Cubic Kilometre Neutrino Telescope (KM3NeT)

Why in News?

Recently, the scientists have deployed 2 telescopes under the Mediterranean Sea to detect high-energy neutrinos.

• It is an underwater Neutrino telescope.
• Aim – To study high-energy neutrinos also known as ghost particles that could reveal secrets of the cosmos.

Neutrinos are weakly interacting subatomic particles that can travel astronomical distances undisturbed. They are the 2^nd most abundant subatomic particles after photons.

• Need for underwater Neutrino telescope – While both frozen ice and deep sea waters are used for detecting neutrinos, underwater neutrino telescopes could be more efficient than IceCube.
• That is because water scatters light less, which gives a more accurate idea about where the detected neutrinos came from.

Neutrino detectors needs to be in dark because it look for flashes of Cherenkov radiation, a light that neutrinos produce when they interact with a water or ice molecule.  These flashes trace the path of that neutrino, giving details of its source, the amount of energy it contains, and its origins.

• Features – It consists of 2 telescopes made up of glass baubles arranged on vertical cables.
• Each strand dangles in the water like a pearl necklace that’s up to 700 meters long.
• Each bauble, a pressure-resistant sphere 44 centimeters wide, contains 31 photomultiplier tubes that sense light generated when neutrinos crash into the seawater.

• Deployment – Detectors are deployed in 1 month-long campaign every year and at the end of 2024, the telescopes boasted 57 strands.
  • Eventually, 100’s of such cables will sway in the currents, a few kilometers below the surface off the coasts of Sicily and the South of France.
• Sicilian telescope – Study high-energy neutrinos from space.
• French telescope – Study neutrinos from the atmosphere to understand how they oscillate, or change from 1 type of neutrino to another.
• Disadvantage of underwater neutrino telescope – Water absorbs light more and as a result, there will be less light to examine.

References

1. The Indian Express| Underwater Neutrino Telescope
2. Science News| Cubic Kilometer Neutrino Telescope

Related News – Neutinos and IceCube Neutrino Observatory