DUNE (particle experiment)

DUNE (particle experiment)
Name	DUNE (particle experiment)
Location	Fermilab; Homestake Mine, Lead, South Dakota
Type	Long-baseline neutrino experiment
Start	2015
Status	Construction and commissioning
Collaborators	Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory; CERN; SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Brookhaven National Laboratory

DUNE (particle experiment) is a large-scale international high-energy physics collaboration aiming to study neutrino properties using a long-baseline beam from Fermilab to detectors hosted in the former Homestake Mine near Lead, South Dakota. The project involves institutions such as CERN, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Brookhaven National Laboratory and seeks to address questions connected to the Standard Model and beyond-Standard Model physics. DUNE integrates deep-underground particle detector technologies, advanced cryogenics, and large-scale data processing infrastructures coordinated across national laboratories and universities.

Overview

DUNE is a flagship project of the United States Department of Energy Office of Science executed at Fermilab with international partners including CERN and major national laboratories; it deploys a long-baseline neutrino beam traversing the continental crust to a deep-underground facility at the former Homestake Mine, operated by Sanford Underground Research Facility. The collaboration builds on precedents set by experiments such as Super-Kamiokande, SNO, T2K, and NOvA, and interfaces with theoretical efforts at institutions like Institute for Advanced Study and Perimeter Institute to interpret oscillation data within frameworks related to CP violation and neutrino mass models. Infrastructure planning and regulatory oversight have involved the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission standards and coordination with state authorities in South Dakota.

Scientific Goals

DUNE's primary scientific goals include precision measurement of neutrino oscillation parameters, determination of the neutrino mass ordering (mass hierarchy), and search for leptonic CP violation via appearance and disappearance channels, connecting to cosmological questions addressed by teams at NASA and European Space Agency. Additional targets are searches for proton decay predicted by grand unified theory models championed by researchers at CERN and Princeton University, and sensitivity to low-energy transients such as core-collapse supernova neutrino bursts relevant to observatories like IceCube and Super-Kamiokande. DUNE also explores sterile neutrino scenarios and non-standard interactions discussed in publications from Stanford University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and it provides capabilities for beyond-Standard Model searches linked to efforts at Large Hadron Collider collaborations.

Experimental Design and Detectors

The far detector complex uses multi-kiloton liquid argon time projection chamber (LArTPC) technology developed in prototypes at CERN's neutrino platform and tested in experiments such as ICARUS and MicroBooNE. Detector modules employ cryogenic systems designed by teams at Fermilab and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and are instrumented with charge readout planes, photon detection systems, and calibration hardware developed in partnership with Brookhaven National Laboratory and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. A near detector suite positioned at Fermilab will include magnetized spectrometers and fine-grained trackers drawing on designs from MINERvA and NOvA to constrain beam flux and neutrino interaction cross sections, reducing systematic uncertainties critical for analyses informed by theoretical groups at CERN and Perimeter Institute.

Beam and Facility

The neutrino beam is produced at Fermilab using an upgraded proton accelerator chain incorporating concepts from the Proton Improvement Plan and elements of the PIP-II project to deliver high-intensity protons onto a target to create charged mesons that decay into neutrinos within a decay pipe patterned after designs used at NuMI. Beamline design, shielding, and targetry involve collaborations with accelerator specialists at Los Alamos National Laboratory and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and must comply with environmental reviews overseen by National Environmental Policy Act processes and coordination with state agencies in Illinois and South Dakota.

Data Analysis and Computing

Data acquisition and offline analysis rely on distributed computing models integrating resources from the Open Science Grid, Fermilab's Scientific Computing Division, and national supercomputing centers like NERSC and Argonne National Laboratory; software frameworks build upon community packages used by LHC experiments and neutrino experiments including GENIE for interaction modeling and GEANT4 for detector simulation. Collaboration analysis groups include experts from University of Chicago, Columbia University, University of California, Berkeley, and many others coordinating on reconstruction algorithms, machine learning developed with input from Google-affiliated researchers, and global data preservation strategies aligning with best practices at CERN and ICFA.

Collaboration and Organization

The DUNE collaboration is governed through institutional boards, executive committees, and working groups with membership spanning universities and laboratories such as Fermilab, CERN, SLAC, Brookhaven, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of Oxford, University of Tokyo, and TRIUMF. Funding and oversight involve the United States Department of Energy, international agencies including European Research Council contributors, and national science bodies like STFC and NSF-affiliated university programs. Outreach and education initiatives coordinate with museums and societies such as the American Physical Society and partner programs at Sanford Underground Research Facility.

Timeline and Current Status

Following conceptual design phases influenced by proposals from groups at MIT and Fermilab in the 2000s, DUNE progressed through critical design reviews and an international construction phase coordinated with CERN and participating institutions; detector module installations at the Sanford Underground Research Facility began in the early 2020s with commissioning activities continuing. As of the current status, far-site excavation, cryostat construction, and near-site beamline upgrades at Fermilab are underway with staged detector commissioning planned to deliver first physics results in the mid-2020s and progressive sensitivity increases through the 2030s as proton beam power from PIP-II reaches nominal levels.

Category:Neutrino experiments