KM3NeT

By

The Cubic Kilometre Neutrino Telescope, or KM3NeT, is a European research infrastructure located at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea. It hosts the next-generation neutrino telescope with water Cherenkov detectors.

When completed, KM3NeT will have a total instrumented volume of several cubic kilometres distributed over three locations in the Mediterranean: KM3NeT-Fr (offshore Toulon, France), KM3NeT-It (offshore Portopalo di Capo Passero, Sicily, Italy) and KM3NeT-Gr (offshore Pylos, Peloponnese, Greece). The KM3NeT project continues the work done for the neutrino telescope ANTARES operated offshore the coast of France between 2008 and 2022.

Using KM3NeT, scientists search for neutrinos from distant astrophysical sources like supernova remnants, gamma-ray bursts, supernovae or colliding stars. The telescope is a powerful tool in the search for dark matter in the universe. Arrays of thousands of optical sensor modules detect the faint Cherenkov light in the deep sea from charged particles originating from collisions of the neutrinos and the water or rock in the vicinity of the detector. The position and direction of the optical modules and the time of arrival of the light on the photomultipliers inside is recorded with high precision. The trajectories of particles are reconstructed from these measurements. The research infrastructure also houses instrumentation for other sciences like marine biology, oceanography and geophysics for long-term and online monitoring of the deep-sea environment and the sea bottom at depths of several kilometres.

Principle of water Cherenkov neutrino detector:

The KM3NeT 2.0 project is realising two large detectors, ARCA at KM3NeT-It and ORCA at KM3NeT-Fr. The ARCA detector is the cubic kilometre sized telescope searching for distant neutrino-sources. The ORCA detector is optimised for the measurement of the properties of the neutrino itself. In that sense, ORCA is a neutrino particle physics detector. Details can be found in the Letter of Intent.

The oversight, governance and management of the implementation and operation of KM3NeT is conducted by an international collaboration. The KM3NeT community consists of about 250 scientists, along with engineers and technicians.

KM3NeT is one of the founding members of the Global Neutrino Network (GNN).

The Global Neutrino Network (GNN) is an association of neutrino telescope projects.

About Neutrino:

The neutrino is perhaps the best-named particle in the Standard Model of Particle Physics: it is tiny, neutral, and weighs so little that no one has been able to measure its mass. Neutrinos are the most abundant particles that have mass in the universe. Every time atomic nuclei come together (like in the sun) or break apart (like in a nuclear reactor), they produce neutrinos. Even a banana emits neutrinos—they come from the natural radioactivity of the potassium in the fruit.

Once produced, these ghostly particles almost never interact with other matter. Tens of trillions of neutrinos from the sun stream through your body every second, but you can’t feel them.

Theorists predicted the neutrino’s existence in 1930, but it took experimenters 26 years to discover the particle. Today, scientists are trying to determine the neutrino’s mass, how it interacts with matter, and whether the neutrino is its own antiparticle (a particle with the same mass but opposite electric or magnetic properties) or not. Some scientists think neutrinos might be why all antimatter (the antiparticles of all matter) disappeared after the Big Bang, leaving us in a universe made of matter.

Neutrino detectors are placed in water for several reasons, including: 
  • Large target mass: Water provides a large target mass at a reasonable cost. 
  • Inexpensive: Water detectors are inexpensive and can be very large. 
  • Detect distant reactors: Water detectors can detect neutrinos from distant nuclear reactors. 
  • Detect muon tracks: Underwater and ice telescopes are optimized for detecting muon tracks. 
  • Trace processes: Neutrinos can escape denser celestial bodies than light, allowing them to trace processes that are hidden to traditional astronomy. 
Neutrinos are very weakly interacting, so large detectors are needed to maximize the number of chances for each neutrino to interact. The world's largest neutrino detectors are all water Cherenkov experiments. 

Neutrino detectors are also placed deep underground to protect them from cosmic rays that could interfere with detecting neutrinos.

Wikipedia

KM3NeT

  1. About Neutrino - 1, 
  2. About Neutrino - 2 ( Scientific American ), 
  3. About Neutrino - 3, 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Russian parliament passed a bill to revoke its ratification of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty

By
Relevance:  Russia revokes ratification of nuclear test ban treaty (CTBT) - ICAN But it affirmed that it will  retain its cooperation with the treaty’s verification system and implementing organisation.  Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty: The Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), which opened for signature in 1996, was intended to prohibit all nuclear weapon test explosions. Over 2,000 nuclear tests occurred between 1945 and 1996: the United States (1,000+), the Soviet Union (700+), France (200+), the United Kingdom and China (45 each). As at January 2013, 183 countries had signed the Treaty, of which 158 have also ratified it, including three of the nuclear weapon states (France, the Russian Federation and the United Kingdom). However, 44 specific nuclear technology holder countries must sign and ratify before the CTBT can enter into force. Of these, eight are still missing: China, Egypt, India , Iran, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan and the US. India , North Korea and Pakista...
Read more

Interstellar space and Interstellar Probes ( Voyager and New Horizons Missions )

By
Interstellar Space: Interstellar space is often called the space between the stars, but more specifically, it’s the region between our Sun’s heliosphere and the astrospheres of other stars. Our heliosphere is a vast bubble of plasma – a gas of charged particles – that spews out of the Sun. This outflow is known as the solar wind. The bubble surrounds the Sun and stretches beyond the planets. Both Voyager spacecraft had to travel more than 11 billion miles (17 billion kilometers) from the Sun in order to cross the edge of the heliosphere. This bubble is moving through interstellar space as the Sun orbits the center of the Milky Way galaxy. As our heliosphere plows through space, it creates a bow wave, like the wave formed by the bow of a ship. Kuiper Belt &  Oort Cloud: The Kuiper Belt is a doughnut-shaped ring of icy objects around the Sun, extending just beyond the orbit of Neptune from about 30 to 55 AU. Similar to the asteroid belt, the Kuiper Belt is a region of leftovers f...
Read more

ISRO developing semi-cryogenic engine working on LOX Kerosene propellant

By
ISRO is developing a 2000 kN thrust semi-cryogenic engine working on an LOX Kerosene propellant combination for enhancing the payload capability of LVM3 and for future launch vehicles. Liquid Propulsion Systems Centre (LPSC) is the lead centre for the development of semi-cryogenic propulsion systems with the support of other launch vehicle centres of ISRO. The assembly and testing of the propulsion modules were done at the ISRO propulsion complex (IPRC), Mahendragiri. As part of the engine development, a pre-burner ignition test article, which is a full complement of the engine power head system excluding the turbopumps is realized. The first ignition trial was conducted successfully on May 2, 2024, at semi cryo integrated engine test facility (SIET) at IPRC, Mahendragiri, which was dedicated to the nation recently by the honorable Prime Minister of India. Smooth and sustained ignition of the preburner is demonstrated which is vital for the starting of the semi-cryogenic engine. Semi-c...
Read more