Speaker
Description
The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment currently in construction and expected to take data in late 2020s. In order to explore a wide range of physics, from precise measurements of the neutrino oscillation parameters to proton decay and supernova neutrino detection, it will comprise a far detector complex located in the Sanford Underground Research Facility (USA), 1300 km from Fermilab where a muon (anti)neutrino beam will be produced.
In the first phase, the far detector complex will hold two 17 kTon detectors consisting of time-projection chambers (TPC) filled with liquid argon. When neutrinos interact with argon atoms, they create charged particles ionising the medium, where ionisation electrons can be collected along the trajectory by applying an electric field accross the TPC. Neutrino interaction also lead to the emission of photons, that can be collected with light detectors. This technology combining fine-grained tracking calorimetric and light information enables an accurate reconstruction of the charged particles created in neutrino interaction, to achieve a resolution at the millimeter scale.
While based on the same principle, the two detectors display difference in their design. The first detector, FD1-HD, contains a vertical cathod in the middle producing a horizontal electric field accelerating the ionisation electrons towards an anode made of wire planes. The second detector, FD2-VD, holds a horizontal cathod producing a vertical electric field accelerating the ionisation electrons towards an anode made of perforated printed circuit boards. Both also hold a photon-detection system located on the cathod and the walls.
In this talk, I will review the design of those two far detectors, the current status of the prototypes construction and analyses, as well as the next steps towards the completion of the DUNE experiment.