Seminarium Fizyki Jądra Atomowego

KamLAND is a large underground neutrino detector located in Japan. The primary goal of the experiment is to measure neutrino properties by studying electron anti-neutrinos produced in the decay of radioactive products in nearby nuclear power reactors. KamLAND has provided strong evidence for neutrino oscillation by seeing the tell-tale distortion in the neutrino spectrum and measured key neutrino mixing parameters. A secondary goal of KamLAND is to study geologically produced neutrinos, which could provide valuable information about radiogenically produced heat in the Earth's mantle, a yet unknown quantity. I will describe the KamLAND experiment, the physics behind these two goals and show our recent results, with a special emphasis on our effort to constrain the theta₁₃ mixing parameter.