Interesting Science Facts

About the Booster Neutrino Experiment (BooNE):
  • BooNE is the only experiment to search the entire range covered by the LSND oscillation signal.
  • First proposed in 1997, BooNE has been collecting data since August 2002.
  • The BooNE collaboration is small by high energy physics standards, comprising 75 physicists from 16 instiutions.
  • If BooNE detects a supernova, it will send an automatic signal to telescopes around the world describing its position.

BooNE collaboration - click to enlarge

About the MiniBooNE detector:
  • The MiniBooNE detector is a 40-foot (12-meter) diameter sphere.
  • It contains 800 tons of mineral oil, which is equivalent to one quarter of a million gallons or 44 tanker trucks.
  • There are 1520 individual detectors (phototubes) lining the detector.
  • The detector sees one neutrino collision every 20 seconds.
  • Approximately 1 million neutrino events are collected per year.

inside the MiniBooNE detector - click to enlarge

About the BooNE neutrino beam:
  • The neutrino beam is produced using 8 GeV protons from the Fermilab booster.
  • The neutrinos are delivered in bursts lasting 1.5 millionths of a second, 5 times per second.
  • The BooNE horn is used to focus the intense, high-energy particle beam and create an intense beam of neutrinos. The horn:
    -operates at 170 kA for 150 millionths of a second;
    -pulses five times per second;
    -must be able to withstand these extreme conditions for 100 million pulses.
  • The BooNE horn has already endured more pulses than any other horn ever!
  • By switching the polarity of the horns, the neutrino beam can be converted into an anti-neutrino beam.

BooNE horn - click to enlarge




Neutrino event in bubble chamber- click to enlarge
About neutrinos:
  • Neutrinos come in three flavors: electron, muon, and tau.
  • Neutrinos are everywhere!
    - 100 trillion neutrinos pass through our bodies every second;
    - in every gallon of space, there are a million neutrinos.
  • Neutrinos are created by nuclear reactions in our Sun, and carry away about 10% of the Sun's energy.
  • Most neutrinos were created some 13 billion years ago, in the earliest moments of the Big Bang.
  • In a supernova, neutrinos escape the imploding star faster than the light.
  • If a neutrino has mass, its flavor can change midflight -- i.e. the neutrino oscillates.