The Scattering and Neutrino Detector (SND) at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), CERN, is an experiment built for the detection of the collider neutrinos. The primary goal of SND is to measure the p+p --> +X process and search for the feebly interacting particles. It will be operational from 2022, during the LHC-Run 3 (2022-2024). SND will be installed in an empty tunnel- TI18 that links the LHC and Super Proton Synchrotron, 480m away from the ATLAS experiment interaction point in the fast forward region and along the beam collision axis.[1][2][3][4][5]
 Plan of the LHC experiments and the preaccelerators. | |
| LHC experiments | |
|---|---|
| ATLAS | A Toroidal LHC Apparatus |
| CMS | Compact Muon Solenoid |
| LHCb | LHC-beauty |
| ALICE | A Large Ion Collider Experiment |
| TOTEM | Total Cross Section, Elastic Scattering and Diffraction Dissociation |
| LHCf | LHC-forward |
| MoEDAL | Monopole and Exotics Detector At the LHC |
| FASER | ForwArd Search ExpeRiment |
| SND | Scattering and Neutrino Detector |
| LHC preaccelerators | |
| p and Pb | Linear accelerators for protons (Linac 4) and lead (Linac 3) |
| (not marked) | Proton Synchrotron Booster |
| PS | Proton Synchrotron |
| SPS | Super Proton Synchrotron |
In February 2020, the Search for Hidden Particle (SHiP) collaboration expressed its interest in neutrino-measurement to the LHC Council (LHCC). The letter of intent for SND was presented in August 2020.[6] Based on LHCC’s recommendation, the Letter of intent was followed by the Technical Design report presented in February 2021. The experiment was later approved in March 2021 by the CERN Research Board to be the ninth experiment at LHC.[1][7] In 2023, SND@LHC and FASER reported the first observation of collider neutrinos.[8][9][10]
Physics potential and goals
editThe SND will cover a wide range of physics, such as detecting all three neutrino flavors in the pseudorapidity (angular) range that has never been explored before.[3] Along with the FASERnu detector at LHC, it will be the first experiment to observe and study the collider neutrinos.[5] It will also search for Beyond Standard Model particles such as Feebly Interacting Particles and particles that could make up the dark matter.[6]
Physics with neutrinos
editSND will primarily observe neutrinos in the pseudorapidity range of 7.2 to 8.6. It will detect the scattering properties of the neutrinos in this yet unexplored range and complement the observation range of FASERnu.[2][3][11] The neutrinos in this range come from the decay of heavy quarks such as charm decays (c → s + : charm quark decaying into a strange quark and a W boson), and hence SND aims to give valuable insights into the physics of heavy quark production. The charmed-hadron production studies will also provide data to constrain the gluon parton distribution function in the low Bjorken-x region.[5][6] In its first operational run, i.e. the LHC's Run-3 between 2022 and 2025, SND is expected to detect and study about 2000 high-energy neutrinos.[5][11]
Physics with feebly interacting particles
editThe Feebly Interacting Particles (FIPs) are theorized to be produced in the proton-proton collisions. SND has the potential to detect two types of FIPs; stable FIPs by observing their scattering from the atoms (mostly protons) in the detector target section, and unstable FIPs which could decay inside the detector itself.[6] The light-dark matter particles hypothesized with scattering properties similar to the neutrinos, and which interact with the Standard Model particles through ‘portal mediators’, could also be possibly detected as FIPs,[12] although they will have to be separated from the neutrino scattering background. One basic criterion for such a separation would be to observe the number of inelastic and elastic collision events. Neutrinos usually scatter inelastically due to the high mass of their mediators (W and Z bosons). Thus more than the predicted number of elastic collisions will hint at light dark matter scattering events.[6][11]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b "CERN approves new LHC experiment". CERN. Retrieved 2021-07-28.
- ^ a b "Collider neutrinos on the horizon". CERN Courier. 2021-06-02. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
- ^ a b c "Designing the SND@LHC experiment". EP News. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
- ^ "INSPIRE". inspirehep.net. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
- ^ a b c d Pastore, A (December 2020). "Neutrino physics with the SHiP experiment at CERN". Journal of Physics: Conference Series. 1690: 012171. doi:10.1088/1742-6596/1690/1/012171. ISSN 1742-6588. S2CID 221931137.
- ^ a b c d e Collaboration, S. N. D. (2020). Scattering and Neutrino Detector at the LHC. Letter of Intent. CERN. Geneva. The LHC experiments Committee, LHCC.
- ^ "Greybook". greybook.cern.ch. Retrieved 2021-08-19.
- ^ SND@LHC Collaboration; Albanese, R.; Alexandrov, A.; Alicante, F.; Anokhina, A.; Asada, T.; Battilana, C.; Bay, A.; Betancourt, C.; Biswas, R.; Blanco Castro, A.; Bogomilov, M.; Bonacorsi, D.; Bonivento, W. M.; Bordalo, P. (2023-07-19). "Observation of Collider Muon Neutrinos with the SND@LHC Experiment". Physical Review Letters. 131 (3): 031802. arXiv:2305.09383. Bibcode:2023PhRvL.131c1802A. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.031802. PMID 37540851.
- ^ FASER Collaboration; Abreu, Henso; Anders, John; Antel, Claire; Ariga, Akitaka; Ariga, Tomoko; Atkinson, Jeremy; Bernlochner, Florian U.; Blesgen, Tobias; Boeckh, Tobias; Boyd, Jamie; Brenner, Lydia; Cadoux, Franck; Casper, David W.; Cavanagh, Charlotte (2023-07-19). "First Direct Observation of Collider Neutrinos with FASER at the LHC". Physical Review Letters. 131 (3): 031801. arXiv:2303.14185. Bibcode:2023PhRvL.131c1801A. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.031801. PMID 37540863.
- ^ Worcester, Elizabeth (July 19, 2023). "The Dawn of Collider Neutrino Physics". Physics. 16: 113. Bibcode:2023PhyOJ..16..113W. doi:10.1103/Physics.16.113. Retrieved July 23, 2023.
- ^ a b c Ahdida, C.; Albanese, R.; Alexandrov, A.; Andreini, M.; Anokhina, A.; Bay, A.; Bestmann, P.; Betancourt, C.; Bezshyiko, I. (2021). SND@LHC - Scattering and Neutrino Detector at the LHC. Technical proposal. CERN. Geneva. The LHC experiments Committee, LHCC.
- ^ The SHiP collaboration; Ahdida, C.; Akmete, A.; Albanese, R.; Alexandrov, A.; Anokhina, A.; Aoki, S.; Arduini, G.; Atkin, E.; Azorskiy, N.; Back, J. J. (April 2021). "Sensitivity of the SHiP experiment to light dark matter". Journal of High Energy Physics. 2021 (4): 199. Bibcode:2021JHEP...04..199S. doi:10.1007/JHEP04(2021)199. hdl:10400.26/40350. ISSN 1029-8479. S2CID 228980760.
External links
edit- SND in CERN Greybook
- SND experiment record on INSPIRE-HEP