Janet Conrad

About

Janet Conrad is a Professor of Physics at MIT with a research focus on neutrinos, the lightest known matter particles, which outnumber atoms in the universe. Her work explores the properties of neutrinos, including their mass and oscillation behavior, which challenge the Standard Model of particle physics. Conrad's research involves testing for new features of neutrinos through experiments such as MicroBooNE at Fermilab, which searches for a potential new neutrino beyond the three known types, motivated by anomalies observed in previous experiments like LSND. She also investigates astrophysical neutrinos using the IceCube experiment at the South Pole, searching for sterile neutrinos and other Beyond Standard Model phenomena. Additionally, her group develops high power cyclotrons to create decay-at-rest neutrino sources for precision studies. Conrad received her B.A. from Swarthmore College, her M.Sc. from Oxford University, and her Ph.D. from Harvard. She has held positions at Columbia University, where she was the Walter O. Lecroy Professor of Physics, and has been recognized with numerous awards including the Guggenheim Fellowship, the APS Fellowship, and the Maria Goeppert Mayer Award for her leadership in experimental neutrino physics.

Research topics

• Physics
• Particle physics
• Nuclear physics
• Astronomy
• Astrophysics
• Computer Science
• Artificial Intelligence
• Optics
• Machine Learning
• Environmental science

Selected publications

• Multi-messenger Observations of a Binary Neutron Star Merger

  2017 · 1398 citations

  On 2017 August 17 a binary neutron star coalescence candidate (later designated GW170817) with merger time 12:41:04 UTC was observed through gravitational waves by the Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo detectors. The Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor independently detected a gamma-ray burst (GRB 170817A) with a time delay of ~1.7 s with respect to the merger time. From the gravitational-wave signal, the source was initially localized to a sky region of 31 deg² at a luminosity distance of 40₋₈⁺⁸ Mpc a…

  DOI

• Evidence for neutrino emission from the nearby active galaxy NGC 1068

  Science · 2022 · 446 citations

  A supermassive black hole, obscured by cosmic dust, powers the nearby active galaxy NGC 1068. Neutrinos, which rarely interact with matter, could provide information on the galaxy's active core. We searched for neutrino emission from astrophysical objects using data recorded with the IceCube neutrino detector between 2011 and 2020. The positions of 110 known gamma-ray sources were individually searched for neutrino detections above atmospheric and cosmic backgrounds. We found that NGC 1068 has a…

  DOI

• Time-Integrated Neutrino Source Searches with 10 Years of IceCube Data

  Physical Review Letters · 2020 · 433 citations

  This Letter presents the results from pointlike neutrino source searches using ten years of IceCube data collected between April 6, 2008 and July 10, 2018. We evaluate the significance of an astrophysical signal from a pointlike source looking for an excess of clustered neutrino events with energies typically above ∼1 TeV among the background of atmospheric muons and neutrinos. We perform a full-sky scan, a search within a selected source catalog, a catalog population study, and three stacked Ga…

  DOI

• Volume I. Introduction to DUNE

  Journal of Instrumentation · 2020 · 401 citations

  A.4 Constraining the flux in the ND A.4.1 Neutrino-electron elastic scattering A.4.2 The low- method A.4.3 Coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering A.4.4 Beam e content A.5 Movable components of the ND and the DUNE-PRISM program A.5.1 Introduction to DUNE-PRISM A.5.2 LArTPC component in the DUNE ND: ArgonCube A.5.3 Multipurpose detector A.5.4 The DUNE-PRISM program A.6 Fixed on-axis component of the DUNE ND A.6.1 Motivation and introduction A.6.2 Three-dimensional projection scintillator tracker spe…

  DOI

• IceCube high-energy starting event sample: Description and flux characterization with 7.5 years of data

  Physical review. D/Physical review. D. · 2021 · 368 citations

  The IceCube Neutrino Observatory has established the existence of a high-energy all-sky neutrino flux of astrophysical origin. This discovery was made using events interacting within a fiducial region of the detector surrounded by an active veto and with reconstructed energy above 60 TeV, commonly known as the high-energy starting event sample (HESE). We revisit the analysis of the HESE sample with an additional 4.5 years of data, newer glacial ice models, and improved systematics treatment. Thi…

  DOI

Recent grants

• The PA-Supported Neutrino Program at MIT

  NSF · $1.0M · 2015–2019

• Neutrino Physics at MIT

  NSF · $1.2M · 2009–2012

• The EPP Supported Neutrino Program at MIT

  NSF · $909k · 2018–2022

Frequent coauthors

• M. Ackermann

  Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY

  3377 shared

• Kwok Lung Fan

  3148 shared

• S. R. Klein

  2761 shared

• I. A. Grenier

  Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

  2734 shared

• G. M. Spiczak

  2659 shared

• J. Vandenbroucke

  2629 shared

• U. Katz

  Providence College

  2629 shared

• G. C. Hill

  Providence College

  2627 shared

Awards & honors

• 2016 // Committed to Caring Honoree, MIT Office of Dean of G…
• 2014 // Amar G. Bose Fellowship
• 2013 // CWSP Woman Physicist of the Month, August (APS)
• 2009 // John Simon Guggenheim Fellow
• 2005-08 // Columbia Distinguished Faculty Fellow

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