Abstract

The neutrino, once invented to save the conservation of energy in nuclear beta decay, now constitutes a rich field of research, and may hold the key to understanding the matter-antimatter asymmetry of the universe.

Present neutrino experiments are hampered by very low interaction cross-sections between neutrinos and matter, resulting in the need for powerful beams of hundreds of kilowatts and massive detectors that can weigh tens of kilotons.

Resonant processes have the potential to result in cross-sections that can be larger by orders of magnitude than the continuum cross-sections, an effect that is commonly exploited in e+e- colliders running at a J/psi, Upsilon or Z resonance.

In this seminar I will discuss two resonant processes of neutrinos with ordinary matter: the inverse reaction of bound beta decay and that of muon capture. One of the main challenges is to produce monochromatic neutrinos with precisely the right energy to match the resonant process.