- China is constructing a $330-million underground neutrino detector which akin to goals of Indian Neutrino mentioned Observatory (INO) in Theni, Tamil Nadu.
- The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) situated 150 km west of Hong Kong, is been built underground by the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP), Beijing.
- The lab will open in 2020 and operate well beyond 2040.
- It supplements Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment which studies neutrinos coming through space toward Earth, JUNO will study those from two nuclear reactors constructed at locations 50 km away.
- Neutrinos called “ghost particles” (as they travel at the speed of light), partially interact with matter, and are very light.
- Trapping and measuring a neutrino requires extremely sensitive equipment shielded from interfering radiation.
- There are three kinds of neutrinos, designated 1, 2 and 3. Each spontaneously transform into the other and this process is called oscillation
- They have characteristic of particles having mass, but physicists are unable to measure.
- They are able to find the difference grown in the mass of neutrino-3 with respected to the other two, which is what INO and JUNO will study.
- These detectors together will join the already operating Hyper-Kamiokande in Japan and the NOvA in the U.S.
Exams Perspective:
- Neutrinos
- Neutrino Observatory
- Types of Neutrinos