Neutrinos

Thorsten Lux

For more than a decade, IFAE has been contributing to several key experiments in the field of neutrino physics. Currently, it participates in the long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment T2K and the next-generation experiment Hyper-Kamiokande which will start data-taking in 2027.

Upgrade of ND280 completed

The IFAE Neutrino group is active in the long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments T2K and the next-generation experiment, Hyper-Kamiokande (HK). The near detector, ND280, of T2K underwent an upgrade for the T2K-II phase and the future use of ND280 for HK. The ND280 upgrade consisted of installing three new subdetector systems, a novel scintillator tracker (SuperFGD), two high-angle time projection chambers (HAT), and a time of flight (TOF) detector in the existing ND280 detector.

Figure 1: The new subdetectors installed in ND280, only the side TOF panels are missing in the photo.

The upgrade project started in 2016 and was brought to a successful completion in May 2024 with the installation of the last new subdetector. The IFAE group had significant contributions to the HATs and the overall management of the project, the IFAE PI being Co-Project Leader and Technical Coordinator of the upgrade. The first neutrino beam data was successfully taken in June and November/December 2024.

Figure 2: A deep inelastic scattering (DIS) neutrino interaction in the SuperFGD with tracks crossing not only the new but also the original subdetectors, showing the successful integration.

Besides the ND280 activities, members of the group are involved in the Water Cherenkov Test Experiment (WCTE) at CERN, which is a detector prototype for HK.