Not at CERN, interestingly….

Inside the underground lab in China tasked with solving a physics mystery

Oct 15th, 19:05:01

By Ryan Woo

KAIPING, China (Reuters) - A giant sphere 700 m (2,300 ft) underground with thousands of light-detecting tubes will be sealed in a 12-storey cylindrical pool of water in coming months for an experiment that will shine new light on elusive subatomic particles known as neutrinos.

After years of construction, the $300 million Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) in China's southern Guangdong province will soon start gathering data on neutrinos, a product of nuclear reactions, to help solve one of the biggest mysteries in particle physics.

Every second, trillions of extremely small neutrinos pass through matter, including the human body. In mid-flight, a neutrino, of which there are three known varieties, could transform into other types. Determining which types are the lightest and the heaviest would offer clues to subatomic processes during the early days of the universe and to explaining why matter is the way it is.

To that end, Chinese physicists and collaborating scientists from all over the world will analyse the data on neutrinos emitted by two nearby Guangdong nuclear power plants for up to six years.

[SNIP]

https://app.piqsuite.com/reuters/inside-the-underground-lab-in-china-tasked-with-solving-a-physics-mystery-2024-10-16-00-04-39