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Prof. Gary Barker

Research Interests

My research work concerns the physics of neutrinos. Neutrinos could hold the key to explaining many current mysteries surrounding the nature of the Universe. My group focuses on measuring the properties of neutrinos through studies of neutrino oscillations with long baseline oscillation experiments. The main projects we are contributing to are listed below:

T2K: Running since 2011, T2K is a long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment that was the first to report evidence of a non-zero value for the mixing angle θ13 and has set a World best value for θ23. More details of Warwick's contributions can be found here.

DUNE: The DUNE project at Fermilab's Long Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) is a next-generation neutrino oscillation experiment capable of determining the neutrino mass hierarchy and of observing CP-violation in neutrinos (if present). The experiment will start early in the next decade and is currently in the preparation phase. More details of my group's work can be found here.

DUNE logo
Hyper-K: An upgrade to the T2K project with the sensitivity to observe CP-violation.
Warwick are contributing to the design phase of the experiment. See here for more details.
HyperK logo

High Power Proton Targets: Through the simulation of proton interactions with target material we are contributing to the design of the target regions for both the LBNF project and an experiment searching for possible new physics from the `hidden' sector (SHIP).

SHIPLogoLBNF Schematic

b-Physics: My early career was in the area of b-physics where, through my work with the OPAL and DELPHI experiments, I contributed to some of the most precise measurements in b-quark physics to come out of the Large Electron Positron Collider (LEP) era at CERN. Much of this work is documented in my book b-Quark Physics with the LEP Collider.

bphysicsbook.jpg

Teaching

I am currently the Undergraduate Admissions Tutor and hence do not teach a lecture module. In the past, I have taught:

  • Introduction to Particle Physics (PX147)
  • The Standard Model (PX434)
  • Physics Skills (PX271): lectures in experimental uncertainties; presentation skills; report assessment
  • Physics Group Project (PX424)

Research Stundents

Below is a list of PhD research students that have completed a thesis in my group. Supervision is usually a joint responsibility between myself and Dr. Steve Boyd - a `P' or`S' signifies whether I was formally the Primary or Secondary supervisor. Note that Steve Dennis was a joint Warwick-RAL student and jointly supervised by Dr. Costas Andreopoulos of Liverpool/RAL:

Antony Carver (S) 2011 Electron identification and performance of the ND280 Calorimeter
Martin Haigh (P) 2011 Beam extrapolation and photosensor testing for the T2K experiment
Leigh Whitehead (P) 2012 A measurement of the electron neutrino component of the T2K beam using the Near Detector  
Daniel Scully (P) 2013 Neutrino induced coherent pion production  
Callum Lister (S) 2014 A measurement of the muon antineutrino inclusive charged-current cross section  
Andrew Furmanski (P) 2015 Charged-current Quasi-elastic-like neutrino interactions at the T2K experiment  
Steve Dennis (S) 2015 Muon antineutrino disappearance and non-standard interactions at the T2K experiment  
Edward Larkin (P) 2016    
Paula Denner (P) 2018    
Aaron Knight (S) 2018    
Andrew Chappell (P) 2019    

Write to:

Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL

Contact Details:

Office: P446
Telephone:
+44 (0)2476 523399
Fax:
+44 (0)2476 150897
E-Mail:
g.j.barker@Warwick.ac.uk

Links:

Click here for Postgraduate study opportunities with the EPP Group