Joshua Spitz

Professor Spitz’s group studies experimental particle and astroparticle physics. The group is involved in carefully measuring the properties of the neutrino, one of nature's fundamental particles, and in trying to understand the role of the "little neutral one" in the evolution of the universe. Specifically, the Spitz group seeks to address fundamental questions such as (1) Are matter neutrinos different than anti-matter neutrinos? (2) How many neutrinos are there? and (3) How does the neutrino acquire mass? While there are clear paths forward for answering these questions unambiguously, detecting and characterizing neutrinos is famously quite difficult. As such, the Spitz group is actively involved in neutrino detection technology development and implementation towards the eventual goal of fully understanding the neutrino and its past and present role in the universe

Selected Publications

First Measurement of Missing Energy Due to Nuclear Effects in Monoenergetic Neutrino Charged Current Interactions, (E. Marzec et al. [JSNS2 Collaboration]), Physical Review Letters 134, 081801 (2025).

First Double-differential Cross section Measurement of Neutral-current pi0 Production in Neutrino-argon Scattering in the MicroBooNE Detector, (P. Abratenko et al. [MicroBooNE Collaboration]), arXiv:2404.10948. To appear in Physical Review Letters.

First Simultaneous Measurement of Differential Muon-neutrino Charged-current Cross Sections on Argon for Final States With and Without Protons Using MicroBooNE Data, (P. Abratenko et al. [MicroBooNE Collaboration]), Physical Review Letters 133, 041801 (2024).

Width of a Beta-decay-induced Antineutrino Wavepacket, (B.J.P. Jones, E. Marzec, and J. Spitz), Physical Review D 107, 013008 (2023).

Neutrino Physics Opportunities with the IsoDAR Source at Yemilab, (J. Alonso, C.A. Arguelles, A. Bungau, J.M. Conrad, B. Dutta, Y.D. Kim, E. Marzec, D. Mishins, S.H. Seo, M. Shaevitz, J. Spitz, A. Thompson, L. Waites, and D. Winklehner), Physical Review D 105, 052009 (2022).

Search for an Excess of Electron Neutrino Interactions in MicroBooNE Using Multiple Final State Topologies, (P. Abratenko et al. [MicroBooNE Collaboration]), Physical Review Letters 128, 241801 (2022).

Measuring Changes in the Atmospheric Neutrino Rate Over Gigayear Timescales, (J.R. Jordan, S. Baum,  P. Stengel, A. Ferrari, M.C. Morone, P. Sala, and J. Spitz), Physical Review Letters 125, 231802 (2020).

First Measurement of Electron Neutrino Scattering Cross Section on Argon, (R. Acciarri et al. [ArgoNeuT Collaboration]), Physical Review D 102, 011101(R) (2020).

First Measurement of Inclusive Muon Neutrino Charged Current Differential Cross Sections on Argon at Enu~0.8 GeV with the MicroBooNE Detector, (P. Abratenko et al. [MicroBooNE Collaboration]), Physical Review Letters 123, 131801 (2019).

Severe Constraints on New Physics Explanations of the MiniBooNE Excess, (J.R. Jordan, Y. Kahn, G. Krnjaic, M. Moschella, and J. Spitz), Physical Review Letters 122, 081801 (2019).