1. Institute for Space Sciences, Magurele-Bucharest, Romania
KM3NeT
The Birth of a Giant
Vlad Popa,
Institute for Space Sciences,
Magurele-Bucharest, Romania

2. Overview Introduction: what, who and why?
Neutrino telescopes: how do they work?
Physics goals, but not only…
Present status, pilot experiments
Many choices to be made…
Conclusions

3. Overview Introduction: what, who and why?
Neutrino telescopes: how do they work?
Physics goals, but not only…
Present status, pilot experiments
Many choices to be made…
Conclusions

4. Overview Introduction: what, who and why?
Neutrino telescopes: how do they work?
Physics goals, but not only…
Present status, pilot experiments
Many choices to be made…
Conclusions

5. Overview Introduction: what, who and why?
Neutrino telescopes: how do they work?
Physics goals, but not only…
Present status, pilot experiments
Many choices to be made…
Conclusions

6. Overview Introduction: what, who and why?
Neutrino telescopes: how do they work?
Physics goals, but not only…
Present status, pilot experiments
Many choices to be made…
Conclusions

7. Overview Introduction: what, who and why?
Neutrino telescopes: how do they work?
Physics goals, but not only…
Present status, pilot experiments
Many choices to be made…
Conclusions

8. Introduction
KM3NeT will be a very large volume (> km3 ) Neutrino Telescope, to be deployed in the Mediterranean Sea, after 2012.

9. Introduction
KM3NeT will be a very large volume (> km3 ) Neutrino Telescope, to be deployed in the Mediterranean Sea, after 2012.
The consortium includes 40 Institutes or Universities from 10 European countries.
The research is financed trough 2 European projects: “KM3NeT-DS” (completed), “KM3NeT-PP”, and by national agencies
There will be room for Earth and Sea Sciences.

10. Introduction
KM3NeT will be a very large volume (> km3 ) Neutrino Telescope, to be deployed in the Mediterranean Sea, after 2012.
The consortium includes 40 Institutes or Universities from 10 European countries.
The research is financed trough 2 European projects: “KM3NeT-DS” (completed), “KM3NeT-PP”, and by national agencies
There will be room for Earth and Ocean Sciences.
One of the Magnificent Seven of the ASPERA Roadmap

11. Introduction
KM3NeT will be a very large volume (> km3 ) Neutrino Telescope, to be deployed in the Mediterranean Sea, after 2012.
The consortium includes 40 Institutes or Universities from 10 European countries.
The research is financed trough 2 European projects: “KM3NeT-DS” (completed), “KM3NeT-PP”, and by national agencies
There will be room for Earth and Ocean Sciences.
One of the Magnificent Seven of the ASPERA Roadmap
Official web page:

12. Cyprus: University of Cyprus
France: CEA, CNRS, Haute Alsace University
Germany: Erlangen – Nurnberg University
Greece: Hellenic Open University, NCSR Demokritos, Athens National Observatory, Athens National University
Ireland: Advanced Study Institute, Dublin
Italy: INFN ( + Universities)
Netherlands: FOM (NIKHEF), NIOZ
Romania: ISS (INFLPR)
Spain: CSIC, Barcelona University, Valencia Technical University, Valencia University
United Kingdom: Aberdeen University, Leeds University, Sheffield University

13. Neutrino telescopes: how do they work?

15. Muon neutrinos (the “golden channel”):
Signature: muon (+ hadronic shower if reaction inside the detector)
Detectability: if muon crosses light acceptance
Measurement precision: Energy – fair (factor 2 at best for muon energies > 1TeV
Direction – very good (0.1o at high energies)
Remarks: the golden channel for point source searches (neutrino astronomy)

16. Electron neutrinos
Signature: electromagnetic + hadronic shower (superimposed)
Detectability: if reaction is inside detector light acceptance
Measurement precision: Energy – good
Direction – fair (a few degrees at best)
Remarks: Important for diffuse flux measurements and flavour studies. Not distinguishable from other shower signatures.

17. Tau neutrinos Signatures: 1) if like 2) if like
3) if : hadronic shower
Detectability: if reaction is inside detector light acceptance (except 1)
Measurement precision: Energy – fair (large fraction goes to secondary ’s)
Direction – good for (1), fair otherwise
Remarks: Important for diffuse flux measurements and flavour studies. Only double-bang signatures might be distinctive.
for E > few TeV “double bang sinature”

18. All neutrinos (neutral current interactions)
Signatures: hadronic shower
Detectability: if reaction is inside detector light acceptance
Measurement precision: Energy – poor (large fraction goes to secondary )
Direction – fair
Remarks: Important for diffuse flux measurements and flavour studies. Energy measurement much less precise, not distinguishable from other shower signatures.

19. Physics goals, but not only…
. Neutrino astronomy
Diffuse neutrino flux
Dark Matter
Exotic Particles
Atmospheric muons and neutrinos
Neutrino Cross Sections …
Earth and Sea Sciences

20. The main scientific goal: Neutrino Astronomy
Point Sources
Supernova Remnants
Microquasars
Gamma Ray Bursters
Hidden Sources (not seen in other “wavelengths”)

21. Neutrino Astronomy: Sky coverage (Galactic coordinates)
From the South: IceCube
(angular resolution
~ 10 )
From the North:
KM3NeT
(angular resolution ~ 0.10)
> 75% of time
>25% of time

22. Other physics goals Diffuse neutrino flux Dark Matter Exotic Particles
Atmospheric muons and neutrinos
Neutrino Cross Sections …

23. Diffuse neutrino energy flux
Cosmogenic (extragalactic)
C.R. p (E > eV) / CMB
(pions, HE neutrinos)
(GZK cutt-off)
From all GRB’s and AGN’s, during the complete Universe history, extragalactic for
E > 1017 – 1018 eV

24. Other physics goals Diffuse neutrino flux Dark Matter
Search based on WIMPS annihilation (in the center of the Sun) leading to HE neutrinos (directly in scenarios with extradimensions, or trough massive particle decays in supersymmetric scenarios).

25. Other physics goals Diffuse neutrino flux Dark Matter Exotic Particles
Atmospheric muons and neutrinos
Neutrino Cross Sections …

26. Exotic Particles GUT Magnetic Monopoles
Intermediate mass Magnetic Monopoles
Nuclearites
Q-balls …

27. Magnetic Monopoles
Magnetic charge g = n gD, n = 1,2,3,…? and gD= 137/2 e
GUT monopoles
Two categories
Intermediate mass monopoles

28. Electroweak unification: W, Z
GUT Monopoles
Gauge theories of unified interactions predict MMs
SU(5)
1015 GeV
10-35 s
SU(3)C x [SU(2)L x U(1)y]
102 GeV
10-9 s
SU(3)C x U(1)EM
Slowly moving!
Mass mM ≥ mX/G > 1016 GeV ~ 0.02 mg  1017 GeV
Size: extended object
Grand Unification: virtual X,Y
Electroweak unification: W, Z
Confinement region: virtual gs, gluons,
condensate of fermions -antifermion,
4 fermion virtual states
B=g/r2 Magnetic field of a point Dirac monopole
Radius (cm)
Proton decay catalysis
r  few fm B ~ g/r2

29. Assuming Mon = 10-3, in water,
Proton decay (Callan – Rubakov)
A proton decay is expected every
Assuming Mon = 10-3, in water,
10 cm – 10m
30 s - 3 ms

30. GUT MMs detectable trough the Cherenkov light emitted by the proton decay charged secondaries, between 3 × 104 – 105 photons with  = 300 – 600 nm for each event.
A trigger should require multiple coincidences in a relatively large time window, and the efficiency of such a search depends strongly on the assumed value of 0 and Mon…
Best existing flux limit from MACRO:

31. Relativistic! Neutron stars T  1011 - 1015 GeV SO(10)
Intermediate mass MMs ( GeV) De Rujula CERN-TH 7273/94 E. Huguet & P. Peter hep-ph/
T.W. Kephart, Q. Shafi Phys. Lett. B520(2001)313 Wick et al. Astropart. Phys. 18, 663 (2003)
Produced in the Early Universe after GUT phase transitions
ex. (Shafi) M ~ GeV , g = 2 gD , no p-decay catalysis
IMMs can be accelerated in the galactic B field to relativistic velocities
T = gD B L ~ 6 x GeV (B/3x10-6 G) (L/300pc)
Galaxy T  6 x GeV
Neutron stars T  GeV
AGN T  GeV
Could they produce the highest energy cosmic ray showers E > 1020 eV ?
1015 GeV
109 GeV
SO(10)
SU(4) x SU(2) x SU(2)
SU(3) x SU(2) x U(1)
10-35 s
10-23 s
Relativistic!

32. Intermediate mass MMs in VLVTs
- By the monopole (and by  electrons) for
Cherenkov light production
- By  electrons for

33. Direct Cherenkov emission ( > 0.74)
Cherenkov emission enhanced by a factor about 8500 compared to Cherenkov light emission by a single muon

34. Cherenkov light from δ rays (knock-on electrons), Mon>0.51

35. Total number Cherenkov photons
300 < λ < 600 nm
Monopole
Direct
Recoil e-
Muon

36. Nuclearites E. Witten, Phys. Rev. D30 (1984) 272A. De Rujula, S. L
Nuclearites E. Witten, Phys. Rev. D30 (1984) 272A. De Rujula, S. L. Glashow, Nature 312 (1984) 734
Aggregates of u, d, s quarks + electrons , ne= 2/3 nu –1/3 nd –1/3 ns
Ground state of QCD; stable for 300 < A < 1057
rN  3.5 x 1014 g cm-3
rnuclei  1014 g cm-3
A qualitative picture…
[black points are electrons]
R (fm)
M (GeV)
Produced in Early Universe or in strange star collisions (J. Madsen, PRD71 (2005) )
Candidates for cold Dark Matter! Searched for in CR reaching the Earth

37. Intermediate mass nuclearites
M (GeV)
1022
Could traverse the Earth, but very low expected fluxes
Essentially neutral (most if not all e- inside)
“Classical” properties: galactic velocities, elastic collisions, energy losses…
Could reach KM3NeT from above
Better flux limit from MACRO
(for nonrelativistic velocities):
1014
s e d u
d s s e
M. Ambrosio et al., Eur.Phys. J. C13 (2000) 453; L. Patrizii, TAUP 2003
1010
Too low masses to reach KM3NeT

38. Nuclearites - basics Typical galactic velocities   10-3
A. De Rújula and S.L. Glashow, Nature 312 (1984) 734
Typical galactic velocities   10-3
Dominant interaction: elastic collisions with atoms in the medium
Dominant energy losses:
Phenomenological flux limit from the local density of DM:

39. A little more on dE/dx… For M  8.4 1014 GeV it depends only on v2
The passage of a nuclearite in matter produces heat along its path
In transparent media some of the energy dissipated could appear as visible light (black body radiation)
The “optical efficiency” = the fraction of dE/dx appearing as light
in water estimated to be  = 3  (lower bound)
(A. De Ruhula, S.L. Glashow, Nature 312 (1984) 734)

40. Arrival conditions to the depth of KM3NeT
The velocity of a nuclearite entering in a medium with v0, after a path L becomes
in the atmosphere:
a = 1.2 10-3 g cm-3; b = 8.6 105 cm; H  50 km
(T. Shibata, Prog. Theor. Phys. 57 (1977) 882.)
in water: w  1 g cm-3
At ~ 4000 m depth, nuclearites with masses larger than ~1015 GeV should be
still fast enough to produce detectable black body light.
Expected light yield >106 visible photons/cm!

41. Nuclearites could be seen by KM3NeT (as well as all other VLVnT’s) as correlated light hits distributed in a time window of ~ 10 ms.
Other possible exotic particles: Q-balls – nuggets of squarks and sleptons (“supersimetric nuclearites”…)
- neutral Q-balls would absorb normal hadrons emitting pions: their signature would be as for nuclearites, combined with the GUT monopole signals
- charged Q-balls would interact trough elastic collisions: would give nuclearite-like signals.

42. KM3NeT sensitivity to exotic particles (one year of data tacking) should be at the level of cm-2 s-1 sr-1 , depending on:
The actual geometry of the telescope
The efficiency of the dedicated triggers
The efficiency of the off-line analysis (background removal, reconstruction strategy, etc.)
Intensive simulations to be made after the completion of the telescope design…

43. Other physics goals Diffuse neutrino flux Dark Matter Exotic Particles
Atmospheric muons and neutrinos
Neutrino Cross Sections

44. Atmospheric muons and neutrinos
More than 108 atm. muon (downward going) events expected each year: excellent callibration source, and CR primary composition from 10 TeV to 10 PeV
About atmospheric neutrino (upward going) events expected each year: very good statistics above 1 TeV, the tomography of the Earth interior possible, for E>10TeV.

45. From pion photo-production:
Flavor analysis
From pion photo-production:
At distances >> oscillation length:
For atmospheric neutrinos with E > 1 TeV, oscillation effects become negligible.
Flavor ratio at H.E. will test neutrino production mechanisms, but also hypothesis about :
- neutrino decays
- neutrino oscillations into sterile states
- CPT & Lorentz invariance violations ….

46. Other physics goals Diffuse neutrino flux Dark Matter Exotic Particles
Atmospheric muons and neutrinos
Neutrino Cross Sections: neutrino – nucleon interactions at very high energies (>> 200 GeV) …

47. Earth and sea sciences
- continuous data collection for long periods at “high” (~1Hz) rates.
- water dynamics, bioluminiscence and bioacoustics as byproducts of the telescope itself.
- geophysics and seismology, geotechnics, chemistry, bio-chemistry, oceanography, biology, fisheries, environmental sciences… from dedicated junction boxes.

48. KM3NeT will be part (node) of:
EMSO – European Multidisciplinary Seafloor Observatories
GMES – Global Monitoring for Environment and Security

49. Present status, pilot experiments
KM3NeT – Design Study completed (FP6)
KM3NeT – Preparatory Phase ongoing (FP7, will end in 2012)
Construction and deployment foreseen to start mid 2012 or beginning 2013
Telescope fully operational in 2016?

50. KM3NeT takes advantage on the 3 pilot experiments
All in the Mediterranean Sea
Most of the involved people are members of the KM3NeT
ANTARES
NEMO
NESTOR

51. KM3NeT takes advantage on the 3 pilot experiments
ANTARES
This is why other neutrino telescopes (AMANDA, IceCUBE, Baikal, DUMAND) are not included in the list.
NEMO
NESTOR

52. KM3NeT takes advantage on the 3 pilot experiments
ANTARES
The only undersea neutrino telescope successfully deployed and tacking data
NEMO
- Introducing and testing a different structure concept: the towers.
NESTOR
- First successful long term operation of a neutrino telescope floor at ~4000 m in The star structure, and a new deployment strategy
All have taught us that the marriage between neutrino physics and deep sea is not always a happy one…

53. Many choices to be made… The site
The telescope “architecture”
Legal aspects and governance
Power and data transfer
Shore infrastructure
Ships and ROV’s
Industrial production
Deployment / maintenance / decommissioning strategies …

54. 3 candidate locations, corresponding to the pilot experiments
The site
3 candidate locations, corresponding to the pilot experiments
The depth. (Deeper is better? Not really!)
Water optical properties
Distance to the shore station
The bioluminescence
The 40K concentration
Current flow
Sediment flux
Shore infrastructure (ports, roads, airports…)
Cost effectiveness (including possible contributions from the local Governments)
Synergy with other undersea projects (GMES – Global Monitoring for Environment and Security, GOOS - Global Ocean Observing Systems, EuroGOOS, DEOS –Dynamics of Earth and Ocean System, EMSO – KM3NeT will be one of its nodes) …

55. 3 candidate locations, corresponding to the pilot experiments
The site
3 candidate locations, corresponding to the pilot experiments
The depth. (Deeper is better? Not really!)
Water optical properties
Distance to the shore station
The bioluminescence
The 40K concentration
Current flow
Sediment flux
Shore infrastructure (ports, roads, airports…)
Cost effectiveness (including possible contributions from the local Governments)
Synergy with other undersea projects (GMES – Global Monitoring for Environment and Security, GOOS - Global Ocean Observing Systems, EuroGOOS, DEOS –Dynamics of Earth and Ocean System, EMSO – KM3NeT will be one of its nodes) …

56. 3 candidate locations, corresponding to the pilot experiments
The site
3 candidate locations, corresponding to the pilot experiments
The depth. (Deeper is better? Not really!)
Water optical properties
Distance to the shore station
The bioluminescence
The 40K concentration
Current flow
Sediment flux
Shore infrastructure (ports, roads, airports…)
Cost effectiveness (including possible contributions from the local Governments)
Synergy with other undersea projects (GMES – Global Monitoring for Environment and Security, GOOS - Global Ocean Observing Systems, EuroGOOS, DEOS –Dynamics of Earth and Ocean System, EMSO – KM3NeT will be one of its nodes) …

58. AUV Site Surveys* Remus 6000 AUV Deepest site 5200 m
Navigational accuracy app < 10 m
High resolution Multibeam
Side scan sonar
Imagery
Sub Bottom Profiler
Etc, etc
*) courtesy of IFM-Geomar, Kiel

59. Telescope architecture

60. Architecture: Optical Modules
Single large (8”, 10”) PMTs?

61. Architecture: Optical Modules
Many (31) small (~3”) PMTs?

62. Architecture: the detection units. “MEDUSA”
ANTARES-like strings.
SOM
MOM
Breakout

63. Architecture: the detection units “NuONE”
NEMO-like towers. 8m

64. Many strings might be deployed in the same operation
Architecture: the detection units. “SeaWiet”
Self-sustained
OMs
Many strings might be deployed in the same operation

65. Decisions to be taken soon, based on intensive detector simulations and cost estimations
Common Layout
91 Detector Units
Hexagon
20 storeys per DU
30m between storey
Compare configurations
DU spacing: 100, 130m, 160m
for each analysed configurations

66. Architecture: overall layouts
Homogeneous Cluster Ring …….

67. Conclusions… Some KM3NeT-PP targets:
Have the largest effective area at a given cost (250 M€)
Deploy the telescope within 3 years
Have an easily expandable facility

68. Technical Design Report
More information at:
KM3NeT
Technical Design Report
April 2008
July 2009

69. Conclusions…
Exciting times ahead!