Kenneth Heller
Professor, Associate Head (Physics)
260A Tate, 624-7314, email heller @ physics.umn.edu
|
Research Areas: My research in high energy particle physics focuses on the properties of neutrino oscillations. My research in physics education is in developing ways to coach students to become better problem solvers and to develop techniques to assess problem solving.
Current Research
My research involves determining the characteristics of the fundamental interactions using both accelerator and non-accelerator techniques. In other words, High Energy Particle Physics. Currently my research focuses on neutrinos.(http://www.hep.umn.edu/)
Neutrinos are one tool to investigate the origin of mass and perhaps the origin of our universe. Recently some of the major puzzles in nature have been explained because neutrinos are not massless particles. Massive neutrinos oscillate from one type of neutrino to another while in flight. The MINOS project shoots a beam of neutrinos through the Earth from Fermilab to the Soudan Underground Laboratory in Minnesota and detects the identity of the neutrinos. This long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment is taking data to make a precision measurement of the mixing between muon neutrinos and tau neutrinos. We are currently designing the NOVA experiment to discover a rarer type of neutrino oscillation. This experiment will use the same neutrino beam MINOS but will be about 3 times larger and be located near International Falls.
My previous experiment discovered the last particle in the Standard Model, the tau neutrino. The first results were published in 2001 and we are now finishing the last analysis of tau neutrino properties.
Since I teach at a University, I am also interested in the most effective way to assist students in learning Physics. In particular we are investigating better ways to teach problem solving using cooperative group techniques to solve context rich problems using more expert strategies. (http://groups.physics.umn.edu/physed)
Selected Publications
Observation of Muon Neutrino Disappearance with the MINOS Detector in the NUMI Neutrino Beam, PRL 97, 191801 (2006).,
First observations of separated atmospheric nu(mu) and anti-nu(mu) events in the MINOS detector, Phys. Rev. D73, 72002 (2006),
Charles Henderson, Edit Yerushalmi, Vince H. Kuo, Patricia Heller, Kenneth Heller, Grading student problem solutions: The challenge of sending a consistent message, American Journal of Physics Vol72, pp. 164-169 (2004) [abstract]
MINOS Collaboration (P. Adamson et al.) Minnesota authors: P.M. Border, T.R. Chase, H. Courant, H.R. Gallagher, Kenneth J. Heller, S.M.S. Kasahara, P.J. Litchfield, M.L. Marshak, J.K. Nelson, N. Pears, THE MINOS SCINTILLATOR CALORIMETER SYSTEM, IEEE Trans.Nucl.Sci.49:861-863,2002
DONUT Collaboration (K. Kodama et al.) Minnesota authors: D. Ciampa, C. Erickson, M. Graham, Kenneth J. Heller, R. Rusack, R. Schwienhorst, J. Sielaff, J. Trammell, J. Wilcox, OBSERVATION OF TAU NEUTRINO INTERACTIONS., Phys.Lett.B504:218-224,2001 [abstract]
DONUT Collaboration (R. Schwienhorst et al.) Minnesota authors: R. Schwienhorst, R. Rusack, D. Ciampa, C. Erickson, M. Graham, Kenneth J. Heller, J. Sielaff, J. Trammell, J. Wilcox, A NEW UPPER LIMIT FOR THE TAU - NEUTRINO MAGNETIC MOMENT, Phys.Lett.B513:23-29,2001 [abstract]
P. Border, P. Cushman, Kenneth J. Heller, D. Maxam, J.K. Nelson, K. Ruddick, R. Rusack, R. Schwienhorst, T. Berg, T. Chase, M. Hansen, C. Bower, R. Hatcher, R. Heinz, L. Miller, S. Mufson, A LARGE LIQUID SCINTILLATOR DETECTOR FOR A LONG BASELINE NEUTRINO OSCILLATION EXPERIMENT, Nucl.Instrum.Meth.A463:194-204,2001 [abstract]
Education
B.A., University of California, Berkeley 1965