exploration of a novel technique to do this using {sup 3}He proportional counters. Such a method offers considerable advantages over the initially proposed method of using Cerenkov light from capture on NaCl in the SNO. The second component of this work is an exploration of optimal detector geometry for a time-reversal invariance experiment. The question of why time moves only in the forward direction is one of the most puzzling problems in modern physics. We know from particle physics measurements of the decay of kaons that there is a charge-parity symmetry that is violated in nature, implying time-reversal invariance violation. Yet, we do not understand the origin of the violation of this symmetry. To promote such an understanding, we are developing concepts and prototype apparatus for a new, highly sensitive technique to search for time-reversal-invariance violation in the beta decay of the free neutron. The optimized detector geometry is seven times more sensitive than that in previous experiments. 15 refs