Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a neutrino experiment under construction, with a near detector at Fermilab and a far detector at the Sanford Underground Research Facility that will observe neutrinos produced at Fermilab. An intense beam of trillions of neutrinos from the production facility at Fermilab (in Illinois) will be sent over a distance of 1,300 kilometers (810 mi) with the goal of understanding the role of neutrinos in the universe. More than 1,000 collaborators work on the project. The experiment is designed for a 20-year period of data collection.

The primary science objectives of DUNE are

• Investigation of neutrino oscillations to test CP violation in the lepton sector, which explores why the universe is made of matter.
• Determination of the ordering of the neutrino masses.
• Studies of supernovae and the formation of a neutron star or black hole, even though the detector is 1,490 meters (0.93 mi) deep underground with no direct view of the sky.
• Search for proton decay, which has never been observed but is predicted by theories that unify the fundamental forces.

The science goals were sufficiently compelling in 2014 that the Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel (P5) ranked this as "the highest priority project in its timeframe" (recommendation 13). The importance of these goals has led to proposals for competing projects in other countries, particularly the Hyper-Kamiokande experiment in Japan, scheduled to begin data-taking in 2027. The DUNE project, overseen by Fermilab, has suffered delays to its schedule and growth of cost from less than $2B to more than $3B, leading to articles in the journals Science and Scientific American that described the project as "troubled." In 2022, the DUNE experiment had a neutrino-beam start-date in the early-2030's, and the project is now phased.