In the news – DUNE partners

Current understandings of neutrino-nucleon interactions rely on data from experiments in the 1970s and ’80s. However, by using lattice quantum chromodynamics to predict stronger neutrino-nucleon interactions, scientists can determine oscillation properties of the elusive neutrinos in Fermilab’s DUNE experiment and other neutrino oscillation experiments.

Scientists are using a new machine learning tool called sparse convolutional neural networks, or SCNNs, to analyze data faster and more efficiently than ever before. SCNNs are expected to play a critical role in analyzing the data gathered from the upcoming DUNE experiment.

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 PNNL, July 25, 2023: PNNL researchers 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. The new detector, named SLoMo, will enhances DUNE’s sensitivity to neutrinos emitted from sources other than the beam of neutrinos created at Fermilab.

From CERN, June 13, 2023: Teams at CERN’s Neutrino Platform are currently upgrading and assembling multiple detectors to help large experiments like the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment to uncover the mysteries of neutrinos. But before the full-size detectors are built, CERN has created the large cryostat modules of the ProtoDUNE experiment. The Neutrino Platform is also an assembly station for the Tokai to Kamioka (T2K) experiment in Japan.

From Laser Focus World, Jan. 12, 2023: What does the future of detectors look like and what problems will they solve? Advances in novel detectors are working on some of the most elusive mysteries in science—from quantum teleportation to neutrinos and dark matter. The long-baseline neutrino detectors of DUNE are part of this line up of international detectors.

From the Innovation News Network, Dec. 9, 2022: Learn more about the capabilities of the anode plane assemblies for DUNE’s far detector and the UK’s contributions to the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment in an interview with Justin Evans from the University of Manchester.

From Science, September 29, 2022: Fermilab’s DUNE and Japan’s Hyper-K experiments are building similar yet different projects that will study neutrino oscillations and search for CP violation in hopes it will lead to answers on how the newborn universe generated more matter than antimatter. Read more on how these two projects are progressing, how they differ and how they might answer more about the elusive neutrino.

From the Black Hills Pioneer, Aug. 21, 2021: The former Homestake Gold Mine in Lead, SD was dedicated as the M. Michael Rounds Operations Center at the Sanford Underground Research Facility. The dedication event included remarks from many dignitaries including Sanford Lab Executive Director Mike Headley, who talked about the long journey it has been to support the new facility and that Sanford Lab has made great strides toward building the LBNF that will house the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment at 4,850 level, led by Fermilab.

From The Rapid City Journal, August 12, 2021: The SURF Davis-Bahcall Scholars Program exposes university freshmen and sophomores in STEM fields to a variety of disciplines helping them decide their college major. This year students took a tour of SURF in Lead, SD and they had the opportunity to speak with scientists and engineers from Fermilab.