PhD Defense: Bernanda Telalović

Title: Cosmic flavour: high-energy astrophysical neutrinos limit and discover physics beyond the Standard Model

Abstract: We explore how the flavour information in astrophysical neutrinos, with MeV–PeV energies, can be used to learn about broad classes of physics beyond the Standard Model (BSM). Their observed flavour composition at Earth, i.e., the proportions of neutrinos of electron, muon, and tau flavor, is shaped by how they are produced and how they travel to Earth over cosmological-scale baselines, and is entangled with detection effects. We develop and apply flavour-based methods in three complementary settings, with the aim of turning existing and future observations into quantitative statements about new physics. We explore time-resolved MeV-scale supernova neutrino bursts, neutrino mixing at TeV–PeV energies, and tests of Lorentz invariance using directionally dependent flavour mixing in TeV–PeV neutrinos. In each, we introduce new methods that exploit latent detection capabilities to test BSM proposals. For Lorentz-invariance violation, we place new bounds on hundreds of previously unbounded BSM parameters using data from the IceCube neutrino telescopes. With an eye to the future, we predict how future neutrino detection, potentially by a globally distributed network of neutrino telescopes, will strengthen our BSM sensitivity.

Time: Wednesday, December 10, 10:00

Place: Auditorium A, Blegdamsvej 17

You can request a digital copy of the thesis by writing to Mauricio (mbustamante@nbi.ku.dk).