Scientists at the National accelerator laboratory Fermi, located near Chicago, are conducting a groundbreaking experiment to study the behavior of neutrinos. Neutrinos are subatomic particles that only participate in weak interactions with ordinary matter and have the ability to pass through the Earth without any significant interactions. In addition, they have the unique property of being able to change their identity, with three different types of neutrinos constantly switching places.
To better understand the behavior of neutrinos, scientists at Fermi are creating a powerful neutrino beam. This project, known as the deep experiment with the neutrino (Dune), involves sending the neutrino flow from Fermilab to a detector complex located 1300 kilometers away in South Dakota. The complex, situated in a former gold mine in the city of Lid, is a mile underground and contains four huge detectors filled with liquid argon.
Significant progress has been made recently, with important milestones bringing scientists closer to achieving their goals. The breed has been successfully excavated to create underground chambers for the detectors. Over the course of three years, miners extracted approximately one million tons of rock, creating a space equivalent to eight football fields.
Currently, scientists are preparing the chambers for the operation of the detectors, installing necessary systems such as power supply, ventilation, and climate control. The next step will be the installation of the infrastructure for the detectors, scheduled to begin in 2024. It is anticipated that the first detectors will start collecting data in 2028.
The Dune project aims to study the transformative properties of neutrinos and their antimatter counterparts. By understanding these properties, scientists hope to unravel the mystery of why our universe is predominantly made up of matter instead of antimatter. The first results from the physical experiments are expected to emerge in the late 2020s.