One of the major intellectual achievements of the 20th century was the development of the Standard Model (SM) of particle physics. This model succeeded in classifying all of the elementary particles known at the time into a hierarchy of groups having similar quantum properties. The validity of this model to date was confirmed by the discovery of the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. However, the Standard Model as it currently exists leaves open many questions about the universe, including such fundamental questions as to why the Higgs mass has the value it has and why there is no antimatter in the universe. One of the primary areas to search for answers to these and other open questions about the universe, how it came to be, and why it is the way it is, is to focus on a study of the properties of neutrinos and to use what we know and can learn about neutrinos as probes of science Beyond the Standard Model (BSM). The Standard Model predicted that there were three different kinds of neutrinos, all massless, that were distinguishable through the different interactions that they undergo whenever they interact with matter. But recent measurements have totally changed our picture of neutrinos. We now know that neutrinos do have a mass and because they do, they can actually change from one type to another. Detailed measurements of these changes as well as others form one of the most promising ways to probe for new physics beyond the Standard Model.
The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) will make comprehensive measurements of neutrino and anti-neutrino oscillations to investigate neutrino CP violation, determine the ordering of the neutrino mass eigenstates, and perform precision tests of the neutrino Standard Model. DUNE will take advantage of both an accelerator-based neutrino beam from Fermilab and be sensitive to extra-terrestrial neutrinos, including those from supernova explosions. DUNE's massive detector, a 40-kton Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LAr-TPC) System, will both enable these precision measurements in neutrino physics and astrophysics as well as extend the sensitivity in the search for nucleon decay.
The LAr-TPC System will be divided into four 10-kton modules. At the heart of two of these large modules are wire chamber planes called Anode Plane Assemblies (APA) which record the signatures of particles propagating in the argon and provide high resolution images of neutrino interactions. The groups leading this planning project, funded in part through earlier investments from the NSF, have led the development of wire chamber planes for LAr-TPC experiments laying the groundwork for DUNE. These groups will now develop a construction strategy, methodology and plan to construct half of the APAs needed for the first two 10-kton modules of DUNE. It is envisioned that 2-3 APA "factories" would be built at university sites that have the technical facilities and infrastructure required to host the APA production lines. These multiple regional factories would allow for direct participation by many collaborating university groups. Ultimately, developing and then operating an APA construction program would provide excellent training opportunities for postdoctoral researchers, graduate students, and undergraduate students. It is anticipated that the project would interest and engage a diverse group of undergraduate students at each of the construction sites.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
