800,000 Tons of Rock Excavated for Massive Underground Neutrino Detector

800,000 tons of rock have been excavated from a South Dakota research facility — part of a multi-year process 'to help answer some of physics' biggest questions,' writes America's Energy Department.

'The caverns they excavated will hold a massive particle detector and accompanying equipment.'

Along with partners from more than 35 countries, the Department of Energy's Office of Science is supporting the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment at the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF-DUNE)... To study how neutrinos change type as they travel, LBNF-DUNE will be sending a stream of neutrinos from DOE's Fermilab National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois [nearly 600 miles away] to South Dakota. At the beginning and end of the particles' journey, detectors will measure the types of neutrinos and antineutrinos. By comparing the rates of how both particles change type, scientists may find a difference that accounts for that ancient misalignment.

There's also hope they'll detect neutrinos from supernovae explosions — and maybe even decaying protons

LBNF-DUNE will use massive, seven-story tall detectors. Each detector will have 17,000 tons of liquid argon. That vast quantity of liquid maximizes the likelihood that scientists will detect as many neutrinos as possible. The far detector — the one in South Dakota — will be located about a mile underground. That distance places it in the right location compared to Fermilab and blocks the detector from other cosmic particles.

'Just carrying out the excavation took three years,' the announcement notes. ('The team had to dissemble the equipment, move it deep underground, and then reassemble it.) The 800,000 tons of rock were moved to the surface and then stored in a former mine.

'Now that the excavation is complete, the LBNF-DUNE team is moving on to the next steps. Currently, they are installing the far detector in the Sanford Underground Research Facility. They anticipate finishing construction and starting to operate the detector in 2028. The team will then move on to installing the near detector at Fermilab.

'The launch of LBNF/DUNE will be the beginning of a new era in understanding neutrinos and knowing more about our universe as a whole.'

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