Kate Scholberg, Arts & Sciences Distinguished Professor and Associate Chair and Bass Fellow  

Kate Scholberg

Office Location: 273 Physics Bldg, Durham, NC 27708
Email Address: kate.scholberg@duke.edu
Web Page: http://phy.duke.edu/~schol/

Specialties:
Experimental high energy physics

Education:
Ph.D., California Institute of Technology, 1996
PhD, Caltech, 1997
M.S., California Institute of Technology, 1991
B.Sc., McGill University (Canada), 1989

Current projects: Super-Kamiokande, K2K (KEK to Kamioka) long baseline experiment, T2K (Tokai to Kamioka) long baseline experiment, SNEWS

Research Description: Prof. Scholberg's broad research interests include experimental elementary particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology. Her main specific interests are in neutrino physics: she studies neutrino oscillations with the Super-Kamiokande experiment, a giant underground water Cherenkov detector located in a mine in the Japanese Alps. Super-K was constructed to search for proton decay and to study neutrinos from the sun, from cosmic ray collisions in the atmosphere, and from supernovae. Prof. Scholberg's primary involvement is with the atmospheric neutrino data analysis, which in 1998 yielded the first convincing evidence for neutrino oscillation (implying the existence of non-zero neutrino mass).

One of the most important questions that we may be able to answer with neutrino oscillation experiments over the next couple of decades is the question of CP (charge conjugation-parity) violation in neutrinos. It's now well known that processes involving quarks violate CP symmetry; it's suspected that the same is true for leptons (such as neutrinos), but leptonic CP violation is as yet unobserved. We hope that understanding of CP violation, along with knowledge of the other neutrino parameters, may lead to insight into the question of the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry of the universe. The long-term program of Super-K and the associated long baseline neutrino beam experiment aims to answer these questions.

The next steps in neutrino oscillation research involve artifical beams of neutrinos sent hundreds of kilometers from accelerator laboratories to underground detectors. The T2K ("Tokai to Kamioka") high-intensity beam experiment sends neutrinos 300 km from an accelerator at the J-PARC facility in Japan to Super-K, and is currently exploring unknown oscillation parameters. LBNE (the Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment) is a planned next-generation experiment designed to beam neutrinos from Fermilab to a large detector at a new underground facility in the United States.

Prof. Scholberg also coordinates SNEWS, the SuperNova Early Warning System, an inter-experiment collaboration of detectors with Galactic supernova sensitivity. Neutrinos from a core collapse will precede the photon signal by hours; therefore coincident observation of a burst in several neutrino detectors will be a robust early warning of a visible supernova. The goals of SNEWS are to provide the astronomical community with a prompt alert of a Galactic core collapse, as well as to optimize global sensitivity to supernova neutrino physics.

Areas of Interest:
Particle physics
Astrophysics
Nuclear physics

Teaching (Fall 2024):

  • Physics 760.01, Math methods of physics Synopsis
    Gross hall 105, MW 10:05 AM-11:20 AM

Recent Publications   (More Publications)

  1. Kitagawa, H; Tada, T; Abe, K; Bronner, C; Hayato, Y; Hiraide, K; Hosokawa, K; Ieki, K; Ikeda, M; Kameda, J; Kanemura, Y; Kaneshima, R; Kashiwagi, Y; Kataoka, Y; Miki, S; Mine, S; Miura, M; Moriyama, S; Nakahata, M; Nakano, Y; Nakayama, S; Noguchi, Y; Okamoto, K; Sato, K; Sekiya, H; Shiba, H; Shimizu, K; Shiozawa, M; Sonoda, Y; Suzuki, Y; Takeda, A; Takemoto, Y; Takenaka, A; Tanaka, H; Watanabe, S; Yano, T; Han, S; Kajita, T; Okumura, K; Tashiro, T; Tomiya, T; Wang, X; Yoshida, S; Megias, GD; Fernandez, P; Labarga, L; Ospina, N; Zaldivar, B; Kearns, E; Raaf, JL; Wan, L; Wester, T; Pointon, BW; Bian, J; Griskevich, NJ; Locke, S; Smy, MB; Sobel, HW; Takhistov, V; Yankelevich, A; Hill, J; Jang, MC; Lee, SH; Moon, DH; Park, RG; Bodur, B; Scholberg, K; Walter, CW; Beauchêne, A; Drapier, O; Giampaolo, A; Mueller, TA; Paganini, P; Quilain, B; Rogly, R; Santos, AD; Nakamura, T; Jang, JS; Machado, LN; Learned, JG; Choi, K; Iovine, N; Cao, S; Anthony, LHV; Marin, D; Prouse, NW; Scott, M; Sztuc, AA; Uchida, Y; Berardi, V; Calabria, NF; Catanesi, MG; Radicioni, E; Langella, A; De Rosa, G; Collazuol, G; Iacob, F; Lamoureux, M; Mattiazzi, M; Ludovici, L, Measurements of the charge ratio and polarization of cosmic-ray muons with the Super-Kamiokande detector, Physical Review D, vol. 110 no. 8 (October, 2024) [doi]  [abs].
  2. Mori, M; Abe, K; Hayato, Y; Hiraide, K; Hosokawa, K; Ieki, K; Ikeda, M; Kameda, J; Kanemura, Y; Kaneshima, R; Kashiwagi, Y; Kataoka, Y; Miki, S; Mine, S; Miura, M; Moriyama, S; Nakano, Y; Nakahata, M; Nakayama, S; Noguchi, Y; Okamoto, K; Sato, K; Sekiya, H; Shiba, H; Shimizu, K; Shiozawa, M; Sonoda, Y; Suzuki, Y; Takeda, A; Takemoto, Y; Takenaka, A; Tanaka, H; Watanabe, S; Yano, T; Han, S; Kajita, T; Okumura, K; Tashiro, T; Tomiya, T; Wang, X; Yoshida, S; Megias, GD; Fernandez, P; Labarga, L; Ospina, N; Zaldivar, B; Pointon, BW; Kearns, E; Raaf, JL; Wan, L; Wester, T; Bian, J; Griskevich, NJ; Locke, S; Smy, MB; Sobel, HW; Takhistov, V; Yankelevich, A; Hill, J; Jang, MC; Lee, SH; Moon, DH; Park, RG; Bodur, B; Scholberg, K; Walter, CW; Beauchêne, A; Drapier, O; Giampaolo, A; Mueller, TA; Santos, AD; Paganini, P; Quilain, B; Rogly, R; Ishizuka, T; Nakamura, T; Jang, JS; Learned, JG; Choi, K; Iovine, N; Cao, S; Anthony, LHV; Martin, D; Scott, M; Sztuc, AA; Uchida, Y; Berardi, V; Catanesi, MG; Radicioni, E; Calabria, NF; Langella, A; Machado, LN; De Rosa, G; Collazuol, G; Iacob, F; Lamoureux, M; Mattiazzi, M; Ludovici, L; Gonin, M; Perisse, L, Development of a Data Overflow Protection System for Super-Kamiokande to Maximize Data from Nearby Supernovae, Progress of Theoretical and Experimental Physics, vol. 2024 no. 10 (October, 2024) [doi]  [abs].
  3. Kara, M; Torres-Lara, S; Baxter, AL; BenZvi, S; Colomer Molla, M; Habig, A; Kneller, JP; Lai, M; Lang, RF; Linvill, M; Milisavljevic, D; Migenda, J; Orr, C; Scholberg, K; Smolsky, J; Tseng, J; Tunnell, CD; Vasel, J; Sheshukov, A, The SNEWS 2.0 alert software for the coincident detection of neutrinos from core-collapse supernovae, Journal of Instrumentation, vol. 19 no. 10 (October, 2024) [doi]  [abs].
  4. Abe, S; Eizuka, M; Futagi, S; Gando, A; Gando, Y; Goto, S; Hachiya, T; Hata, K; Ichimura, K; Ieki, S; Ikeda, H; Inoue, K; Ishidoshiro, K; Kamei, Y; Kawada, N; Kishimoto, Y; Koga, M; Kurasawa, M; Mitsui, T; Miyake, H; Morita, D; Nakahata, T; Nakajima, R; Nakamura, K; Nakamura, R; Nakane, J; Ozaki, H; Saito, K; Sakai, T; Shimizu, I; Shirai, J; Shiraishi, K; Shoji, R; Suzuki, A; Takeuchi, A; Tamae, K; Watanabe, H; Watanabe, K; Yoshida, S; Umehara, S; Fushimi, K; Kotera, K; Urano, Y; Berger, BE; Fujikawa, BK; Learned, JG; Maricic, J; Fu, Z; Smolsky, J; Winslow, LA; Efremenko, Y; Karwowski, HJ; Markoff, DM; Tornow, W; Dell’Oro, S; O’Donnell, T; Detwiler, JA; Enomoto, S; Decowski, MP; Weerman, KM; Grant, C; Song, H; Li, A; Axani, SN; Garcia, M; Suzuki, S; Abe, K; Bronner, C; Hayato, Y; Hiraide, K; Hosokawa, K; Ieki, K; Ikeda, M; Kameda, J; Kanemura, Y; Kaneshima, R; Kashiwagi, Y; Kataoka, Y; Miki, S; Mine, S; Miura, M; Moriyama, S; Nakahata, M; Nakano, Y; Nakayama, S; Noguchi, Y; Sato, K; Sekiya, H; Shiba, H; Shimizu, K; Shiozawa, M; Sonoda, Y; Suzuki, Y; Takeda, A; Takemoto, Y; Tanaka, H; Yano, T; Han, S, Combined Pre-supernova Alert System with KamLAND and Super-Kamiokande, Astrophysical Journal, vol. 973 no. 2 (October, 2024) [doi]  [abs].
  5. Abed Abud, A; Abi, B; Acciarri, R; Acero, MA; Adames, MR; Adamov, G; Adamowski, M; Adams, D; Adinolfi, M; Adriano, C; Aduszkiewicz, A; Aguilar, J; Aimard, B; Akbar, F; Allison, K; Monsalve, SA; Alrashed, M; Alton, A; Alvarez, R; Alves, T; Amar, H; Amedo, P; Anderson, J; Andrade, DA; Andreopoulos, C; Andreotti, M; Andrews, MP; Andrianala, F; Andringa, S; Anfimov, N; Ankowski, A; Antoniassi, M; Antonova, M; Antoshkin, A; Aranda-Fernandez, A; Arellano, L; Diaz, EA; Arroyave, MA; Asaadi, J; Ashkenazi, A; Asner, D; Asquith, L; Atkin, E; Auguste, D; Aurisano, A; Aushev, V; Autiero, D; Azfar, F; Back, A; Back, H; Back, JJ; Bagaturia, I; Bagby, L; Balashov, N; Balasubramanian, S; Baldi, P; Baldini, W; Baldonedo, J; Baller, B; Bambah, B; Banerjee, R; Barao, F; Barenboim, G; Alzás, PB; Barker, GJ; Barkhouse, W; Barr, G; Monarca, JB; Barros, A; Barros, N; Barrow, D; Barrow, JL; Basharina-Freshville, A; Bashyal, A; Basque, V; Batchelor, C; Bathe-Peters, L; Battat, JBR; Battisti, F; Bay, F; Bazetto, MCQ; Alba, JLLB; Beacom, JF; Bechetoille, E; Behera, B; Belchior, E; Bell, G; Bellantoni, L; Bellettini, G; Bellini, V; Beltramello, O; Benekos, N; Montiel, CB; Benjamin, D; Neves, FB; Berger, J; Berkman, S; Bernal, J; Bernardini, P; Bersani, A, Performance of a Modular Ton-Scale Pixel-Readout Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber, Instruments, vol. 8 no. 3 (September, 2024) [doi]  [abs].

Highlight:
Prof. Scholberg's broad research interests include experimental elementary particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology. Her main specific interests are in neutrino physics: she studies neutrino oscillations with the Super-Kamiokande experiment, a giant underground water Cherenkov detector located in a mine in the Japanese Alps. Super-K was constructed to search for proton decay and to study neutrinos from the sun, from cosmic ray collisions in the atmosphere, and from supernovae. On Super-K, Prof. Scholberg's primary involvement is with the atmospheric neutrino data analysis, which in 1998 yielded the first convincing evidence for neutrino oscillation (implying the existence of non-zero neutrino mass).


One of the most important questions that we may be able to answer with neutrino oscillation experiments over the next couple of decades is the question of CP (charge conjugation-parity) violation in neutrinos. It's now well known that processes involving quarks violate CP symmetry; it's suspected that the same is true for leptons (such as neutrinos), but leptonic CP violation is as yet unobserved. We hope that understanding of CP violation, along with knowledge of the other neutrino parameters, may lead to insight into the question of the observed matter-antimatter asymmetry of the universe. The long-term program neutrino oscillation physics aims to answer these questions.

The next steps in neutrino oscillation research involve artificial beams of neutrinos sent hundreds of kilometers from accelerator laboratories to underground detectors. The T2K ("Tokai to Kamioka") high-intensity beam experiment sends neutrinos 300 km from an accelerator at the J-PARC facility in Japan to Super-K, and is currently exploring unknown oscillation parameters. The DUNE (Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment) is a planned next-generation U.S.-based international experiment designed to observe neutrinos beamed from Fermilab to a large liquid argon detector at a new underground facility in South Dakota.  One of Prof. Scholberg's particular interests on DUNE is the detector's sensitivity to the huge bursts of neutrinos from core-collapse supernovae.

Prof. Scholberg serves as spokesperson of COHERENT, a multi-detector experiment with the primary physics goal of measuring CEvNS (Coherent Elastic Neutrino Nucleus Scattering) using the high-intensity neutrinos produced by the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.   CEvNS was measured for the first time by the collaboration in 2017.

Prof. Scholberg was a co-founder of SNEWS, the SuperNova Early Warning System, an inter-experiment collaboration of detectors with Galactic supernova sensitivity. Neutrinos from a core collapse will precede the photon signal by hours; therefore coincident observation of a burst in several neutrino detectors will be a robust early warning of a visible supernova. The goals of SNEWS are to provide the astronomical community with a prompt alert of a Galactic core collapse, as well as to optimize global sensitivity to supernova neutrino physics.

Current Ph.D. Students   (Former Students)

  • Baran Bodur  
  • Adryanna Smith  
  • Erin Conley  
  • Justin Raybern  
  • Gleb Sinev  
Postdocs Mentored

  • Daniel Pershey (2018 - present)  
  • Mayra Cervantes (2016 - 2018)  
  • Erin O'Sullivan (May, 2014 - 2017)  
  • Alex Himmel (July, 2011 - 2014)  
  • Tarek Akiri (March, 2011 - September, 2013)  
  • Jennifer Prendki (February, 2010 - December, 2010)  
  • Roger Wendell (July, 2008 - present)  
  • Maximilien Fechner (August, 2006 - July, 2008)  
  • Naho Tanimoto (April 1, 2005 - February, 2008)