Steven Gardiner
Associate Scientist
Telephone: (630) 840-4076 E-mail: gardiner@fnal.gov Office Location: WH12W
Scientific Interest
My research explores neutrino scattering physics at MeV to GeV energies. High-quality predictions of these interaction rates are an essential ingredient for answering fundamental questions about the properties of neutrinos, observing the cosmos using neutrino-based telescopes, and searching for subtle manifestations of many hypothesized new particles and forces. To enable experiments to study these compelling topics, I develop software tools that combine aspects of nuclear and particle physics to simulate neutrino reactions with state-of-the-art theoretical models and numerical techniques. As a member of several experimental collaborations, I also work on neutrino interaction measurements to test simulation predictions and expose model deficiencies in need of further improvement.
Since joining Fermilab in 2018, I have served in multiple leadership roles for liquid argon neutrino experiments. For MicroBooNE, I am a former convener of two working groups tasked with quantifying systematic uncertainties and executing neutrino scattering analyses. I currently serve as Cross-Section Senior Advisor to the MicroBooNE spokespeople and as a computing liaison between the experiment and Fermilab. For the Short-Baseline Neutrino program, I represent SBND as co-coordinator of the Analysis Infrastructure group, which oversees all computing-related activities for both SBND and ICARUS. I am also a collaborator on the ANNIE and DUNE experiments, where my main interests are neutrino-induced neutron emission and measurements of MeV-scale astrophysical neutrinos, respectively.
In my role as leader of the Event Generators Group in Fermilab Computing, I direct software development, maintenance, and user support activities for the neutrino interaction simulation codes used by the laboratory’s experimental community. Our primary focus is the GENIE event generator used to model collisions between neutrinos and atomic nuclei at GeV energies. We also work on the MARLEY package that provides a lower-energy scattering model appropriate for neutrinos produced by the Sun and by supernovae. In these efforts, we collaborate with theorists and experimentalists from around the world to deliver the simulation capabilities needed for Fermilab’s broad program of neutrino science to be successful.