Physics Department News

The T2K neutrino oscillation experiment has this week announced a strong indication of a first direct observation of muon-type neutrinos oscillating into electron type neutrinos.

The Warwick T2K group, headed by Gary Barker and Steve Boyd, have constructed a significant part of the electromagnetic calorimeter for the T2K near detector and are now busy contributing to the data analysis effort that has led to this latest announcement. More data and a deeper understanding of the detector are needed but, if confirmed, this result will pave the way for investigations of CP-violation in neutrinos which has deep consequences for our understanding of the orgin of matter in the universe. The latest results are based on the data taken by T2K before the earthquake struck the East coast of Japan in March and hopes are high that data taking can resume before the end of this year.

For more information, see the following STFC press release:

http://www.stfc.ac.uk/News+and+Events/35225.aspx

Warwick T2K web page: www.warwick.ac.uk/go/t2k

Dr Claire Foullon, Centre for Fusion, Space & Astrophysics, Department of Physics, has won a 5-year STFC Advanced Fellowship.

The fellowship will fund Dr Foullon’s research into “Flow-Driven Instabilities of the Sun-Earth System”. One good example of this phenomenon is observed in images of clouds of material exploding from the sun.

As part of the fellowship, she will lay out some ground works in preparation for Solar Orbiter, due to be launched in 2017 if approved.

Dr Foullon is the first researcher at Warwick to be offered an STFC Advanced Fellowship. Of those applying this year in the UK, only 6.3% were successful.

Professor Tom Marsh has been involved in research which has discovered only the second ever eclipsing close white dwarf pair to be found, of which just over 50 close double white dwarfs have been found. Please see the link to the press release for more information http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/feuding_helium_dwarfs/

An international team of UK and US astronomers have spotted the most distant explosion, and possibly the most distant object, ever seen in the Universe. Dr Andrew Levan in the Astronomy and Astrophysics group was amongst those who saw the explosion. Please see the below press release for more information http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/massive_explosion_helps/