Hyper-Kamiokande

Hyper-Kamiokande (also called Hyper-K or HK) is a

The Hyper-Kamiokande experiment facility will be located in two places:

• The neutrino beam will be produced in the accelerator complex
  Ibaraki prefecture, on the east coast of Japan.^[3]
  ^: 31
• The main detector, also called Hyper-Kamiokande (HK), is being constructed under the peak of Nijuugo Mountain in Hida city, Gifu Prefecture, in the Japanese Alps (36°21′20.105″N 137°18′49.137″E / 36.35558472°N 137.31364917°E / 36.35558472; 137.31364917^[3]: 56). The HK detector will be used for proton decay searches, studies of neutrinos from natural sources and will serve as a far detector for the measurement of the oscillations of an accelerator neutrino beam at the distance corresponding to the first oscillation maximum.^{[3]: 53–56 [5]}

Physics program

Accelerator and atmospheric neutrino oscillations

) while moving, caused by the fact that the neutrino flavour states are a mixture of the neutrino mass states (ν₁, ν₂, ν₃ mass states with masses m₁, m₂, m₃, respectively). The oscillation probabilities depend on the six theoretical parameters:

• three mixing angles (θ₁₂, θ₂₃ and θ₁₃) governing the mixing between mass and flavour states,
• two mass squared differences (∆m²₂₁ and ∆m²₃₂, where ∆m²_ij = m²_i – m²_j)
• one phase (δ_CP) responsible for the matter-antimatter asymmetry (CP symmetry violation) in neutrino oscillations,

and two parameters which are chosen for a particular experiment:

• neutrino energy
• baseline – the distance travelled by neutrinos at which oscillations are measured.^{[6]: 285–311 [3]: 20–23}

Continuing studies done by the T2K experiment, the HK far detector will measure the energy spectra of electron and muon neutrinos in the beam (produced at J-PARC as an almost pure muon neutrino beam) and compare it with the expectation in case of no oscillations, which is initially calculated based on neutrino flux and interaction models and improved by measurements performed by the near and intermediate detectors. For the HK/T2K neutrino beam peak energy (600 MeV) and the J-PARC – HK/SK detector distance (295 km), this corresponds to the first oscillation maximum, for oscillations driven by ∆m²₃₂. The J-PARC neutrino beam will run in both neutrino- and antineutrino-enhanced modes separately, meaning that neutrino measurements in each beam mode will provide information about muon (anti)neutrino survival probability P
_{ν
μ →
ν
μ}, P
_{ν
μ →
ν
μ}, and electron (anti)neutrino appearance probability P
_{ν
μ →
ν
e}, P
_{ν
μ →
ν
e} , where P_να → P_νβ is the probability that a neutrino originally of flavour α will be observed later as having flavour β.^{[3]: 202–224}

Comparison of the appearance probabilities for neutrinos and antineutrinos (P
_{ν
μ →
ν
e} versus P
_{ν
μ →
ν
e}) allows measurement of the δ_CP phase. δ_CP ranges from −π to +π (from −180° to +180°), and 0 and ±π correspond to CP symmetry conservation. After 10 years of data taking, HK is expected to confirm at the 5σ

^{: 202–224}

In order to determine the neutrino mass ordering (whether the ν₃ mass eigenstate is lighter or heavier than both ν₁ and ν₂), or equivalently the unknown sign of the ∆m²₃₂ parameter, neutrino oscillations must be observed in matter. With HK beam neutrinos (295 km, 600 MeV), the matter effect is small. In addition to beam neutrinos, the HK experiment studies atmospheric neutrinos, created by cosmic rays colliding with the Earth's atmosphere, producing neutrinos and other byproducts. These neutrinos are produced at all points on the globe, meaning that HK has access to neutrinos that have travelled through a wide range of distances through matter (from a few hundred metres to the Earth's diameter). These samples of neutrinos can be used to determine the neutrino mass ordering.^{[3]: 225–237}

Ultimately, a combined beam neutrino and atmospheric neutrino analysis will provide the most sensitivity to the oscillation parameters δ_CP, |∆m²₃₂|, sgn ∆m²₃₂, θ₂₃ and θ₁₃.^{[3]: 228–233}

Neutrino Astronomy and Geoneutrinos

Neutrinos cumulatively produced by supernova explosions throughout the history of the universe are called supernova relic neutrinos (SRN) or diffuse supernova neutrino background (DSNB) and they carry information about star formation history. Because of a low flux (few tens/cm²/sec.), they have not yet been discovered. With ten years of data taking, HK is expected to detect about 40 SRN events in the energy range 16–30 MeV.^{[3]: 276–280 [8]}

For the solar
ν
_e's, the HK experiment goals are:

• Search for a day-night asymmetry in the neutrino flux – resulting from different distances travelled in matter (during the night neutrinos additionally cross the Earth before entering the detector) and thus the different oscillation probabilities caused by the matter effect.^{[3]: 238–244}
• Measurement of the
  ν
  _e survival probability for neutrino energies between 2 and 7 MeV – i.e. between regions dominated by oscillations in vacuum and oscillations in matter, respectively – which is sensitive to new physics models, like sterile neutrinos or non-standard interactions.^{[3]: 238–244 [9]}
• The first observation of neutrinos from the hep channel: ${\displaystyle {^{3}}{\text{He}}+{\text{p}}\to {^{4}}{\text{He}}+{\text{e}}^{+}+\operatorname {\nu } _{\text{e}}}$ predicted by the standard solar model.^{[3]: 238–244}
• Comparison of the neutrino flux with the solar activity (e.g. the 11-year solar cycle).^[10]

^{: 292–293}

Proton Decay

The

. [11]

After ten years of data taking, (in case no decay will be observed) HK is expected to increase the lower limit of the proton

[12]

Dark Matter

^{: 281–286}

Experiment Description

The Hyper-Kamiokande experiment consists of an accelerator neutrino beamline, a set of near detectors, the intermediate detector and the far detector (also called Hyper-Kamiokande). The far detector by itself will be used for proton decay searches and studies of neutrinos from natural sources. All the above elements will serve for the accelerator neutrino oscillation studies. Before launching the HK experiment, the T2K experiment will finish data taking and HK will take over its neutrino beamline and set of near detectors, while the intermediate and the far detectors have to be constructed anew.^[13]

Neutrino Beamline

Near Detectors

Intermediate Water Cherenkov Detector

The Intermediate Water Cherenkov Detector (IWCD) will be located at a distance of around 750 metres (2,460 ft) from the neutrino production place. It will be a cylinder filled with water of 10 metres (33 ft) diameter and 50 metres (160 ft) height with a 10 metres (33 ft) tall structure instrumented with around 400 multi-PMT modules (mPMTs), each consisting of nineteen 8 centimetres (3.1 in) diameter

Combining the results from different off-axis angles, it is possible to extract the results for nearly monoenergetic neutrino spectrum without relying on theoretical models of neutrino interactions to reconstruct neutrino energy. Usage of the same type of detector as the far detector with almost the same angular and momentum acceptance allows comparison of results from these two detectors without relying on detector response simulations. These two facts, independence from the neutrino interaction and detector response models, will enable HK to minimise systematic error in the oscillation analysis. Additional advantages of such a design of the detector is the possibility to search for sterile oscillation patterns for different off-axis angles and to obtain a cleaner sample of electron neutrino interactions, whose fraction is larger for larger off-axis angles.^{[3]: 47–50 [14][15][16][17]}

Hyper-Kamiokande Far Detector

The Hyper-Kamiokande detector will be built 650 metres (2,130 ft) under the peak of Nijuugo Mountain in the Tochibora mine, 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) south from the Super-Kamiokande (SK) detector. Both detectors will be at the same off-axis angle (2.5°) to the neutrino beam centre and at the same distance (295 kilometres (183 mi)) from the beam production place in J-PARC.^{[note 2][3]: 35 [18]}

HK will be a

HK detector construction began in 2020 and the start of data collection is expected in 2027.^{[3][4][13]: 24} Studies have also been undertaken on the feasibility and physics benefits of building a second, identical water-Cherenkov tank in South Korea around 1100 km from J-PARC, which would be operational 6 years after the first tank.^[5][20]

History and schedule

A history of large water Cherenkov detectors in Japan, and long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments associated with them, excluding HK:

• 1983-1996:
  Kamiokande (Kamioka Nucleon Decay Experiment), which main goal was proton decay searches (the Nobel Prize in Physics 2002 for Masatoshi Koshiba) – the predecessor of Super-Kamiokande^[1]
• 1996–present: Super-Kamiokande experiment – the predecessor of the Hyper-Kamiokande experiment, studying neutrinos from natural sources and searching for proton decay (the Nobel Prize in Physics 2015 for Takaaki Kajita)^[1]
• 1999–2004: K2K experiment – the predecessor of the T2K experiment
• 2010–present: T2K experiment – the predecessor of the Hyper-Kamiokande experiment, studying accelerator neutrino oscillations

A history of the Hyper-Kamiokande experiment:

• September 1999: First ideas of the new experiment presented^[21]
• 2000: The name "Hyper-Kamiokande" used for the first time^[22]
• September 2011: Submitting LOI^[23]
• January 2015: MoU for cooperation in the Hyper-Kamiokande project signed by two host institutions: ICRR and KEK. Formation of the Hyper-Kamiokande proto-collaboration^[24][25]
• May 2018: Hyper-Kamiokande Design Report^[3]
• September 2018: Seed funding from MEXT allocated in 2019^[26]
• February 2020: The project officially approved by the
  Japanese Diet^[4]
• June 2020: Formation of the Hyper-Kamiokande collaboration
• May 2021: Start of the HK detector access tunnel excavation[27]
• 2021: Beginning of the photomultiplier tubes mass production^[28]
• February 2022: Completion of the access tunnel construction^[29]
• October 2023: Completion of the HK detector main cavern dome section^[30]
• 2027: The expected beginning of data-taking^[4]

Notes

See also

• Super-Kamiokande
• T2K experiment
• Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment

Bibliography

• Normile, D (2015). "Particle physics. Japanese neutrino physicists think really big". Science. 347 (6222): 598.
  PMID 25657225
  .

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to T2K.

• Hyper-Kamiokande website