Scientists have begun filling the ICARUS detector at Fermilab with liquid argon, moving one step closer toward neutrino oscillation measurements and the potential discovery of sterile neutrinos.
ICARUS
From PBS Space Time, Jan. 6, 2020: Why is there something rather than nothing? The answer may be found in the weakest particle in the universe: the neutrino. In this 10-minute video, PBS Space Time host Matt O’Dowd and Fermilab scientist Don Lincoln explore the mysteries of the neutrino and how Fermilab is tackling them. The elusive neutrino may hold powerful secrets, from the unification of the forces of nature to the biggest question of all: Why is there something rather than nothing?
From Science, Aug. 8, 2019: Fermilab physicists are resurrecting a massive particle detector by lowering it into a tomblike pit and embalming it with a chilly fluid. In August, workers eased two gleaming silver tanks bigger than shipping containers, the two halves of the detector, into a concrete-lined hole. Hauled from Europe two years ago, ICARUS will soon start a second life seeking perhaps the strangest particles physicists have dreamed up, oddballs called sterile neutrinos.
Physicists often find thrifty, ingenious ways to reuse equipment and resources. What do you do about an 800-ton magnet originally used to discover new particles? Send it off on a months-long journey via truck, train and ship halfway across the world to detect oscillating particles called neutrinos, of course. It’s all part of the vast recycling network of the physics community.
From Forbes, Dec. 5, 2018: If there’s a fourth neutrino out there, Fermilab’s Short-Baseline Neutrino Program experiments will lead the way.
From Québec Science, Dec. 3, 2018: La mise en service d’immenses détecteurs au Fermilab, aux États-Unis, pourrait prochainement faire la lumière sur des particules aussi bizarres que prometteuses: les neutrinos.
We already know neutrinos break the mold of the Standard Model. The question is: By how much?
From Il Centro, Sept. 7, 2018: Italian media covers the ICARUS neutrino experiment at Fermilab and the collaboration’s partnerships with CERN and Gran Sasso Laboratory.
From Kane County Connects, Sept. 4, 2018: The ICARUS neutrino detector moves into its Fermilab home.
ICARUS now sits in the path of Fermilab’s neutrino beam, a milestone that brings the detector one step closer to taking data.