Torr Scientific recently played a small part in the ongoing DUNE – Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment where we supplied some special developmental low‑temperature windows for testing for the second prototype detector in association with experimenters at CERN.

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment will generate the world’s most intense beam of high-energy accelerator neutrinos at Fermilab in Illinois, and send them 800 miles (1,300 km) straight through the earth to mile-deep detectors at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in South Dakota. Neutrinos, which rarely interact with anything, can pass through the earth with no tunnel required.

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a leading-edge, international experiment for neutrino science. Discoveries over the past half-century have put neutrinos, the most abundant matter particles in the universe, in the spotlight for further research into several fundamental questions about the nature of matter and the evolution of the universe — questions that DUNE will seek to answer.

DUNE will consist of two neutrino detectors placed in the world’s most intense neutrino beam. One detector will record particle interactions near the source of the beam, at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois. A second, much larger, detector will be installed more than a kilometre underground at the Sanford Underground Research Laboratory in Lead, South Dakota — 1,300 kilometres downstream of the source. These detectors will enable scientists to search for new subatomic phenomena and potentially transform our understanding of neutrinos and their role in the universe.

Two prototype far detectors are at the European research centre CERN. The first started taking data in September 2018 and the second is under construction.

The Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility will provide the neutrino beamline and the infrastructure that will support the DUNE detectors. Groundbreaking for the LBNF excavation and construction at Sanford Lab occurred on July 21, 2017. DUNE is aiming for groundbreaking discoveries such as:

Origin of Matter
Could neutrinos be the reason that the universe is made of matter rather than antimatter? By exploring the phenomenon of neutrino oscillations, DUNE seeks to revolutionize our understanding of neutrinos and their role in the universe.

Unification of Forces
With the world’s largest cryogenic particle detector located deep underground, DUNE can search for signs of proton decay. This could reveal a relation between the stability of matter and the Grand Unification of forces, moving us closer to realizing Einstein’s dream.

Black Hole Formation
DUNE’s observation of thousands of neutrinos from a core-collapse supernova in the Milky Way would allow us to peer inside a newly-formed neutron star and potentially witness the birth of a black hole.