The KM3NeT/ORCA neutrino detector is coming online
On 22 September 2017, after a two-day long sea operation, the first detection unit of the ORCA neutrino telescope came online. This marks an important milestone of the scientific and technological endeavour of the international KM3NeT Collaboration.
Kumiko Kotera: doing beautiful physics without giving up on family, art and the rest of the world
Kumiko Kotera is a young researcher in Astrophysics, at the Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris, (IAP) of the French Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). She builds theoretical models to probe the most violent phenomena in the Universe, by deciphering their so-called “astroparticle” messengers (cosmic rays, neutrinos and photons).
Letter of Intent for KM3NeT 2.0
On 28 January 2016, scientists of the KM3NeT Collaboration have publicly announced KM3NeT 2.0, their ambition for the immediate future to further exploit the clear waters of the deep Mediterranean Sea for the detection of cosmic and atmospheric neutrinos. The published Letter of Intent details the science performance as well as the technical design of the KM3NeT 2.0 infrastructure.
The construction of the KM3NeT neutrino telescope has begun
In December 2015, scientists and engineers started the installation of KM3NeT.. Once completed, it will be the largest neutrino detector in the Northern Hemisphere. Located in the depths of the Mediterranean Sea, the telescope will be used to study the fundamental properties of neutrinos and map the high-energy cosmic neutrinos emanating from extreme cataclysmic events in the Universe.
The XXVII International Conference on Neutrino Physics and Astrophysics
The XXVII International Conference on Neutrino Physics and Astrophysics (Neutrino 2016) will be held in London from Monday 4 July to Saturday 9 July 2016.
2015 Nobel Prize in Physics to T. Kajita and A.B. McDonald
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2015 to Takaaki Kajita, Super-Kamiokande Collaboration, University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Japan, and Arthur B. McDonald, Sudbury Neutrino Observatory Collaboration, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada
To catch a thief
Back in the 1950s, when the neutrino was still a hypothesis but iron curtain was a reality, A. Szalay in Hungary had an idea to take a snapshot of an event that would prove the existence of the neutrino. During his research at Cavendish Laboratory (United Kingdom), he became acquainted with the latest techniques for research in nuclear physics, and decided to investigate the decay of 6He, a short lived isotope. He recruited J. Csikai, then a young scientist, and together they built a cloud chamber with a sophisticated stereo-camera system.
Forget about megapixels, data acquisition system, everything was hardwired. Still, from the tracks…
International School of Nuclear Physics
The 35th International School of Nuclear Physics [Erice School] will be held from 16-24 September 2013 in Erice, Italy.
The theme of the 35th edition is “Neutrino Physics: Present and Future”. The school intends to provide an overview of the status of neutrino physics. In the morning the experts will give review lectures. Afternoon sessions are mainly devoted to seminars, leaving participants ample time for discussions. The event encourages recognized experts to meet with young scientists and PhD students…
Cabled Observatory event explores multi-disciplinary synergy
A “Deep Ocean Cabled Observatories” workshop – examining potential synergies between astroparticle physics and marine and earth sciences – was held at NIKHEF, in Amsterdam, on 24-25 May this year.
The conference revealed many areas in which physics can collaborate with other disciplines – with the deep-ocean physics installations providing the perfect opportunity to accommodate such devices as seismometers and hydrophones, to gather data for varied researches…
SNOLAB celebrates opening
The Canadian neutrino observatory SNOLAB celebrated its grand opening – and the completion of its construction – on 17 May this year. SNOLAB – shielded, underground, by two kilometres of rock – is now the world’s deepest and cleanest neutrino laboratory, enabling experiments to be conducted with the least interference from environmental and solar radioactivity.
“As SNOLAB marks its formal opening, our science workshop has given us the chance to reflect…
OPERA: second neutrino tau interaction
The observation of a second neutrino tau interaction at the Gran Sasso Laboratory was announced by the OPERA Collaboration during the 25th Neutrino Conference, in Kyoto, earlier this month. This result follows on from the first observation, made in 2010.
With this new result the OPERA detector is back on track to its original motivations, after a noisy excursion over the measurement of the neutrino time of flight. The OPERA experiment was designed to search for the rare…
