international engagement

From UK Research & Innovation news, March 15, 2019: A major new physics facility at Fermilab is expected to have UK technology at its heart and lead to significant spin-off opportunities for UK companies.
The new PIP-II particle accelerator will power the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, which aims to address key questions about the origins and structure of the universe. The UK has committed £65 million investment to help build and operate DUNE, PIP-II and technology for the neutrino beam.

Scientist Jean-Paul Carneiro and collaborators in France are setting the stage for one of the world’s first autonomous particle accelerators. They will incorporate the world’s leading code for computing the dynamics of particle beams into a Fermilab prototype. Funding is provided through the FACCTS program, which fosters productive partnerships between Chicago-based and French researchers.

On Friday, March 15, Fermilab broke ground on the PIP-II accelerator project, joined by dignitaries from the United States and international partners on the project. From left: Senator Tammy Duckworth (IL), Senator Dick Durbin (IL), Rep. Sean Casten (IL-6), Rep. Robin Kelly (IL-2), Rep. Bill Foster (IL-11), Fermilab Director Nigel Lockyer, Rep. Lauren Underwood (IL-14), Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, DOE Under Secretary for Science Paul Dabbar, Fermilab PIP-II Project Director Lia Merminga, DOE Associate Director for High Energy Physics Jim Siegrist, University of Chicago President Robert Zimmer, Consul General of India Neeta Bhushan, British Consul General John Saville, Consul General of Italy Giuseppe Finocchiaro, Consul General of France Guillaume Lacroix, DOE Fermi Site Office Manager Mike Weis, DOE PIP-II Federal Project Director Adam Bihary and Consul General of Poland Piotr Janicki. Photo: Reidar Hahn

On March 15, Fermilab broke ground on PIP-II, a major new particle accelerator project at Fermilab. Dignitaries from the United States and international partners celebrated the start of the project at the groundbreaking ceremony. The PIP-II accelerator will power the long-term future of the laboratory’s research program, including the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment and a suite of on-site experiments.

Agencies in the United States and France have signed statements expressing interest to work together on the development and production of technical components for PIP-II, a major particle accelerator project with substantial international contributions. In addition, the French agencies also plan to collaborate on DUNE, an international flagship science project that will unlock the mysteries of neutrinos.

The upcoming Short-Baseline Near Detector at Fermilab continues scientists’ search for evidence of a hypothetical particle, the sterile neutrino. Collaborators around the world are participating in the detector’s construction. Its first critical components recently arrived from partner institutions. When complete, SBND will be the third and final detector in Fermilab’s Short-Baseline Neutrino Program.

The agreement launches a multinational collaboration to build a powerful new accelerator at DOE’s Fermilab complex. Italy and its National Institute of Nuclear Physics will provide major contributions to the construction of the 176-meter-long superconducting particle accelerator that is the centerpiece of the PIP-II project.