Collaborative Research: Mini-LENS -- Operation of a Prototype Low-Energy Solar Neutrino Spectrometer Underground

合作研究：Mini-LENS——原型低能太阳中微子光谱仪在地下的运行

• 批准号: 1001394
• 负责人: ROBERT VOGELAAR
• 金额: $ 114.89万
• 依托单位: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-09-01 至 2017-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1001394&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Mini; LENS; Operation

Neutrinos from the Sun are ideal for studying neutrino-flavor phenomena and astrophysics. The Sun offers the greatest source flux of a pure electron-neutrino flavor coupled with high matter density in neutrino transport, long baseline, and low neutrino energies. An effective tool for new advances compares the luminosity of the Sun separately measured by neutrinos and photons that can uncover surprises in neutrino physics as well as astrophysics. A precision measurement of the neutrino-derived luminosity of the Sun is possible only by the detection of low-energy (2 MeV) solar neutrinos that contain 99.9% of the flux. One of the few answers to the experimental challenge of real-time low-energy neutrino detection is the indium-based Low Energy Solar Neutrino Spectrometer, LENS. It will uniquely provide a nearly background-free complete spectral image of solar neutrinos using Charged-Current-based neutrino detection with powerful tags of space and time coincidences. This award will provide funds to test the LENS concept and technology in all its aspects via a relatively inexpensive prototype - Mini-LENS - at 15% of the length-scale (1/300 the volume) of LENS, with the goal of providing a robust characterization of the performance of the technology. The broader impact on science, technology and education includes: the participation of students and postdocs with opportunities and outlets for curiosity- and imagination-driven research into a physics understanding of the world with simulations, chemical processing, and data acquisition systems. Students will gain valuable hands-on experience working with state-of-the-art instrumentation. Convenient access to the underground laboratory at Kimballton provides excellent training in the intricacies of research underground. The technology of mini-LENS reaches into other realms, and provides new opportunities in other fields.

来自太阳的中微子是研究中微子味道现象和天体物理学的理想选择。太阳提供最大的纯电子中微子源通量，以及中微子传输中的高物质密度、长基线和低中微子能量。取得新进展的有效工具是比较中微子和光子分别测量的太阳光度，这可以揭示中微子物理学和天体物理学中的惊喜。只有通过检测包含 99.9% 通量的低能 (2 MeV) 太阳中微子，才能精确测量太阳中微子产生的光度。铟基低能太阳中微子光谱仪 LENS 是应对实时低能中微子实验挑战的少数答案之一。它将使用基于带电电流的中微子检测以及强大的空间和时间巧合标签，独特地提供几乎无背景的太阳中微子完整光谱图像。该奖项将提供资金，通过相对便宜的原型（Mini-LENS）以 LENS 长度的 15%（体积的 1/300）测试 LENS 概念和技术的各个方面，目标是提供该技术性能的可靠表征。对科学、技术和教育的更广泛影响包括：学生和博士后的参与，为好奇心和想象力驱动的研究提供机会和途径，通过模拟、化学处理和数据采集系统对世界进行物理理解。学生将获得使用最先进仪器的宝贵实践经验。通往 Kimballton 地下实验室的便利通道为复杂的地下研究提供了良好的培训。 mini-LENS的技术延伸到了其他领域，为其他领域提供了新的机遇。