Taming DUNE’s neutrino wilderness with precision nuclear science

In the coming decade, the US will host a multi-billion-dollar particle physics project called the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). With contributions from an international team of over one thousand scientific collaborators, DUNE will pursue fundamental discoveries using a world-leading neutrino beam, low-energy astrophysical neutrinos, and a variety of techniques to search for hypothetical new particles and interactions. Success in each of these areas depends critically on achieving unprecedented precision in simulations of nuclear reactions. Fortunately for DUNE, current investigations in nuclear physics, including activities pursued primarily for other applications, are providing key inputs needed to unlock the experiment’s full scientific potential. In this talk, Dr. Gardiner will discuss the impact of this nuclear research on preparations for DUNE. Specific examples will include electron scattering measurements at Jefferson Laboratory and phenomenological reaction modeling at Livermore.