DUNE

DUNE is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment, currently in the construction phase. DUNE will use the intense muon neutrino beam from Fermilab directed towards a detector 1300 km away in South Dakota. Compared to NOvA, DUNE will use a more powerful beam (up to 4 MW vs 0.75 MW), a much bigger far detector (40 kton vs 14 kton), and more advanced detector technology. Using liquid argon Time Projection Chambers (TPCs), DUNE will have a spatial resolution 1000 times better than NOvA, facilitating a huge improvement in the understanding of neutrino interactions, and measurement of neutrino oscillations.

The Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility will provide the neutrino beamline and the infrastructure that will support the DUNE detectors. Groundbreaking for the LBNF excavation and construction at Sanford Lab occurred on July 21, 2017. The first DUNE far detector module will be installed in 2024, and currently two prototypes of the far detector technology (ProtoDUNEs) are being commissioned at CERN.

DUNE has a rich physics programme that not only includes neutrino oscillations, but also the precision measurement of neutrino interaction cross sections, the potential measurement of supernova neutrinos, and even Beyond Standard Model searches (including proton decay, dark matter, sterile neutrino mixing, nonstandard neutrino interactions, CPT violation, new physics enhancing neutrino trident production, and baryon number violating processes).

The DUNE Science Collaboration is currently made up of over 1100 collaborators from over 190 institutions in over 30 countries. 

Group’s activities

The QMUL DUNE group contributes to the experiment in the following areas:

• Near Detector Data Acquisition System
• Liquid argon purity monitor development
• Development of High Pressure gas Argon Time Projection Chamber prototype