Current Research

At present, I participate in three neutrino experiments.

1. The T2K experiment is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment sited in Japan. T2K has produced world-leading results in neutrino oscillation parameters and the first suggestion of CP-violation in the lepton sector. On T2K, I am the Convenor for the Electromagnetic Calorimeter, which is a sub-detector within the Near Detector ND280. My analysis has been focussed on neutrino interactions in the near detector ND280, and on the analysis of ND280 events that allows us to make more precise measurements of the neutrino oscillation parameters and of possible CP violation in the lepton sector.
2. The SNO+ experiment uses a 1000 T liquid-scintillator filled vessel sited 2 km underground in an active nickel mine near Sudbury Ontario Canada to determine whether or not neutrinos are Majorana particles, i.e. are their own antiparticles. They do this by searching for a never-yet observed type of decay: neutrinoless double-beta decay. My work has been focussed on predicting and controlling the background processes that contaminate the search for this decay.
3. The Hyper-Kamiokande experiment is the proposed successor to the T2K experiment, and is in the R&D phase. Hyper-K will have sensitivity to CP violation across most of the parameter regime assuming that the systematic uncertainties are well-controlled. Measurements of neutrino interaction cross sections such as those at T2K reduce those uncertainties.

External Roles

I have acted as a panel member on the STFC Particle Physics Grants Panel (PPGP-E).

I have been involved in the Institute of Physics in the following roles.

1. Member of the IOP HEPP committee, responsible for co-ordinating the HEPP group Half-Day meetings.
2. Member of the Nuclear and Particle Physics Division.

PhD Supervision Interests

My students and I work on data analysis from the T2K long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment, as well as calibrating the detector to ensure that data quality remains high. Future physics projects could include using the T2K Near Detector (ND280) to perform a neutrino interaction cross section on lead, or involvement in the ND280 data analyses that act as input to our measurements of the neutrino oscillation parameters and of possible CP violation (matter-antimatter asymmetry) in the lepton sector. There also is a possibility to work on the SNO+ experiment, where I've been working on understanding the backgrounds to the neutrinoless double-beta decay signal. If observed, neutrinoless double-beta decay would demonstrate that neutrinos, unlike any other matter particles, are their own antiparticles. See the Experimental Particle Physics Group page for a list of current PhD projects: http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/physics/research/particle-and-accelerator-physics/experimental-particle-physics/