Joint HEP/Theory Seminar: Neutrons from Neutrinos on Nuclei: The ANNIE Experiment

The next generation of large neutrino detectors has the potential to shed light on a number of exciting topics in fundamental physics, such as the origin of the matter/antimatter imbalance in the universe, the dynamics of core-collapse supernovae, and possible new physics processes like proton decay. A common challenge for many such measurements is our limited understanding of neutrino-nucleus interactions, including final state neutron production. To help meet this challenge, The Accelerator Neutrino Neutron Interaction Experiment (ANNIE), currently undergoing Phase II upgrades at Fermilab, will measure the multiplicity of final state neutrons from neutrino-nucleus interactions in water. ANNIE will also pioneer the use of Large Area Picosecond Photodetectors (LAPPDs) for event reconstruction, establishing this emerging technology as a new tool for high energy physics experiments. Phase I of ANNIE, which completed beam data taking in July 2017, was constructed to characterize neutron backgrounds associated with the Fermilab Booster Neutrino Beam in preparation for the Phase II physics measurements. In this talk, I will present preliminary results from ANNIE Phase I and discuss the current status of and future plans for the experiment.