Our Projects
DUNE
The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a next-generation world-leading international neutrino experiment that involves a high-intensity beam at Fermilab (LBNF) and an enormous LArTPC almost a mile underground in the Black Hills of South Dakota. DUNE/LBNF will study long-baseline neutrino oscillations to search for CP violation in the neutrino sector, test the stability of the proton, and wait patiently to see neutrinos from core-collapse supernova in the galaxy. Linked are The DUNE Far Detector Interim Design Report Volumes 1 and 2.
ProtoDUNE-SP is a LArTPC experiment based at CERN which first collected data from 2018 to 2020. The ProtoDUNE-SP detector is modelled as a prototype of the DUNE far detectors. Unlike the future DUNE far detectors, ProtoDUNE-SP is located above ground and is exposed to a beam of charged pions, kaons, protons, electrons and muons instead of a beam of neutrinos. An upgraded version of the detector is currently slated to begin taking data in 2022. ProtoDUNE-SP projects with major contributions from UChicago group members include detector systematics analyses, such as the study of electron diffusion in liquid argon, and cross section analyses, such as the pion-argon cross section analysis. Initial results from ProtoDUNE-SP can be further explored here.
SBN Program
The Short-Baseline Neutrino (SBN) Program at Fermilab is comprised of multiple 100-ton-scale liquid argon time projection chamber neutrino detectors positioned on-axis along the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) and off-axis to the higher energy Neutrinos at the Main Injector (NuMI) beam. The combination of multiple intense sources and multiple cutting-edge detectors enables a diverse physics program. SBN will search for short-baseline oscillations at a beam energy of O(1GeV) and a baseline of O(100m) to test of existence of eV-scale sterile neutrinos and follow up on the previous experimental anomalies such as LSND/MiniBooNE. The SBN detectors also enable a rich physics program of neutrino cross section measurements and Beyond-Standard-Model searches, using both the BNB and NuMI beams.
MicroBooNE was the first phase of the SBN Program and operated from 2015-2021.
SBND (Short-Baseline Near Detector) is part of the second phase of the SBN Program. A 112 ton LArTPC located 110 m from the neutrino source, SBND will record over a million neutrino events per year and provide the constraints on the un-oscillated neutrino flux needed to perform sensitive searches for sterile neutrinos at SBN. SBND will start operations in late 2023.
ICARUS is a Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC) detector situated at the crossroads of the Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) and the Neutrino Main Injector (NuMI) beams. ICARUS is the furthest detector in the Short Baseline Neutrino (SBN) program sitting 600 m from the BNB neutrino production target. ICARUS is running now at Fermilab.
