The highly successful deep-sea telescope KM3NeT can now expand both its size and scope. Using a new type of microphone for underwater use, the telescope will attempt to detect the sound produced by neutrinos as they travel through the sea. The data collected will also be of great interest to other research on deep-sea life.
'I am very pleased with this recognition of our research. The funding will enable us to further enhance the sensitivity of our detector and address long-standing, crucial, and unresolved questions in particle physics,' says Dorothea Samtleben. Both Samtleben and Maarten de Jong - Leiden physicist involved in this international research project - look forward to the results of these new steps.
For the specific project 'KM3NeT++', the NWO Roadmap allocates €11.8 million for hardware, and the partners contribute an additional €6.8 million in goods and services.
ORCA detector in France can now be completed
With the new funding, the French detector section (ORCA) of the telescope can be completed with an additional twenty lines of detectors. This will actually make the telescope the most powerful neutrino detector in the world.
Listening to the sea
In addition to the many optical sensors of the telescope, prototypes of new acoustic sensors (hydrophones) will be installed. KM3NeT will start listening to the sea: working towards future particle detection by sound. The collected data are also of major interest for research on deep-sea life, including whales on the hunt.
KM3NeT project info
The telescope is located at two locations at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea:
- ARCA (Italy) for the detection of high-energy cosmic neutrinos;
- ORCA (France) for the detection of lower-energy neutrinos.
The current detectors register flashes of light in the dark, deep sea. On 13 February 2023, it measured a spectacular cosmic neutrino with an estimated energy of 120 PeV, 100 trillion times higher than that of visible light photons. This neutrino event was covered worldwide.
The international KM3NeT consortium is not only searching for sources of neutrinos from the universe but is also studying the properties of these still enigmatic particles. The hope is that the detector will finally determine the masses of the three types of ultra-light neutrinos.
Dutch KM3NeT Partners
- National Institute for Subatomic Physics Nikhef;
- Leiden University;
- Netherlands eScience Center;
- NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research;
- Radboud University;
- TNO;
- University of Amsterdam;
- VU Amsterdam.
