IMSA-SIR Neutrino Data Analysis with the DUNE Prototype Near Detector

Internship Description

Description: The student will be hosted in the High Energy Physics Division at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). The research will be carried out in the context of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE)—a flagship international effort that aims to address some of the most profound questions in particle physics, such as the origin of the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe.

DUNE will use the world’s most powerful neutrino beam, sent from Fermilab in Illinois, in combination with two complementary detectors: a Near Detector (ND) located at Fermilab and a much larger Far Detector (FD) to be built over a kilometer underground at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in South Dakota. The ND plays a central role in constraining the neutrino flux and interaction models by characterizing the beam before oscillations occur, which is essential to make accurate predictions for the FD measurements.

The neutrino group at ANL has been heavily involved in both hardware development and physics analysis for DUNE.

Education and Experience Requirements

For this project, the student will engage with data from the Prototype Near Detector (2×2), which operates in the Fermilab NuMI beamline. The student will be learning how to make data and simulation kinematic comparison plots, an essential step in validating models and refining predictions for future DUNE analyses.

In the process, the student will gain hands-on experience with tools and methodologies widely used in experimental particle physics. This includes developing skills in analysis frameworks such as ROOT, neutrino event generators like GENIE, and exploring modern AI/ML-based approaches such as SPINE.

Internship Family

Visiting Student High School Research

Internship Category

IMSA Student