Neutrino facility could change understanding of the universe

The University of Oxford's Department of Physics will play a pivotal role in a flagship global science facility that could change our understanding of the universe. The UK is investing £65million in the initiative, which will be based in the United States and could secure Britain's position as the international research partner of choice. UK Universities and Science Minister Jo Johnson today signed the agreement with the US Energy Department to invest the sum in the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) and the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). DUNE will study the properties of mysterious particles called neutrinos, which could help explain more about how the universe works and why matter exists at all. The UK's Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) will manage the UK's investment in the international facility, giving UK scientists and engineers the chance to take a leading role in the management and development of the DUNE far detector and the LBNF beam line and associated PIP-II accelerator development. The LBNF will be the world's most intense high-energy neutrino beam. It will fire neutrinos 1300 km from Fermilab in Illinois towards the 70,000 ton DUNE detector at the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in South Dakota in order to study neutrino oscillations.