Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE)

Author: Walker Johnson, Department of Physics

Mentor: Dr. Jingbo Wang, Department of Physics

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a collaborative experiment made up of over 1000 collaborators from over 190 institutions in over 30 countries, which aims to answer some of the fundamental questions about the universe by studying neutrinos. DUNE will measure the oscillation probabilities of neutrinos and antineutrinos at unprecedented precision to quantify the Charge-Parity (CP) violation in the leptonic sector. These measurements will shed light on the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the universe. In addition the detector is equipped to search for signs of proton decay, and to detect the neutrinos emitted in supernovae.

DUNE will send the world’s most intense neutrino beam from Chicago to South Dakota, over a long baseline of 800 miles. The DUNE far detector in South Dakota will consist of four 17 kilo-ton liquid argon time projection chambers (LArTPCs) located about one mile underground. The experiment demands excellent measurement precision and detector performance, therefore a significant effort will be required to calibrate the detector response. These efforts include dedicated calibration devices such as an ionisation laser system, and a pulsed neutron source.