Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment
The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a neutrino experiment under construction, with a near detector at Fermilab and a far detector at the Sanford Underground Research Facility that will observe neutrinos produced at Fermilab. It will fire an intense beam of trillions of neutrinos from a production facility at Fermilab (in Illinois) over a distance of 1,300 kilometers (810 mi) to an instrumented 70-kiloton volume of liquid argon located deep underground at the Sanford Lab in South Dakota.[1][2] The neutrinos will travel in a straight line through the Earth, reaching about 30 kilometers (19 mi) underground near the mid-point; the far detector itself will be 1.5 kilometers (4,850 ft) under the surface).[3] About 870,000 tons of rock will be excavated to create the caverns for the far detectors.[4] More than 1,000 collaborators work on the project.[5]
Longitudinal section of the beamline for the experiment from the Main Injector | |
Alternative names | DUNE |
---|---|
Location(s) | Fermilab, Sanford Underground Research Facility, Winfield Township, Lead, US |
Coordinates | 41°49′55″N 88°15′26″W |
Telescope style | neutrino detector |
Website | http://www.dunescience.org/ |
Location of Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment | |
The primary science objectives of DUNE are[6][7]
- a comprehensive investigation of neutrino oscillations to test CP violation in the lepton sector;
- determination the ordering of the neutrino masses;
- search for neutrinos beyond the currently known three;
- studies of supernovae and the formation of a neutron star or black hole;[8]
- search for proton decay.[8]
Funding and construction
The far detector current design is for four modules of instrumented liquid argon with a fiducial volume of 10 kilotons each. The first two modules are expected to be complete in 2024, with the beam operational in 2026. The final module is planned to be operational in 2027.[6]
In 2017, the UK's Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) announced a £65M investment in DUNE and LBNF.[9]
Excavation of the far detector cavities began on July 21, 2017,[10][4] and prototype detectors are being constructed and tested at CERN.[11] The first of the two prototypes, the single-phase ProtoDUNE (CERN experiment NP04[12]), recorded its first particle tracks in September 2018.[13] CERN's participation in DUNE marked a new direction in CERN’s neutrino’s research [14] and the experiments are referred to as part of the Neutrino Platform in the laboratory's research programme.[15]
History
The project was originally started as a US-only project called the Long Baseline Neutrino Experiment (LBNE); in around 2012–2014 a descope was considered with a near-surface detector to reduce cost. However, the Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel (P5) concluded in its 2014 report that the research activity being pursued by LBNE "should be reformulated under the auspices of a new international collaboration, as an internationally coordinated and internationally funded program, with Fermilab as host",[16] reverting to a deep-underground detector. The LBNE collaboration was officially dissolved on January 30, 2015,[17] shortly after the new collaboration recommended by P5 was formed on January 22, 2015.[18] The new collaboration selected the name Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE).[19]
References
- This bold experiment aims to solve one of the biggest mysteries in science, NBC News (Mach), by David Cox, 9 May 2018
- Biggest cosmic mystery 'step closer' to solution, BBC News, 16 April 2020
- Ghosh, Pallab (15 February 2014). "UK backs huge US neutrino plan". BBC News. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
- "Construction begins on international mega-science experiment to understand neutrinos". news.fnal.gov. Retrieved 2018-11-30.
- "This bold experiment aims to solve one of the biggest mysteries in science". NBC News. Retrieved 2018-11-30.
- Acciarri, R.; et al. (January 22, 2016). Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) and Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) Conceptual Design Report Volume 1: The LBNF and DUNE Projects. Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment. arXiv:1601.05471. Bibcode:2016arXiv160105471A.
- Fermilab (2017-06-15), The Science of the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), retrieved 2018-11-30
- "DUNE: Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment". DUNE: Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment. Fermilab. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
- "UK signs £65m science partnership agreement with US".
- Cho, Adrian (July 21, 2017). "Excavation starts for U.S. particle physicists' next giant experiment". Science.
- Hesla, Leah (January 18, 2018). "The biggest little detectors". Symmetry Magazine.
- "NP04/ProtoDUNE-SP : Prototype of a Single-Phase Liquid Argon TPC for DUNE". greybook.cern.ch. Retrieved 2020-02-06.Archive index at the Wayback Machine
- "First particle tracks seen in prototype for international neutrino experiment | CERN". home.cern. Retrieved 2018-11-30.
- "CERN Neutrino Platform". home.cern. Archived from the original on 2019-02-04. Retrieved 2019-02-04.
- "The CERN Experimental Programme : Neutrino Platform Research Programme". greybook.cern.ch. Retrieved 2019-02-04.Archive index at the Wayback Machine
- Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel (May 2014). Ritz, Steve (ed.). Building for Discovery: Strategic Plan for U.S. Particle Physics in the Global Context. U. S. Department of Energy Office of Science and the National Science Foundation. Archived from the original (Report of the Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel (P5)) on 8 January 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
- Strait, Jim (9 February 2015). "ELBNF and LBNF" (Presentation at All-Experimenters Meeting). Fermi National Accelerator Lab. p. 5. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
- Lykken, Joe (27 January 2015). "ELBNF is born". Fermilab Today. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
- Huber, Jennifer; Jepsen, Kathryn. "The dawn of DUNE". Symmetry Magazine. Fermilab/SLAC. Retrieved 26 March 2015.