Andrew Yee
August 17th 05, 05:48 PM
Press Office
European Organization for Nuclear Research
Geneva, Switzerland
15 August 2005
PR08.05
CERN neutrino project on target
Scientists at CERN[1] today announced the completion of the target
assembly for the CERN neutrinos to Gran Sasso project, CNGS. On schedule
for start-up in May 2006, CNGS will send a beam of neutrinos through the
Earth to the Gran Sasso laboratory 730km away in Italy in a bid to unravel
the mysteries of nature's most elusive particles.
CNGS forms a unique element in the global effort to understand neutrinos,
the chameleons of the fundamental particle world. Neutrinos come in three
types, or flavours, and have the ability to change between one flavour and
another. Neutrinos interact hardly at all with other matter. Trillions of
them pass through us every second, and it is precisely their vast numbers
that make them a key element in understanding the Universe and its
evolution.
The neutrinos leaving CERN are mainly of the muon type. Theory says that
by the time they get to Gran Sasso, some of them will have changed into
tau neutrinos. Detectors under construction at the Gran Sasso laboratory
will measure how many tau neutrinos appear. This is the crucial
distinction between CNGS and other long baseline neutrino experiments,
which measure the numbers of muon neutrinos at the source and at the
detectors to count how many disappear on the way. The measurements are
complementary, and both are necessary for a full understanding of the
physics of neutrinos. CNGS's neutrino experiments must be extraordinarily
sensitive to detect the small number of tau neutrinos appearing in the
beam. Just a few a year will be detected at Gran Sasso.
Having been successfully assembled in the lab, the CNGS target will now be
dismantled for installation in its underground target chamber.
Installation of the neutrino beam will be complete by the end of the year,
and the first beam of neutrinos will leave Geneva, pass about 10km below
Florence, and reach Gran Sasso northeast of Rome in May 2006.
[1] CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, has its
headquarters in Geneva. At present, its Member States are Austria,
Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the
Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. India,
Israel, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United States of America,
Turkey, the European Commission and UNESCO have Observer status.
IMAGE CAPTIONS:
[Image 1:
http://cdsweb.cern.ch/search.py?of=hd&f=970__a&p=000037450MMD]
The CNGS target unit consists of a series of 10-cm long graphite rods
distributed over a length of 2-m. It is designed to maximise the number of
secondary particles produced and hence the number of neutrinos.
[Image 2:
http://cdsweb.cern.ch/search.py?of=hd&f=970__a&p=000003840MMD]
CERN to Gran Sasso Neutrino Beam.
European Organization for Nuclear Research
Geneva, Switzerland
15 August 2005
PR08.05
CERN neutrino project on target
Scientists at CERN[1] today announced the completion of the target
assembly for the CERN neutrinos to Gran Sasso project, CNGS. On schedule
for start-up in May 2006, CNGS will send a beam of neutrinos through the
Earth to the Gran Sasso laboratory 730km away in Italy in a bid to unravel
the mysteries of nature's most elusive particles.
CNGS forms a unique element in the global effort to understand neutrinos,
the chameleons of the fundamental particle world. Neutrinos come in three
types, or flavours, and have the ability to change between one flavour and
another. Neutrinos interact hardly at all with other matter. Trillions of
them pass through us every second, and it is precisely their vast numbers
that make them a key element in understanding the Universe and its
evolution.
The neutrinos leaving CERN are mainly of the muon type. Theory says that
by the time they get to Gran Sasso, some of them will have changed into
tau neutrinos. Detectors under construction at the Gran Sasso laboratory
will measure how many tau neutrinos appear. This is the crucial
distinction between CNGS and other long baseline neutrino experiments,
which measure the numbers of muon neutrinos at the source and at the
detectors to count how many disappear on the way. The measurements are
complementary, and both are necessary for a full understanding of the
physics of neutrinos. CNGS's neutrino experiments must be extraordinarily
sensitive to detect the small number of tau neutrinos appearing in the
beam. Just a few a year will be detected at Gran Sasso.
Having been successfully assembled in the lab, the CNGS target will now be
dismantled for installation in its underground target chamber.
Installation of the neutrino beam will be complete by the end of the year,
and the first beam of neutrinos will leave Geneva, pass about 10km below
Florence, and reach Gran Sasso northeast of Rome in May 2006.
[1] CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, has its
headquarters in Geneva. At present, its Member States are Austria,
Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the
Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. India,
Israel, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United States of America,
Turkey, the European Commission and UNESCO have Observer status.
IMAGE CAPTIONS:
[Image 1:
http://cdsweb.cern.ch/search.py?of=hd&f=970__a&p=000037450MMD]
The CNGS target unit consists of a series of 10-cm long graphite rods
distributed over a length of 2-m. It is designed to maximise the number of
secondary particles produced and hence the number of neutrinos.
[Image 2:
http://cdsweb.cern.ch/search.py?of=hd&f=970__a&p=000003840MMD]
CERN to Gran Sasso Neutrino Beam.