DUMAND: The Ocean as a Neutrino Detector
Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: We consider the possibility of using the ocean as a neutrino detector; neutrino-produced interactions result in charged particles that generate Cerenkov radiation in the water, which can be detected by light-gathering equipment and photomultipliers. The properties of the ocean as seen from this standpoint are critically examined, and the advantages and disadvantages pointed out. Possible uses for such a neutrino detector include 1) the detection of neutrinos emitted in gravitational collapse of stars (supernova production), not only in our own galaxy, but in other galaxies up to perhaps twenty-million light-years away, 2) the extension of high-energy neutrino physics, as currently practiced up to 200 GeV at high-energy accelerators, to energies up to 50 times higher, using neutrinos generated in the atmosphere by cosmic rays, and 3) the possible detection of neutrinos produced by cosmic-ray interactions outside the earth’s atmosphere. The technology for such an undertaking seems to be within reach.
Author: Blood, H. [Naval Ocean Sys. Ctr., San Diego]; Learned, J. [Wisconsin U., Madison]; Reines, F. [UC, Irvine]; Roberts, A. [Fermilab]
Institution: Naval Ocean Systems Center
Language: English
Topic: Neutrino Physics Research
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4299400931