The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) aims to make precise measurements of long-baseline neutrino oscillations over a 1300 km baseline. A high power wide-band beam operating in neutrino (anti-neutrino) mode will be produced at Fermilab, with its flux and flavour composition characterised with the Near Detector system. At the Sandford Underground Research Facility (SURF), 1300 km away, deep underground, four gigantic Far Detector modules (with 70 kton total mass) will observe νμ (ν̄μ ) disappearance, νe (ν̄e ) and ντ (ν̄τ ) appearance. In doing so DUNE will be able to determine the Neutrino Mass Ordering (at more than 5 sigmas), measure the CP Violating phase over a wide range of values, measure precisely the oscillation parameters and test the 3-flavour paradigm. With gigantic Far Detectors, deep underground, DUNE will be able to detect neutrinos from a Galactic core-collapse supernova, should one occur, and search for nucleon decay and other physics beyond the Standard Model.
The DUNE Far Detectors will be Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers (TPC). Such gigantic detectors need large scale prototyping not only to determine the performance but also to validate the technology, engineering solutions, and installation procedures at large-scale. A significant prototyping effort is ongoing at the CERN neutrino platform. Two TPC technologies have been explored at the kton-scale, with the Single Phase and Dual Phase ProtoDUNEs. A hybrid solution, building on the strengths of both, is also being explored.
In this talk I will discuss the physics objectives of DUNE and the far detectors necessary to achieve them.
