Neutrino astronomy with Antares Aart Heijboer
Research to fundamental building blocks of matter Research on the Universe using those particles
muon discovered in 'cosmic radiation' Particles from space
protons same particles that the LHC accelerates The universe contains particle accelerators times more powerful than the LHC we don't know what they are E LHC = 7000 GeV 10 bilion GeV
protons are deflected by magnetic fields in the universe M87: galaxy with supermassive black hole at the center, emitting a relativistic jet of particles.
protons are deflected by magnatic fields in the universe ns1006a: remnant of a supernova
protons are deflected by magnetic fields in the universe ns1006a: remnant of a supernova photon
protons are deflected by magnetic fields in the universe High energy photons can be seen from galactic objects GeV energies (~LHC) Not sure they have to do with the protons Absorbed over larger distances ns1006a: remnant of a supernova photon Hess telescope Namibia
New messenger particle: The Neutrino 'Neutrinos are the closest thing to nothing you can study' - Italian for 'little neutral thingy' - no size - no electric charge - no mass (almost) - no interaction with matter (almost / weak) … but rising with the energy of the neutrino don't notice anything ← very small chance of an interaction
protons are deflected by magnetic fields in the universe photon high energy neutrinos: travel in straight lines → point to their source are tell-tale signs of proton acceleration are not absorbed on their way here but: very hard to detect; most of them fly right trough the Earth.
Uppsala 2000Ivo van Vulpen11 neutrino muon High energy neutrinos interaction probability proportional to E n muon goes 5 km for E = 10 TeV Cherenkov radiation (35000 photons/metre) → huge volume with sparse detector deep -> shielding from down-going particles clear water → good pointing accuracy (< 0.5 o )
Uppsala 2000Ivo van Vulpen12 Junction box ~60-75 m Buoy 350 m 100 m total volume ~ 200 x 200 x 300 meter 3
Bucarest 40 km to detector shore station 7 countries 29 institutes ~150 scientists+ engineers
since May 2008: All cables plugged in... What do we see?
Neutrinos!
(atmospheric)
Searching for cosmic sources. scrambled 2007 & 2008 data
Searching for cosmic sources. scrambled 2007 & 2008 data Neutrino's from same spot in the sky... A cosmic source or a random fluke?
The next step. KM3NeT - plan for an even bigger Detector - at least 1 km 3 - Project in 'Preperatory phase' - Lots of discussions on design/site location - Nikhef thinking hard about design... - hopefully start building in few years.
Close connections between particle physics and study of The universe Antares is one example: looking for cosmic particle accelerators with neutrinos First neutrinos have been seen: the search for cosmic sources is on. Summary