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KM3NeT Collaboration(Adrian-Martinez, S. et al), Barrios-Marti, J., Calvo Diaz-Aldagalan, D., Hernandez-Rey, J. J., Illuminati, G., Lotze, M., et al. (2016). Letter of intent for KM3NeT 2.0. J. Phys. G, 43(8), 084001–130pp.
Abstract: The main objectives of the KM3NeT Collaboration are (i) the discovery and subsequent observation of high-energy neutrino sources in the Universe and (ii) the determination of the mass hierarchy of neutrinos. These objectives are strongly motivated by two recent important discoveries, namely: (1) the high-energy astrophysical neutrino signal reported by IceCube and (2) the sizable contribution of electron neutrinos to the third neutrino mass eigenstate as reported by Daya Bay, Reno and others. To meet these objectives, the KM3NeT Collaboration plans to build a new Research Infrastructure consisting of a network of deep-sea neutrino telescopes in the Mediterranean Sea. A phased and distributed implementation is pursued which maximises the access to regional funds, the availability of human resources and the synergistic opportunities for the Earth and sea sciences community. Three suitable deep-sea sites are selected, namely off-shore Toulon (France), Capo Passero (Sicily, Italy) and Pylos (Peloponnese, Greece). The infrastructure will consist of three so-called building blocks. A building block comprises 115 strings, each string comprises 18 optical modules and each optical module comprises 31 photo-multiplier tubes. Each building block thus constitutes a three-dimensional array of photo sensors that can be used to detect the Cherenkov light produced by relativistic particles emerging from neutrino interactions. Two building blocks will be sparsely configured to fully explore the IceCube signal with similar instrumented volume, different methodology, improved resolution and complementary field of view, including the galactic plane. One building block will be densely configured to precisely measure atmospheric neutrino oscillations.
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KM3NeT Collaboration(Adrian-Martinez, S. et al), Barrios-Marti, J., Calvo, D., Hernandez-Rey, J. J., Illuminati, G., Lotze, M., et al. (2017). Intrinsic limits on resolutions in muon- and electron-neutrino charged-current events in the KM3NeT/ORCA detector. J. High Energy Phys., 05(5), 008–39pp.
Abstract: Studying atmospheric neutrino oscillations in the few-GeV range with a multimegaton detector promises to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy. This is the main science goal pursued by the future KM3NeT/ORCA water Cherenkov detector in the Mediterranean Sea. In this paper, the processes that limit the obtainable resolution in both energy and direction in charged-current neutrino events in the ORCA detector are investigated. These processes include the composition of the hadronic fragmentation products, the subsequent particle propagation and the photon-sampling fraction of the detector. GEANT simulations of neutrino interactions in seawater produced by GENIE are used to study the effects in the 1-20 GeV range. It is found that fluctuations in the hadronic cascade in conjunction with the variation of the inelasticity y are most detrimental to the resolutions. The effect of limited photon sampling in the detector is of significantly less importance. These results will therefore also be applicable to similar detectors/media, such as those in ice.
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KM3NeT Collaboration(Adrian-Martinez, S. et al), Barrios-Marti, J., Calvo, D., Hernandez-Rey, J. J., Illuminati, G., Lotze, M., et al. (2016). A method to stabilise the performance of negatively fed KM3NeT photomultipliers. J. Instrum., 11, P12014–12pp.
Abstract: The KM3NeT research infrastructure, currently under construction in the Mediterranean Sea, will host neutrino telescopes for the identification of neutrino sources in the Universe and for studies of the neutrino mass hierarchy. These telescopes will house hundreds of thousands of photomultiplier tubes that will have to be operated in a stable and reliable fashion. In this context, the stability of the dark counts has been investigated for photomultiplier tubes with negative high voltage on the photocathode and held in insulating support structures made of 3D printed nylon material. Small gaps between the rigid support structure and the photomultiplier tubes in the presence of electric fields can lead to discharges that produce dark count rates that are highly variable. A solution was found by applying the same insulating varnish as used for the high voltage bases directly to the outside of the photomultiplier tubes. This transparent conformal coating provides a convenient and inexpensive method of insulation.
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