Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment (LBNE)
Neutrinos are abundant in our universe but rarely interact with matter. Although initially thought to be massless, neutrinos had been discovered to have non-zero mass from the phenomenon of neutrino oscillation. Neutrinos may play a key role in solving the mystery of how the universe came to consist only of matter rather than antimatter. In addition, neutrinos may also provide the key to answering some fundamental physics questions about the nature of our universe.
A schematic of the two instrumented cryostats that make up a
34-kiloton Liquid Argon Far Detector to be located 4,850 feet below
the surface at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in
Lead, SD.
LBNE is a world-leading long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment which will measure fundamental physical parameters to unprecedented sensitivity and precision for addressing the neutrino mass hierarchy, CP violation in neutrino mixing, and resolving the octant of mixing angle θ23. In addition to precisely testing the 3-flavor neutrino model, LBNE will also provide the opportunity to search for nucleon decay, neutrinos emitted by supernovae in our galaxy and beyond, and other important topics in physics and astrophysics. LBNE will increase our understanding of neutrino physics which is the only established evidence beyond the Standard Model.
A view toward the south (east is to the left, west to the right):
The proposed Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment would send neutrinos
through the Earth's mantle from Batavia, Illinois, to Lead, South
Dakota for 1300-km (800-mile).
The LBNE experiment will utilize a high-intensity neutrino beam 1300 km from Fermilab to a large (at least 34 kt) underground Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, South Dakota. The baseline is optimized for the neutrino oscillation parameters. A near detector at Fermilab will have a synergistic scientific program of precise measurements of neutrino and weak interaction physics. In order to collect enough statistics, the experiment needs to run for a decade or two since the neutrino interactions are so rare with matter.
LBNE Science Collaboration has already attracted more than 525 scientists and engineers from 90 institutions from universities and national laboratories from United States, India, Italy, Japan, Brazil and the UK. LBNE is expected to be fully constructed and ready for operations in 2022.
Last modified on Oct. 3, 2014 by ysun7@hawaii.edu