In the news – DUNE media

Excavation of massive caverns for Fermilab’s DUNE detector completed

Physicists from the University of Texas at Arlington will build portions of the first two far detectors to be installed at the South Dakota site fro DUNE. Having been part of the collaboration since its earliest stages, UTA physicists also assisted in the construction of prototype detectors at CERN.

KOTA-TV of Rapid City, South Dakota speaks with Fermilab’s Mike Gemelli and Steve Brice on the completion of the cavern excavation and the outfitting work ahead to prepare the DUNE detectors for installation.

First components for DUNE experiment in Lead

The first components for the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment have arrived in Lead, SD. Starting this spring the LBNF/DUNE project team and officials at the Sanford Underground Research Facility will begin tests to ensure cryostats for the experiment can be safely lowered down the Ross Shaft.

Fermi Research Alliance awarded Prof. Yasar Onel, from the University of Iowa, a grant to design a helium gas regulation system for neutrinos at the Main Injector beam monitors at Fermilab. The grant also allows for work on a gas regulation design study, prototype and consultation on a gas regulator system for the DUNE NuMI beam monitors.

Catching ghost particles

Although neutrinos are the most common matter particle in the universe they are also known as ghost particles because they move through our bodies every second without ever interacting with us. Neutrinos won’t be scaring anyone on Halloween but they will be studied by scientists in the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment led by Fermilab.

Plans are moving ahead for the liquid nitrogen refrigeration system which will use liquid nitrogen to cool the 17,500 tons of liquid argon that will fill the neutrino detectors at the Long Baseline Neutrino Facility in the Sanford Lab. The system is expected to be built by 2026, and operational underground by the end of 2026 to support the installation of some detector elements, and the operations of the full facility starting in early 2028.

From Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, July 25, 2023: PNNL scientists and a team of university and national laboratory collaborators recently published a paper detailing a new detector design that can be fine-tuned to increase sensitivity to physics beyond the original DUNE concept.