For several years, the “EUROnu” project has been trying to find the best way of studying the nature of matter and antimatter. The project members believe that establishing a Neutrino Factory could answer many fundamental questions of science. And that’s why project members recently have presented its findings at European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) recommending to build a Neutrino Factory.
According to submitted presentation, the devices at Neutrino Factory can create beams of neutrinos by smashing protons into a solid target and therefore muons (one type of nutrino) will be created which reliably decay into neutrinos. The beam would be fired roughly downwards, traveling 2,000 kilometers or more to the receiving end. The starting point of firing beam will probably be at CERN, in Switzerland, but the receiver will be somewhere outside of Switzerland. Currently the receiver has been proposed to go anywhere from Japan to Italy to the UK.
Upon arrival, the beam of neutrinos will be analyzed for its content: what proportions of the three types of neutrinos: electron (e), muon (m) and tau (t) are found, and how they compare to the proportions in the beam when it left the emitter. Such investigations into the interconversion of neutrinos and anti-neutrinos could shed light on the nature of antimatter.
However, the EUROnu group considered three proposals: the Neutrino Factory, Super Beam and Beta Beam for performing tests similar to this but finally they determined that the Neutrino Factory would produce the most accurate results. They have calculated that it would cost in between 6.1 to 8.1 billion dollars to establish the Neutrino Factory, while the other two options – Super Beam and Beta Beam would cost about a quarter or one third, respectively.
The recommendation by EUROnu is just the first step in the development of the new project but there is no guarantee that it will ever be built at all. Now it’s up to the European Union (EU) to decide.
Source: Extreme Tech
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