The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is an international experiment that’s based on proton decay studies and neutrino science. It is an extensive study which will hopefully give scientists the answers they’ve been searching for in regards to the most abundant matter particle in existence – neutrinos. Excavation and construction of DUNE started in July 2017 and is expected to be operational by 2027.





One of the latest developments on the project involves researchers from the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA). Together a team has developed prototypes for the particle detectors field cage. “High-energy physics is a research key area for UTA where we have invested in having one of the largest and best-regarded experimental physics groups in the country,” says Duane Dimos, UTA vice president for research.

The university was also involved in the discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012. Just last year alone saw UTA spend around $3.5 million on research involving new particle physics experiments. The total amount of expenditure expected over the next decade in this area is in excess of $35 million.

“UTA is participating in all the important projects – upgrades to the Large Hadron Collider’s ATLAS experiment, the International Linear Collider in Japan, DUNE with the Fermi National Accelerator in Illinois and the IceCube experiment in the South Pole,” confirms Kaushik De, UTA physics professor and director of the Center for Excellence in High Energy Physics. “As a result, we are able to offer our students first-hand experience on international projects at the highest level.”





DUNE will be made up of two separate neutrino detectors that are placed within the world’s most powerful neutrino beam. While one detector will be located at the Fermi National Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois, the other will be located around 1,300 kilometers away, deep underground at the Sanford Underground Research Laboratory in Lead, South Dakota.

“Our project is to lead work on the DUNE prototype field cage and detectors being developed in collaboration with many European institutions, while the U.S. research facilities are being built,” explains Jaehoon Yu, UTA physics professor and lead on the DUNE project for UTA. According to Yu, there are 10 students working in this right now, several of whom have traveled to Switzerland specifically for it.





The field cage prototype that’s been developed is 6 meters by 6 meters by six meters in size. It’s already been tested at 150,000 volts, but in future testing in liquid argon, it will be operated at 300,000 volts. The field cage is a key part of the Time Projection Chamber which looks at the collisions that take place between the high-energy particles and argon atoms. Those particles captured during the collision allow physicists to study the nature of neutrinos in much more detail.

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