Final Report Summary - LAGUNA (Design of a pan-European Infrastructure for Large Apparatus studying Grand Unification and Neutrino Astrophysics)
Executive Summary:
Publishable Summary:
The FP7 Design Study of a pan-European Infrastructure for Large Apparatus studying Grand Unification and Neutrino Astrophysics (LAGUNA) (http://laguna.ethz.ch/laguna-eu/) is a collaborative project involving 21 beneficiaries, composed of academic institutions from Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Poland, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom as well as industrial beneficiaries specialized in civil and mechanical engineering and rock mechanics. LAGUNA brings together on one hand the scientific community interested in this kind of research, and on the other hand the industrial and technical experts able to help assess the feasibility of this infrastructure.
The principal goal is to assess the feasibility of a new pan-European research infrastructure able to host the next generation, very large volume, deep underground neutrino observatory. A research infrastructure able to host new generation underground neutrino detectors with total volumes in the range of 100,000 to 1,000,000 m3 will provide new and unique scientific opportunities, and very likely lead to fundamental discoveries in the field of particle and atroparticle physics, attracting interest from scientists worldwide. Europe currently hosts four world class national deep underground laboratories with high level technical expertise, which are located in Boulby (UK), Canfranc (Spain), Gran Sasso (Italy), and Modane (France). However, none of these is large enough for an instrument of the size envisioned by LAGUNA. Therefore, in addition to the possible extensions of the existing underground laboratories, the LAGUNA consortium is studying the creation of new laboratories in the region of Umbria (Italy), Pyhäsalmi (Finland), Sieroszowice (Poland) and Slanic (Romania).
The science case of LAGUNA is compelling: if built the observatory will look for the unification of all elementary forces by searching for an extremely rare process called proton decay. Although the lifetime of a proton is known to be in excess of 1033 years, a proton can nonetheless spontaneously disintegrate itself into lighter elementary constituents if the strong, weak and electromagnetic forces become unified at very high energies. Large size detectors like those envisioned in LAGUNA are the only way to address this question. The large size of the LAGUNA observatory will, in addition, allow the detection of a sufficiently large number of neutrinos from very distant galactic supernovae to understand their explosion mechanism. The observatory will also perform precision study of terrestrial, solar and atmospheric neutrinos. In addition, the outstanding puzzle of the origin of the excess of matter over antimatter in the universe after the Big Bang, and the recent measurements of neutrino oscillations and masses, point forward to the need to couple the LAGUNA observatory to advanced neutrino beams from CERN to study matter-antimatter asymmetry in neutrino oscillations.
The impact of LAGUNA on the development of a pan-European common scientific framework is large. Several important institutions from all around Europe are involved, and among them notably the participation of academies, research institutions and industries from post-communist countries. Such a continuous interaction between the various beneficiaries originating from different European countries, and the constant strict interaction coming from the collaboration between academia and industry makes LAGUNA not only a very advanced and challenging scientific project, but acts as an instrument of integration, mobility and dissemination, strongly favoring the consolidation of an integrated pan-European scientific community, and strengthening the scientific and technological bases of the Community industry.
The goal of the design studies is to lead the project into its next phase as one of the research infrastructures identified by the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructure (ESFRI Roadmap). If realized in Europe, the project will greatly contribute to the enhancement of the European Research Area (ERA) by strongly supporting new ways of dong science in Europe.
The DS is subdivided into 4 work packages (WP), interconnected with each other:
Work Package Description
WP1 Management, coordination and assessment
WP2 Underground infrastructures and engineering
WP3 Safety, environmental and socio-economic issues
WP4 Science impact and outreach
WP1 – Management, coordination and assessment
This WP is led by the ETHZ beneficiary and is coordinated by André Rubbia (ETHZ) with the help of Federico Petrolo in charge of the administrative, financial and legal tasks. The Executive Board and the Governing Board are also involved in these activities. During the period, the management WP coordinated the contractual, financial and administrative aspects of the Design Study and oversaw the technical and scientific work of the other WPs. It ensured the production of the project milestones and deliverables. Furthermore, this WP has been responsible for knowledge management for the Design Study, coordinating the protection, use and dissemination of the knowledge generated during the period.
WP2 – Underground infrastructures and engineering
The WP2 work package exists in order to assess the feasibility of large underground caverns in the seven potential European sites to host large volume detectors of each kind; to provide the technical information, including cost estimates, needed for potential construction decision and site selection and to assess the site impact of the construction of underground tanks on the facility and estimate time of underground realization. This is a very important work package of the design study as the preliminary investigations show that LAGUNA is exceptional in terms of dimensions of the caverns to be designed, comprising great depth and huge spans, well beyond any state-of-the-art in underground civil engineering. By analyzing several scientific, technical and political criteria, a site prioritization has been performed in order to best recommend the focus of the next phase of studies towards the feasibility of the LAGUNA research infrastructure in Europe. The final list of criteria and the prioritization method has been published in the deliverable 2.8.
In this report concise overview of the work progress done in WP2 is presented. Technical partners and scientists of all the sites have carried out comprehensive work of rock mechanical studies. During the period, one Interim meeting was held in February 2010 in Munich and in addition the work package was discussed in three General Meetings that were held in September 2009 in Pyhäsalmi, in December 2009 in Boulby, and in April 2010 in Canfranc. In addition, phone conferences were regularly organized.
The WP2 interim meeting in Munich (February 2010) was the first where the results of all sites were thoroughly discussed and compared with each other, and the common standards were more accurately defined. Small differences in the standards between the sites were corrected and nearly final and consistent numbers were then presented in the next meeting, in Canfranc General Meeting in April 2010.
It can be concluded that each site could technically host at least one of the detector options. Also, it can be concluded that the time schedule for the excavation is not much different between the sites and that the cost of the cavern excavations are not the major part of the total costs.
The LAGUNA Consortium has visited all of the sites except the Italian virgin site as there was nothing to see. In all of the sites the local authorities have expressed a strong interest in the project and are willing to find ways to support it.
WP3- Safety, environmental and socio-economic issues
This work package exists to cover aspects of the LAGUNA sites other than that of a purely geo-technical and detector orientation. In particular to consider aspects of safety, which must be integrated into the project from and early stage, and societal and economic or political issues. All these topics have the potential to be or become critical paths or even show-stoppers for the eventual construction of such a large experiment as LAGUNA. For instance, the environmental impact of construction of LAGUNA, such as might result from the need to remove and dump large quantities of rock, could be, depending on the site, a major issue to resolve. Likewise, insufficient local political support or an inadequate safety culture at a site could become critical issues to resolve. WP3 is designed to increase awareness of these potentially major issues and determine for each site what specific aspects of these issues could be challenges that need to be addressed.
In the first period of LAGUNA the work of WP3 concentrated on the safety and risk aspects of each site, culminating in detailed reports from each site subsequently submitted for the deliverable, WP3.1. Some additional progress was made also then on the socio-economic aspect, reported as a supplement in the WP3.1 documents. The second period has focused further on the socio-economic issues at each site but also developed a more detailed analysis of the particular safety and project risk issues associated with liquid procurement. As in the first period the work, detailed in Annex I of the project proposal, has been undertaken in the context of a series of tasks.
Task 9 Assessment of hazards events and risk analysis
Task 10 Safety and monitoring of large-scale underground tanks
Task 11 Site specific impact of liquid procurement and tank filling
Task 12 Final report on safety and environmental issues
Task 13 Socio-economic impact of the research infrastructure on the sites
WP3 activity for the second period, building in the initial information gathered for the first deliverable WP3.1 has been firstly to collect and compare information on the socio-economic aspects of each site, with an attempt made to understand and address any critical path issues that arise. As with WP3.1 the approach here has been to use a series of detailed template tables for each site. These tables, together with descriptive text, have been used to produce the deliverable WP3.4 "LAGUNA Design Study, Socio-Economic Overview Report". The concept here has been to recognize two aspects: (i) that there is need to know at each site the level of understanding by all interested parties, local, regional and national, of the impact of LAGUNA at the site, whether positive or negative, and (ii) to understand, given the actual construction of LAGUNA at that site, the socio-economic impact it will have (positive and negative). The former is important, for instance, because it could be that certain interested parties, such as planning authorities, may slow down or in fact prevent construction. The second aspect is important as a means of assessing and gathering support for the programme.
In this context many meetings and discussions have been held, both at the regular site visits undertaken by LAGUNA and through specific WP3 meetings and calls. Each site has also undertaken site-specific assessment meetings with, for instance, politicians, environmental agencies, planning authorities, site owners and others. It is these meetings that have allowed information to be accumulated into the detailed comparison tables.
WP4 – Science Impact and Outreach
This WP has explored the physics of different detector technologies at different underground laboratory sites in order to identify the best strategy for future large-scale detectors. The goal was to continue developing the science case of the LAGUNA observatory taking into account the constant evolution of the field as new results were achieved. It is not to be expected that the science case of LAGUNA will become obsolete, on the contrary, we could witness that new results from ongoing experiments helped strengthening and precising the need for the LAGUNA observatory, in particular for what concerns the opportunities on long baseline oscillations coupled to CERN. Additionally WP4 takes care about developing the outreach means such as flyers and web site. The work in WP4, concerned tasks 14-16.
Task 14 Theoretical activities supporting experimental programme - This task was coordinated by Silvia Pascooooooooli (U-DUR). It focused on the study of the physics reach of future long baseline neutrino oscillation experiments, on the review of the astroparticle physics searches which can be carried out with the detectors under consideration in the LAGUNA project, on the study of the information which can be extracted from the running experiments of this type and on the links with the searches for physics beyond the Standard Model carried out at the LHC and other particle physics accelerators.
Task 15 Education and Outreach – This task was coordinated by Agnieszka Zalewska. The LAGUNA web site the LAGUNA flyer and the brochure presenting the LAGUNA project in a popular way (deliverable 4.1) were realized. Apart from that LAGUNA was being popularized in different forms by the project participants in their native countries and beyond. Examples include special LAGUNA sessions at particle physics conferences in Poland and Romania, articles in newspapers, presentations in radio and television, posters at science festivals, lectures for students, pupils and physics teachers, etc.
Task 16 Investigation of synergies with the European Strategy for Particle Physics and the CERN laboratory – This task was coordinated by André Rubbia (ETHZ). In full accordance with the duties planned in Annex I, several meetings were held with the CERN accelerator experts, the CERN Management as well as contacts with physicists from the EURONU project. Additionally international contacts outside the EU were promoted, in particular with Japan (KEK, ICRR).
Project Context and Objectives:
Project Objectives
The principal goal was to assess the feasibility of a new pan-European research infrastructure able to host the next generation, very large volume, and deep underground neutrino observatory. A research infrastructure able to host new generation underground neutrino detectors with total volumes in the range of 100,000 to 1,000,000 m3 will provide new and unique scientific opportunities, and very likely lead to fundamental discoveries in the field of particle and atroparticle physics, attracting interest from scientists worldwide.
This next-generation very large volume underground observatories searching for rare events as proton decay and studying various terrestrial and extra-terrestrial sources of neutrinos will therefore answer fundamental questions of particle and astroparticle physics and will shed light on the fundamental laws of Nature which would otherwise remain unresolved.
LAGUNA did consider three different underground neutrino detector technologies presently being investigated by European research institutes, and several potential underground sites in order to identify the scientifically and technically most appropriate and cost-effective strategy for future large-scale underground detectors in Europe.
More specifically, it did evaluate these three technologies:
MEMPHYS R&D: Water Cerenkov detectors have sufficiently good resolution in energy, position and angle. The technology is well proven, as previously used for the IMB, Kamiokande and Super-Kamiokande experiments.
LENA R&D: Experiments using liquid scintillator as the active target provide high-energy resolution and offer low-energy threshold. They are particularly attractive for very low energy particle detection, as for example solar neutrinos and geo-neutrinos. Also liquid scintillator detectors feature a well-established technology, already successfully applied at relatively large scale in the Borexino and KamLAND experiments.
GLACIER R&D: The liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LAr TPC) detection technology has among the three the best performance in the identification of the topology of interactions and decays of particles, thanks to the bubble-chamber like imaging performance. LAr TPCs are very versatile and work well with a wide particle energy range. Experience with such detectors has been pioneered within the ICARUS project. Novel R&D is necessary to understand the extrapolation of this technique to very large masses.
The three mentioned detector types represent a variety of complementary aspects: They have similar (high) discovery potential and exhibit some interesting elements of complementarity. MEMPHYS would collect the largest statistics, GLACIER would have the best pattern recognition which would provide best performance e.g. when combined to a long baseline neutrino beam from CERN, LENA would have the lowest energy threshold. For supernova explosion detection, MEMPHYS and LENA are superior in anti-neutrino detection while GLACIER is best in neutrino detection. Neutrinos and anti-neutrinos together provide the full information to study supernovae. MEMPHYS has complementary sensitivity to GLACIER on proton decay flavour signatures.
In order to proceed in the most efficient way the LAGUNA project was subdivided into 4 work packages (WP) interconnected with each other:
Work Package Description
WP1 Management, coordination and assessment
WP2 Underground infrastructures and engineering
WP3 Safety, environmental and socio-economic issues
WP4 Science impact and outreach
Each work package had a timescale according to which predefined objectives were to be realized. The principal objectives scheduled for each work package in the second year as included in Annex I of our GA 212343 are the following.
WP1 – Management, coordination and assessment
This WP was led by the ETHZ beneficiary and was coordinated by André Rubbia (ETHZ) with the help of Federico Petrolo in charge of the administrative, financial and legal tasks. During the project the management WP did coordinate the contractual, financial and administrative aspects of the Design Study and oversaw the technical and scientific work of the other WPs. It was responsible for knowledge management of the Design Study, coordinating the protection, use and dissemination of the knowledge generated during the period. Additionally this WP promoted international contacts with Europe, North America and Asia by also supporting the development of the outreach activities in Europe. The WP1 oversaw the implementation of the LAGUNA DoW.
WP2 – Underground infrastructures and engineering
This WP coordinated the studies specific to each site that was coordinated by specific participants of the consortium.
For all sites, there are two partners: a scientific institute and a technical (engineering) partner. The role of the technical partner was to prepare the technical part of the design and to study the feasibility of the rock construction. The role of the scientific partner was to provide scientific expertise for the design, particularly outlining the requirements and preferences of the experiments and acting as a link between the technical partner and the scientific community.
Table 1 Sites explored during the DS.
Name Region Site type Study coordinated by Technical partner
1) Boulby mine (United Kingdom) Boulby Mine/salt (potash) or rock Neil Spooner (USFD) CPL (via USFD)
2) Fréjus (France) Fréjus Road tunnel / hard rock Luigi Mosca (CEA) Lombardi
3) New Italian site 300 and 850 km away from CERN Green field / access tunnel André Rubbia (ETHZ) AGT
4) LSC (Spain) Pyrenees Soft rock Luis Labarga (UAM) Subcontract (see section B.1.6)
5) Pyhäsalmi (Finland) Pyhäjärvi Mine / hard rock Juha Peltohiemi (UOULU) Rockplan
6) SUNLAB (Poland) Polkowice – Sieroszowice Mine / salt & rock Agnieszka Zalewska (IFJ PAN) KGHM CUPRUM
7) IFIN-HH (Romania) Prahova Salt / shallow depth Romul Mircea Margineanu (IFIN-HH) SALROM SA
The site studies focused on the technical issues of underground large-scale civil engineering needed to host large volume instruments. The purpose was to assess the feasibility of large underground caverns in the potential European sites to host the large volume detectors. The feasibility studies included geological studies of the sites, analysis of available rock samples and simulations of rock mechanics. Reports with conceptual designs of the underground cavities were prepared, recommending the sites that are technically suitable for large excavations and if relevant which target liquids can be envisaged in a particular location. Estimates for costs of cavern and access excavation were included.
The work was organized in 7 tasks reflecting the structure of Table 2 as follows:
Task 1 Feasibility study for CUPP/Pyhäsalmi
This task was coordinated by Timo Enqvist (UOULU) and involved UOULU, U-Jyväskylä, U-Aarhus, ETHZ, TUM (scientific partners) and Rockplan (technical partner). The feasibility of large underground constructions in a new underground laboratory located by the Pyhäsalmi mine was studied in this task. The integration into the infrastructures and operation of an active mine was specifically studied. The results of the studies accomplished were published on month 16th in the deliverable 2.1 (see Table B.1.3.4 Annex I of LAGUNA’s GA 212343).
Task 2 Feasibility study for Fréjus
This task was coordinated by Luigi Mosca (CEA) and involved CEA, IN2P3 (scientific partners) and Lombardi (technical partner). This task consisted of a more advanced and precise study including the basic equipments of the laboratory, as needed by each target liquid. Fine-tuning of the shape of the cavities was an important point of the study. In addition, a study of compatibility between the excavation operations for a megaton-scale laboratory at the Fréjus site and the running conditions of the future safety tunnel at the Fréjus was assessed: need of ventilation, of excavated rock evacuation, etc. The results of the studies accomplished were published on month 16th in the deliverable 2.2 (see Table B.1.3.4 Annex I of LAGUNA’s GA 212343).
Task 3 Feasibility study for Boulby mine
This task was coordinated by Neil Spooner (USFD) and will involve USFD (scientific partners) and CPL (technical partner). The Boulby mine, a working salt and potash mine in north east England, at 1100m deep, is the deepest mine in Britain with over 1000km of tunnels excavated over the last 40 years. The potential for expansion is a priori excellent and there is already interest from the mine operators Cleveland Potash Ltd (CPL) in excavating deeper to exploit polyhalite ore. The study in this DS involved strategic exploration to identify the economic viability of mining the deeper polyhalite resources, and a full appraisal of the feasibility of establishing a full laboratory with all associated services required for underground science including specific reports for each proposed experiment and their requirements both above and below ground. CPL acted as a professional engineering consultant and liaised with Sheffield University, the scientific institute. The main aim for CPL was to undertake a detailed scientific environmental study of the polyhalite deposit to assess suitability for a deep laboratory for the science intended, and hence to inform critical areas of the facility design. The results of the studies accomplished were published on month 16th in the deliverable 2.3 (see Table B.1.3.4 Annex I of LAGUNA’s GA 212343).
Task 4 Feasibility study of a shallow site in Italy
This task was coordinated by ETHZ, and U-Bern (scientific partners) and AGT (technical partner). The CERN CNGS project, approved by the CERN Council in 1999, has been commissioned in the fall 2006. This high-energy beam, using the CERN accelerator complex, is directed towards the Gran Sasso Underground Laboratory and will serve the underground OPERA experiment located in Hall C of LNGS for a period of about five years. The current optimization of the CNGS beam is tuned to the particular physics programme of the OPERA project and exhibits limited interest for the physics addressed in the present DS. Within this WP, possible shallow depths sites at 300 and 850 km from the neutrino source have been investigated taking into account possible upgrades its intensity of the CERN accelerator complex and/or new beam lines, in agreement with CERN long term plans. The results of the studies accomplished were published on month 16th in the deliverable 2.4 (see Table B.1.3.4 Annex I of LAGUNA’s GA 212343).
Task 5 Feasibility study for SUNLAB
This task was coordinated by Agnieszka Zalewska (IFJ PAN) and involved IFJ PAN, IGSMiE PAN, (scientific partners) and KGHM CUPRUM (technical partner). The Sieroszowice Underground LABoratory (SUNLAB) would be located in the Sieroszowice mine, which belongs to the KGHM holding of the copper mines in the west-southern Poland. The full feasibility study for SUNLAB was performed by KGHM Cuprum in close collaboration with IGSMiE PAN and the Sieroszowice mine’s personnel. This feasibility study, initially concerned salt rock caverns and then focused on the LAGUNA locations in anhydrite rock. The results of the studies accomplished were published on month 16th in the deliverable 2.5 (see Table B.1.3.4 Annex I of LAGUNA’s GA 212343).
Task 6 Feasibility study for LSC
This task was coordinated by Luis Labarga (UAM) and involved LSC, UAM (scientific partners) and with a significant subcontracting of the technical work (technical partner). The current Canfranc laboratory is located at 1080 m over the sea level and has a natural rock shielding amounting up to 2450 meters water equivalent. Within this WP, possible further extensions of the laboratory either near the current site or in the neighbouring sites, were investigated. The LSC does not have its own Geotechnic Department and therefore the Characterization-Feasibility Study was subcontracted to an outside engineering company. This was chosen between at three candidates after the mandatory tendering procedure within the Spanish Law. We identified and contacted three geotechnical companies in Spain that were able to do the job and have explicitly shown their interest on it. They are a) "STMR S.L." which has participated in some crucial phases of the construction of the current LSC, b) "GEOCONSULT-España, Ingenieros Consultores S.A." which accredits the design and construction-supervision of caverns with volumes of the same order of magnitude as required in LAGUNA (mainly for mining purposes), and c) "GEOCONTROL S.A." which accredits the design of large caverns for several hydraulic power plants both in Portugal and Spain. The results of the studies accomplished were published on month 16th in the deliverable 2.6 (see Table B.1.3.4 Annex I of LAGUNA’s GA 212343).
Task 7 Feasibility study for IFIN-HH
This task was coordinated by Romul Mircea Margineanu (IFIN-HH) and involved IFIN-HH (scientific partners) and SALROM SA (technical partner). The Unirea salt mine in the Slanic mine of the Prahova region (Romania) is an interesting potential site for the design study. The mine is administrated by SALROM SA, (Romanian National Salt Society). The results of the studies accomplished were published on month 16th in the deliverable 2.7 (see Table B.1.3.4 Annex I of LAGUNA’s GA 212343).
A further task (Task 8: Site specific impact of assembly of large underground tanks) was coordinated by André Rubbia (ETHZ). The ETHZ beneficiary (scientific partner) and Technodyne (technical partner) concentrated on this task. Even if no intermediate deadlines have been scheduled for this task an assessment was made of the feasibility of underground construction and assembly of large tanks, and the strategies required based on the underground access route and local infrastructure.
WP3- Safety, environmental and socio-economic issues
The overall objectives for WP3 were: to identify potential safety and environmental risks for each target liquid, to assess legal authorization requirements for each target liquid, to define interface and the sharing of responsibilities in terms of safety between the research infrastructure and the host (road tunnel or mine), to evaluate the methods of the procurement of large quantities of each target liquid and the local safety impact and cost associated to the in-situ procurement of a given quantity of each target liquid, to define tank filling techniques maintaining the specifications during the process and their impact on the site, and to assess the socio-economic impact of the research infrastructure in the different sites.
The work of WP3 concentrated on the safety and risk aspects of each site, culminating in detailed reports from each site subsequently submitted for the deliverable, WP3.1. Some additional progress was then on the socio-economic aspect, reported as a supplement in the WP3.1 documents. The work additionally focused on the socio-economic issues at each site but also develops a more detailed analysis of the particular safety and project risk issues associated with liquid procurement. The work, detailed in Annex I of the project proposal, was undertaken in the context of a series of tasks.
Task 9 Assessment of hazards events and risk analysis
Task 10 Safety and monitoring of large-scale underground tanks
Task 11 Site specific impact of liquid procurement and tank filling
Task 12 Final report on safety and environmental issues
Task 13 Socio-economic impact of the research infrastructure on the sites
WP4 – Science Impact and Outreach
This WP explored the physics of different detector technologies at different underground laboratory sites in order to identify the best strategy for future large-scale detectors. Additionally WP4 took care about developing the outreach.
The work in WP4 concerned the following tasks:
Task 14 Theoretical activities supporting experimental programme
The work focused on the study of the physics reach of future long baseline neutrino oscillation experiments, on the review of the astroparticle physics searches which can be carried out with the detectors under consideration in the LAGUNA project, on the study of the information which can be extracted from the running experiments of this type and of the links with the searches for physics beyond the Standard Model carried out at the LHC and other particle physics accelerators.
Task 15 Education and Outreach was coordinated
This task had as main target to develop general public education and outreach concerning potential large underground research infrastructure in Europe and in the world.
Task 16 Investigation of synergies with the European Strategy for Particle Physics and the CERN laboratory
This task conducted technical and strategy discussions with CERN, in particular for what concerns the feasibility of future neutrino facilities from CERN and directed towards the sites investigated in this DS.
Final results of WP4 are in deliverables 4.1 and 4.2.
Project Results:
Work Progress and achievements
WP2- Underground infrastructures and engineering
The WP2 work package assessed the feasibility of large underground caverns in the seven potential European sites to host large volume detectors of each kind; to provide the technical information, including cost estimates, needed for potential construction decision and site selection and to assess the site impact of the construction of underground tanks on the facility and estimate time of underground realization. This is a very important work package of the design study as the preliminary investigations show that LAGUNA is exceptional in terms of dimensions of the caverns to be designed, comprising great depth and huge spans, well beyond any state-of-the-art in underground civil engineering.
By analyzing several scientific, technical and political criteria, a site prioritization was performed in order to best recommend the focus of the next phase of studies towards the feasibility of the LAGUNA research infrastructure in Europe. As an example, the following criteria constitute important scientific and technical issues relevant for the assessment of the site selection:
(1) Sufficient depth to reduce muon flux at the laboratory
(2) Distance for CERN’s possible future long distance neutrino beam experiment.
(3) Possibility to host all detector options simultaneously
(4) Rock conditions like geological conditions, rock temperature, risk of earthquakes, hydrological conditions
(5) Rock mechanics aspects like rock strength vs. rock stress, rock behavior, deformations, and reinforcements needs (e.g. rock bolts, shotcrete, wire mesh, etc.),
(6) Issues related to existing infrastructure like existence and use of shafts and access tunnels, rock disposal strategy, on surface infrastructure and necessary new infrastructure.
The final list of criteria and the prioritization method will be published in the deliverable 2.8.
In this section a concise overview of the work progress done in WP2 is presented. The complete work of the work package is described as interim reports (Deliverables 2.1-2.7). Technical partners and scientists of all the sites have carried out comprehensive work of rock mechanical studies. Interim dedicated meetings were held and the work package was discussed in all the General Meetings. In addition, phone conferences were regularly organized.
During those meetings the results of all sites were thoroughly discussed and compared with each other, and the common standards were more accurately defined. Small differences in the standards between the sites were corrected and nearly final and consistent numbers were then presented.
The LAGUNA Consortium has now visited all of the sites (the Italian virgin site was not visited, as there is nothing to see.) During all the visits of the sites the local authorities have expressed a strong interest and are willing to support the project.
The main activities and the progress during the reporting period of each site are summarized below.
Task 1 Feasibility study for CUPP/Pyhäsalmi
Academic Beneficiary: UOULU; Technical Partner: Rockplan.
All three-detector option could be located at the Pyhäsalmi site simultaneously at their optimum depths – GLACIER at 2500 m.w.e. (900 m of rock), LENA at 4000 m.w.e. (1400 m) and MEMPHYS at 3000 m.w.e. (1100 m).
The price and time schedule estimations of the realization of the underground infrastructure have been obtained for all detector options. The cost estimations include preparation, cavern excavations and rock reinforcement. The realization times vary from three years to over six years depending on the option.
The cavern excavations in Pyhäsalmi could technically be started in any moment.
Task 2 Feasibility study for Fréjus
Academic Beneficiary: CEA; Technical Partner: Lombardi.
In the Fréjus site all three-detector options could be hosted, at the deepest depth of 4800 m.w.e. of the selected sites. Preliminary cost estimates, including preparation, cavern excavations and rock reinforcement, as well as excavation time schedules for the three options have been obtained. The realization times for the three options vary from three years to over 4 years, depending on the option.
Task 3 Feasibility study for Boulby mine
Academic Beneficiary USFD; Technical Partner: CPL (via USFD).
The Boulby site is able to host all three-detector options, separately or together, at their optimum depths. Best options are: GLACIER at 1200 m (in dolomite/anhydride layers), LENA at 1400/1500 m (dolomite) and MEMPHYS at 1200/1400 m (dolomite).
Preliminary time schedule of the construction and cost estimates have been obtained. The construction includes preparation, cavern excavations and rock reinforcement, and it takes from 3.5 years to 7 years, depending on the option.
Task 4 Feasibility study of shallow site in Italy
Academic Beneficiary: ETH Zurich, U-Bern; Technical Partner: AGT.
Italian site, Umbria region, contains five different closy-by virgin sites at shallow depth, and this site can host only the GLACIER option due to the depth limitation. Depth from 570 m to 810 can be provided.
Estimated construction costs of the five shallow sites are approximately the same. The construction time is estimated be 4 years. Between two and three years are needed from the end of the decision process to the start of excavations.
Task 5 Feasibility study for SUNLAB
Academic Partner: IFJ PAN; Technical Partner: KGHM CUPRUM.
Two detector options have been considered for SUNLAB site: GLACIER and LENA. The cavern at 1400 m.w.e. was chosen for GLACIER and cavern at 3300 m.w.e. for LENA (this allows only horizontal design of LENA). The depth of the GLACIER option is optimal but the depth of the LENA option is not but it is quite close.
Due to non-optimum conditions for the LENA option, detailed studies have been performed only for the GLACIER option. It was estimated that the realization work, including preparation, cavern excavations and reinforcements could be performed in approximately three years. The costs were also estimated for the layout with and without emergency tanks.
Task 6 Feasibility study for LSC
Academic Beneficiary: UAM; Technical Partner: IBERINSA
The Canfranc site can host all three detector options. However, only for the GLACIER option the optimum depth can be provided (1500 m.w.e.). Two other options (LENA and MEMPHYS) could be constructed at the depth of 2700 m.w.e. All detector options could also be hosted simultaneously.
Preliminary cost estimation and time schedule for the realization of the underground infrastructure have been obtained. The estimated time of the realization work, i.e. preparation work, cavern excavations and rock reinforcement, varies from four years (LENA and GLACIER) to seven years (MEMPHYS).
Task 7 Feasibility study for IFIN-HH
Academic Partner: IFIN-HH; Technical Partner: SALROM SA.
Due to the depth of the Slanic site, the only detector option to be considered is GLACIER. The depth that can be provided is approximately 1000 m.w.e.
Preliminary cost estimation for the realization has been obtained. The estimated time of the realisation work – preparation, cavern excavations and reinforcements – is approximately 2 years.
WP3- Safety, environmental and socio-economic issues
This work package did cover aspects of the LAGUNA sites other than that of a purely geo-technical and detector orientation. In particular to consider aspects of safety, which must be integrated into the project from and early stage, and societal and economic or political issues. All these topics have the potential to be or become critical paths or even show-stoppers for the eventual construction of such a large experiment as LAGUNA. For instance, the environmental impact of construction of LAGUNA, such as might result from the need to remove and dump large quantities of rock, could be, depending on the site, a major issue to resolve. Likewise, insufficient local political support or an inadequate safety culture at a site could become critical issues to resolve. WP3 was designed to increase awareness of these potentially major issues and determine for each site what specific aspects of these issues could be challenges that need to be addressed.
The work of WP3 concentrated on the safety and risk aspects, culminating in detailed reports from each site subsequently submitted for the deliverable, WP3.1. Some additional progress was made also then on the socio-economic aspect, reported as a supplement in the WP3.1 documents. A detailed analysis of the particular safety and project risk issues associated with liquid procurement was done. The work as detailed in Annex I, has been undertaken in the context of different tasks.
Task 9 Assessment of hazards events and risk analysis
Task 10 Safety and monitoring of large-scale underground tanks
Task 11 Site specific impact of liquid procurement and tank filling
Task 12 Final report on safety and environmental issues
Task 13 Socio-economic impact of the research infrastructure on the sites
Socio-economic aspects
The results of the Socio-Economic aspects related to LAGUNA are detailed in the deliverable 3.4 – Report on Socio Economic Impact. One of the WP3 activities for the project, building in the initial information gathered for the first deliverable WP 3.1 has been to collect and compare information on the socio-economic aspects of each site, with an attempt made to understand and address any critical path issues that arise. The approach here has been to use a series of detailed template tables for each site. These tables, together with descriptive text, have been used to produce the deliverable WP3.4 "LAGUNA Design Study, Socio-Economic Overview Report". The concept here has been to recognize two aspects: (i) that there is need to know at each site the level of understanding by all interested parties, local, regional and national, of the impact of LAGUNA at the site, whether positive or negative, and (ii) to understand, given the actual construction of LAGUNA at that site, the socio-economic impact it will have (positive and negative). The former is important, for instance, because it could be that certain interested parties, such as planning authorities, may slow down or in fact prevent construction. The second aspect is important as a means of assessing and gathering support for the programme.
In this context many meetings and discussions have been held, both at the regular site visits undertaken by LAGUNA and through specific WP3 meetings and calls. Each site has also undertaken site specific assessment meetings with, for instance, politicians, environmental agencies, planning authorities, site owners and others. It is these meetings that have allowed information to be accumulated in to the detailed comparison tables. The background and content of these tables, written for each site, is outlined below:
Stakeholders, ownership and legal issues
This section collects together detailed information regarding the ownership and legal status of the site and who are all the stakeholders and other important interested parties. This can be a wide ranging set of organisations, covering for instance all bodies associated with planning permissions, including the local authorities, health and safety executives and the science groups involved. Furthermore it includes: environment agencies, emergency services, planning agencies, local council, authority, local public transport, local mayor, local mps, local mep, regional development agencies, national scientific community, local university scientific community, national science funding agencies, local, regional, national university political support, local schools and educational authorities, local industry, and philanthropic supporters.
Socio-economic advantages for LAGUNA
This aspect aims to cover the prospects that construction of LAGUNA at the site can have economic advantages that go beyond those of LAGUNA itself. For instance, for the mine sites this might include shaft updates and new ventilation required for LAGUNA, that is of benefit to the mine company. Sharing of such infrastructure not only leads to a cost saving on both sides but provides a political attraction for the tax payer and government since pure science would be having a clear economic impact on industry, and vice-versa. Other areas broadly covered here are: (i) environmental and energy sustainability, (ii) societal and economic benefits, (iii) interdisciplinary science and engineering.
Local towns, industry, commerce, community and accommodation
Interaction with local commerce and industry is a vital aspect of the socio-economic impact that might come from LAGUNA. This section gathers information relevant here such as size and types of local towns and villages including living conditions and amenities, the types of industry and hence the skills available in the region, the issues of access to the region and industry, for instance those industries of relevance to LAGUNA, such as liquid production and construction industries, steel and other materials. Finally a summary of the available, and lacking, skills and manpower in the region is given.
Outreach, knowledge exchange and economic impact
Societal impact also comes from education, exchange of new knowledge between academics and industry. This section covers these issues and the wider societal impact. The science of LAGUNA sparks immediate public interest so that there are opportunities to build a strong public and schools outreach programme. Operations underground allow prospects to engage biologists, geophysicists, environmental scientists, rock engineers and interested lay people. There is also prospect for media interest via TV, radio and press. The diversification into interdisciplinary areas with a wider base of stakeholders yields opportunities to expand media outreach further. We can make use of the novelty value to disseminate not just underground science but hard fundamental physics, particle physics and cosmology in general as well.
Identified critical socio-economic factors and mitigation summary
For each site, having collected relevant information from the sections above, it is important to identify any critical factors and develop a mitigation strategy if these pose a challenge to the viability of the site. This achieved in this section. Typical issues expected include for instance, the legal ownership of the site and it's long term viability, such as for a mine site where the resource being produced may eventually become uneconomic. Another issue is the level of scientific support in the nation aiming to host LAGUNA and the practical impact this may have on funding opportunities.
Environmental impact analysis
LAGUNA recognises that a formal environmental impact analysis should be undertaken by any viable site. Whilst this is outside the remit of the current study an outline assessment, at least to identify the main issues, is seen as important and is included in this section. Typical issues that clearly need to be covered here are: (i) the impact of rock removal from the site, (ii) the means for transporting construction materials to the site, (iii) the impact of delivery of scintillator oil, liquid argon and other materials, (iv) the planning process, for instance for new surface buildings to have minimum visual impact. The relevant regulatory framework needs to be addressed, for example in the UK this includes:
• the Environmental Protection Act
• the Town and Country Planning Act
• the Planning Hazardous Substances Regulations
• the Pollution Prevention and Control (PCC) regulations
Socio-economic impact analysis tables
Finally, for each site an impact analysis has been undertaken, given in the form of the template tables as indicated above. Again this recognizes that socio-economic factors associated with LAGUNA, due to its scale and importance, can have an impact in determining the feasibility and success as much as the geo-technical issues. This is divided into two parts: (1) Social, Economic and Political Organizations and People Relevant to the Infrastructure - levels of support, risks and impact, and (2) Socio-Economic Impact Assessment Summary. The first table collates information on organizations that will be influential in determining whether the infrastructure can or should proceed or not at the site. The second table outlines an assessment of the socio-economic impact (benefit or otherwise) that the new infrastructure itself will have, once the go-ahead is given and construction is complete.
Tables available in the deliverable contain for each site input from each site on the type of social, economic and organisation involved, the contact details, the role and importance, the risk, benefit or impact to the project and the status of the engagement. The organisations covered include, for instance: the site owners, science sponsors, environmental agencies, emergency services, planning agencies, local council authorities, local public transport, local mayor, MPs, MEPs, regional agencies, national science agencies, local and national universities, schools and educational authorities and philanthropic organisations.
Tables available in the deliverable contains for each sitethe socio-economic impact assessment and cover the main likely issues and an estimate of the impact. Items include: job creation (where an estimate of the likely direct and indirect jobs to be generated is considered), skills and knowledge exchange, economic impact in general (such as the predicted income to the region), environment, local services, local transport, local political profile and status, impact on science for the region and nation, impact on schools, society and education.
Conclusion on Socio-economic Aspects and Deliverable WP3.4
The issues above were successfully gathered for each site during year two and a draft document for deliverable WP3.4 was completed in Sept. 2010 amounting to ~115 pages.
Liquid Procurement
LAGUNA recognizes that the procurement and delivery of the liquids required for the LAGUNA detector (be it Liquid Argon, Liquid Scintillator or Water) are major issues regarding cost, environment, safety and project risk. It is not within the remit of the current design study to address all the detector-related issues here, notably the costing scenarios, rather the aim is to provide an overview of procurement and delivery. This is the basis of deliverable WP3.3.
To approach this it was decided to divide the work into two broad areas: (i) aspects of procurement that are generic and independent of the particular site and it's geographic location, and (ii) aspects that are specific to each site. The former involves coordination with the experiment groups (LENA, GLACIER and MEMPHYS). The latter concerns, in particular, aspects of delivery from the arrival at the site out to the appropriate tank location. This is naturally dependent on interaction with the site stakeholders.
The combination of these two sets of information, gathered successfully during year two, have been assembled now into a single document in line with the deliverable WP3.3. We outline here the contents and important points from this work and document, divided into sections as below:
Generic aspects of liquid procurement
This section of the deliverable document contains the generic aspects of liquid procurement divided into sections to cover each liquid: (1) Liquid Argon, (2) Liquid Scintillator, (3) Water. Within each area a description is given of:
• background information on the liquid (argon, scintillator or water)
• liquid procurement in Europe
• liquid transport in Europe
• on site storage and/or transfer underground in general
• possibility of production on site and/or underground in general
• tank filling and maintenance of liquid purity during and after fill in general
Of note in this section are the issues concerning procurement and transport in Europe, regardless of site-specific location or other site-specific issues. For instance, identification of potential suppliers and transport routes was addressed. For liquid argon in Europe there are several companies able to supply liquid argon but likely no single company in a given country can have the capacity to provide the total amount required by LAGUNA. In this case a collaborative agreement with a lead supplier would likely be needed. Example companies are Linde/BOC, Air Produts, Air Liquide etc. Different countries can benefit from different local plants and suppliers. Various options are available for transportation to sites, either cryogenic lorry, ship or train, or a combination. Alternatively there is the possibility of building a dedicated plant, provided the by-products produced (mainly nitrogen and oxygen) can find an economically viable use. There is a strong infrastructure across Europe to deal with transportation of cryogenic liquids.
Regarding liquid scintillator, currently the LENA collaboration is favouring LAB and laboratory tests have shown that the company Petresa Petrochemicals (belonging to the CEPSA group) can provide LAB of required purity. Petresa’s European production plants are in San Roque near the Mediterranean coast of Spain. If this is the chosen supplier then delivery can be achieved relatively easily by ship from the nearest port, Algeciras. The annual production capacity of LAB at San Roque corresponds to 200 kilotons of LAB. Other suppliers are also possible and may be appropriate for different sites. For instance, Saint Gobain, Zinsser Analytic, Perkin Elmer.
Transport of liquid scintillator to the sites can be by road, rail and or ship. By road, for instance, two loads a day would require over 2 years to reach the required amount. Use of rail links could allow larger quantities to be delivered per load, but dedicated solvent wagons would be needed. For certain sites where a local rail head is available rail is likely the preferred option. Alternatives include pipelines from nearby plants.
For water, the hazards and logistics involved are clearly not as significant except for the need to source much larger amounts and of the need for purification. The main issues contrasting the different sites centre on the whether procurement can be from natural source underground or on the surface. The handling of water in this context can also draw on the experience of the SuperK experiment. A clear advantage of using water is that is has few problems in its ultimate disposal.
Site-specific aspects of liquid procurement
The second part of the document created for deliverable WP3.3 comprises information accumulated by each site individually. This was a significant part of the work completed in year 2 of the project. This information as been gathered in the form tables completed by each site to provide information on the following site specific aspects:
1) methods of procurement of large quantities of liquids
2) transport to the site - environmental impact, safety, logistical issues
3) on site storage and/or transfer underground
4) possibility of production on site and/or underground
5) tank filling and maintenance of liquid purity during and after fill
In addition each site has provided introductory information for their site if required, focusing on the feasibility of obtaining, transporting and storing these liquids for use on site. This is provided in additional to the appropriate site tables. Where appropriate the three liquids under consideration are liquid scintillator (50 ktonnes), liquid argon (100 ktonnes) and water (1 megatonne). The work remains in progress and will be updated as further information becomes available. The emphasis in the report and for this working period has been on identifying key critical issues.
Each site included information for each liquid, such as the likely company sources for the liquid, delivery timescales and legal authorization issues, outline of the transport options to the site, relevant authorities, local safety and environmental aspects. For the section on liquid transfer, this covers such issues as storage on the surface, designs for this, the infrastructures required underground, use of containers and pipelines, intermediate storage and sequencing, power and services needs and the degrees of disruption to existing work of the host. The possibility of production on site, including issues of power and environment were given as well. The site specific issues of tank filling, including the sequence for this to avoid contamination, the instrumentation and infrastructure required, the need for and design of emergency dump tanks and other containments, were also discussed.
Conclusion on liquid procurement
Most basic information on procurement issues for the liquids have been successfully gathered for each site in this reporting period as outlined above. A draft document for deliverable WP3.3 was completed in Sept. 2010 amounting to ~80 pages. This document gives a detailed overviews of the situation for procurement, though the remit does not include detailed costings. No significant obstacles have been revealed regarding the feasibility of procuring liquids for LAGUNA. However, further work, mainly outside the remit of the design study, is required, in particular to understand relative costs and to allow a full communication to start between liquid production companies and relevant site construction experts.
Safety Overview Summary
A final part of the LAGUNA work package WP3 is to gather latest information on the safety aspects of each site into a summary comprising deliverable WP3.2. Most of the work required for this was already completed in year 1, contributing to the large document of deliverable WP3.1. This document already included work on risk analysis and mitigation. The final summary document awaits updates from the sites now that information on liquid procurement is available.
WP4 – Science Impact and Outreach
The work in WP4, performed in the second period of the project, concerned tasks 14-16.
Task 14 Theoretical activities supporting experimental programme - This task focused on the study of the physics reach of future long baseline neutrino oscillation experiments, on the review of the astroparticle physics searches which can be carried out with the detectors under consideration in the LAGUNA project, on the study of the information which can be extracted from the running experiments of this type and of the links with the searches for physics beyond the Standard Model carried out at the LHC and other particle physics accelerators.
The WP4 scientific activities of LAGUNA have focused on the various aspects of the physics testable in the LAGUNA detectors, namely:
• Proton decay;
• Neutrino physics: low energy neutrinos (solar, supernova, reactor and geo-neutrinos), high energy neutrinos (atmospheric and long baseline neutrinos);
• Indirect dark matter searches.
These studies were complemented by detector simulations of GLACIER, MEMPHYS and LENA. Significant advances in understanding detector efficiencies, energy resolutions and background reductions were achieved. Just to mention a couple of significant examples, the migration matrices which describe the detector response to neutrinos were obtained for GLACIER and for the first time high energy neutrino detection was considered in LENA.
The studies performed required a close collaborations between theorists and phenomenologists on one side and experimentalists on the other. For instance, in the long baseline neutrino study, the latter gave reliable and detailed neutrino fluxes and detector parameters which were subsequently used by the phenomenology group in order to establish the physics reach of the facilities. The LAGUNA consortium provided an excellent platform in which to establish and develop these very fruitful collaboration, which otherwise would have been very difficult to achieve.
The main results were reported or reviewed in the LAGUNA White paper, to which various members of the LAGUNA consortium and of the wider theoretical community contributed. The LAGUNA White paper was prepared and submitted as deliverable. It consists of a collection of published articles aimed at providing a concise but complete overview of the physical capabilities of the LAGUNA detectors and the status of the art in the related studies.
Proton Decay. Baryon number is one of the basic symmetries in Nature and testing its conservation is one of the fundamental questions in particle physics. The discovery of proton decay is its direct probe and could open a window on the physics at scales as high as the Grand Unification scale. The LAGUNA detectors can search for various channels of proton decay. Within the LAGUNA Design Study, we reviewed and updated the physics reach for the different detector options. A simple comparison between the performance of three detectors has been carried out by members of LAGUNA. For the electron positron channel, the Cherenkov detector MEMPHYS gets a better limit, by roughly a factor of two with respect to GLACIER, due to the higher mass. GLACIER and LENA obtain better results for the kaon neutrino channel, due to their higher detection efficiency. These three techniques are complementary as they allow to search for different channels and consequently to test different theoretical models for proton decay. Solar neutrinos. Solar neutrinos are produced in Sun through two main chains of processes with energies and a spectrum, which depends on the properties of the Sun. As solar neutrino oscillations have been discovered and are well understood, neutrinos, with their extremely small interaction cross sections, can be used as a tool to probe the interior of the Sun from which they escape. A better understanding has led to a new puzzle, namely the density of heavy elements in the Sun. Future solar neutrino observations in LAGUNA detectors can allow to improve the determination of the solar neutrino fluxes and help in the understanding of the Sun properties.
Reactor neutrinos. Reactor neutrinos have already been used extensively to study neutrino properties: from the Reines and Cowan experiments which led to their discovery to the recent KamLAND, Double-Chooz, Daya Bay and RENO experiments which have confirmed the solar neutrino oscillation hypothesis, determined the solar mass squared difference, and recently measured the smallest neutrino mixing angle. The flux of neutrinos at each underground facility proposed in LAGUNA depends on the location with respect to the surrounding nuclear power plants. As it can be expected the reactor neutrino flux will be minimal in Finland, with around 80 events expected per 1 kton of liquid scintillator per year, and maximal in Boulby, around 1600 events, due to the proximity to the Hartlepool power plant. These reactor neutrinos constitute a background for other low energy neutrinos, such as geoneutrinos. In this case a location far away from power plants is preferable in order to reduce this background as much as possible. However, if a sizable flux is observed, it is possible to exploit the oscillatory pattern of these low energy neutrinos in order to gain information on the solar parameters and in particular on the solar mass squared difference and mixing angle. Among the detectors technologies in LAGUNA, LENA would be the most suitable for reactor neutrino detection, thanks to its excellent energy resolution and background rejection. MEMPHYS can also be used for this purpose if backgrounds due to solar neutrinos and invisible muons are reduced via Gadolinium doping of the water. Specifically, one considered one module of MEMPHYS doped with 0.1% of Gadolinium and LENA, both located at Frejus where a large integrated flux of neutrinos is expected from French power plants. It was found that both detectors achieve similar sensitivities, MEMPHYS thanks to its large size and LENA to its energy resolution: with seven years of data taking, the solar mass square difference and mixing angle can be measured with uncertainties of approximately 1.4% (1.2%) and 13% (10%) at 3σ, respectively.
Supernova Neutrinos. During a supernova explosion around 99% of the energy available in the gravitational collapse is emitted via neutrinos, with energies in the few tens of MeVs. All three detectors have excellent capabilities to detect with good precision the spectrum of these neutrinos in case a nearby supernova goes off while they are in operation. The detection and study of these neutrinos has a two-fold aim: on one side neutrinos are emitted from the supernova core at various stages of the supernova explosion and carry away precious information on the supernova dynamics, on the other they undergo oscillations inside the supernova, between the source and the Earth and, if they cross it, within the Earth itself and by studying these oscillations it is possible to study neutrino properties. Specifically, supernova neutrinos can shed light on matter effects and the type of neutrino mass hierarchy and on the values of the angle theta13. Additionally, the LAGUNA detectors would allow to detect the diffuse supernova neutrino background, which come from the unresolved supernova neutrino explosions in the Universe. In addition to being the first discovery of a diffuse neutrino background, it would be possible to check the average neutrino emission per core collapse, testing the current supernova models and comparing it to a Milky Way supernova.
Atmospheric neutrinos. Produced in pion and kaon decays in the atmosphere, these neutrinos provided the first evidence for neutrino oscillations in the SuperKamiokande detector, subsequently confirmed by MACRO and by experiments exploring accelerator neutrinos. Atmospheric neutrinos are of particular interest due to the wide range of energies, from ~100 MeV to 10 TeV, and of distances they travel, from few tens of km to the diameter of the Earth. The LAGUNA detectors can detect these neutrinos allowing to study neutrino properties. While the LENA capabilities for GeV neutrinos require additional studies, atmospheric neutrinos in MEMPHYS and at some level GLACIER have been considered in detail. The large number of events collectable in MEMPHYS would allow an accurate study of subdominant effects in the neutrino oscillations, in particular due to matter effects and to the atmospheric mixing angle. At energies of 3-6 GeV, muon-electron neutrino oscillations undergo a resonance due to matter effects, with enhanced flavour conversion for neutrinos or antineutrinos depending on the neutrino mass hierarchy. By detecting with good energy resolution the neutrino spectrum is therefore possible to gain information on neutrino masses, one of the fundamental questions in neutrino physics. It is necessary to distinguish neutrinos from antineutrinos and this is possible only at a statistical level in MEMPHYS (or on an event by event basis if GLACIER could be magnetised), limiting the power of this technique. Atmospheric neutrinos allow also the study of the octant of the atmospheric mixing angle, which is at present unknown. To this aim it is necessary to consider low energy neutrino oscillations, which require no charge discrimination, as well as high energy neutrinos. It should be pointed out that any long baseline neutrino experiment using a LAGUNA detector, can at the same time collect atmospheric neutrino data, which can be used to resolve the degeneracies between different unknown neutrino parameters and achieve a better measurement of the relevant parameters.
Long Baseline Neutrino Oscillations. In long baseline neutrino experiments, neutrinos with hundreds of MeV to GeV energies are produced in accelerator complexes from pion, kaon or muon decays and detected after they have oscillated into muon, electron and tau neutrinos. These experiments are the tool of choice for the study of the unknown neutrino parameters: the CP-violation and the type of neutrino mass hierarchy. The sensitivity depends critically on the distance travelled by the neutrinos: assuming the production at CERN, LAGUNA provides different options for the detector location. We considered in detail the physics reach for the parameters of interest of the various combinations of detector technology and position. The neutrino fluxes were optimised for each site by A. Longhin leading to significant improvements with respect to previous studies. The parameters for the detectors were taken from previous studies and from the results of the detector studies. It is found that all configurations allow to get a very good sensitivity to the recently measured angle theta13, with mild dependence on the choice of distance. This is not the case for the determination of the mass hierarchy, which requires large matter effects increasing with distance. In this case, long baselines are preferred with Finland and Romania giving the best results. Finally, concerning CP-violation, very good sensitivity can be achieved for most of the setups, depending critically on the ability to reduce the neutral current backgrounds. From this respect, GLACIER has an advantage due to the excellent capacity to distinguish neutral pions from electrons. Conversely MEMPHYS is advantaged by the large size and is detector of choice for low energy neutrinos in which case quasi-elastic events dominate. Finally, LENA can achieve promising results if the present detector simulations for high-energy neutrinos are further confirmed. In summary, the LAGUNA possible configurations achieve excellent sensitivity to the mixing angle theta13, the neutrino mass hierarchy and CP-violation, comparable if not superior to similar proposed setups in the US and upgrades of T2K. Indirect DM searches. Dark Matter is copiously present in the Universe having been produced earlier in its evolution and subsequently left as a relic. If Dark Matter is coupled to the Standard Model particles, strong limits are present on the strength of such interactions and only neutrinos are allowed to have significant interactions. Therefore, it is interesting to search for neutrinos which can come from Dark Matter annihilations taking place in high density regions in the Universe. For low mass Dark Matter, with masses in the few tens of MeV, LAGUNA detectors can search for annihilations in the center of the galaxy. As the Dark Matter particles annihilate at rest, the energy of the neutrinos is equal to the Dark Matter mass providing a sharp peak in the neutrino spectrum and allowing to distinguish them from the continuous backgrounds in a detector with excellent energy resolution such as LENA. A study showed that a sensitivity to the cross sections required in the Early Universe to explain the observed amount of Dark Matter can be tested. Similar considerations hold also in the case of quasi-stable Dark Matter, which decays on timescale comparable to the age of the Universe. At higher masses, around few GeV to TeV, Dark Matter particles can remain trapped in astrophysical objects such as the Sun. Here their density would increase till reaching equilibrium and a sizable flux of neutrinos would emerge from Dark Matter annihilations either promptly in neutrinos or by the subsequent decays of other Standard Model particles. The LAGUNA detectors, thanks to their large size, can search for these neutrinos and, if achieving a good energy resolution, can even provide information on the Dark Matter mass and couplings. The same authors have provided the relevant study and discussion in the LAGUNA White Paper.
Task 15 Education and Outreach
The LAGUNA web site (http://laguna.ethz.ch/laguna-eu/) the LAGUNA flyer and the brochure presenting the LAGUNA project in a popular way (deliverable 4.1) were realized within this task. The technical work relating to the WEB site was performed by Tomasz Szeglowski (University of Silesia, Katowice), the graphics work relating to all three activities has been performed mostly by Robert Sulej (NCBJ, Warsaw), the texts have been prepared by Agnieszka Zalewska with help of Federico Petrolo, André Rubbia (ETHZ) and other physicists from IFJ PAN. The LAGUNA brochure consists of the introduction to the project, followed up by the chapters dedicated to the overviews of LAGUNA physics, detectors and sites, and concluding with the chapter on the future of the accelerator neutrino physics.
Apart from that the LAGUNA project was being popularized in different forms by the project participants in their native countries and beyond. Examples include special LAGUNA sessions at particle physics conferences in Poland and Romania, articles in newspapers, presentations in radio and television, posters at science festivals, lectures for students, pupils and physics teachers, etc.
Task 16 Investigation of synergies with the European Strategy for Particle Physics and the CERN laboratory
In full accordance with the duties planned in Annex I and with Task 16 of WP4 - Investigation of synergies with the European Strategy for Particle Physics and the CERN laboratory, André Rubbia promoted several meetings with the CERN accelerator experts, the CERN Management as well as contacts with physicists from the EURONU project. Additionally André Rubbia promoted international contacts outside the EU; in particular with Japan (KEK, ICRR).
The result is a strong interest in LAGUNA’s physics programme, coming from the large particle and astroparticle physics community.
The main goal of this task for the coming period is continuing popularizing LAGUNA and attracting scientists worldwide and from Europe in order to polarize the scientific community by involving it in LAGUNA and in the current FP7 DS LAGUNA-LBNO proposal.
Potential Impact:
Socio-economic aspects
The results of the Socio-Economic aspects related to LAGUNA are detailed in the deliverable 3.4 – Report on Socio Economic Impact. One of the WP3 activities for the project, building in the initial information gathered for the first deliverable WP 3.1 has been to collect and compare information on the socio-economic aspects of each site, with an attempt made to understand and address any critical path issues that arise. The approach here has been to use a series of detailed template tables for each site. These tables, together with descriptive text, have been used to produce the deliverable WP3.4 "LAGUNA Design Study, Socio-Economic Overview Report". The concept here has been to recognize two aspects: (i) that there is need to know at each site the level of understanding by all interested parties, local, regional and national, of the impact of LAGUNA at the site, whether positive or negative, and (ii) to understand, given the actual construction of LAGUNA at that site, the socio-economic impact it will have (positive and negative). The former is important, for instance, because it could be that certain interested parties, such as planning authorities, may slow down or in fact prevent construction. The second aspect is important as a means of assessing and gathering support for the programme.
In this context many meetings and discussions have been held, both at the regular site visits undertaken by LAGUNA and through specific WP3 meetings and calls. Each site has also undertaken site specific assessment meetings with, for instance, politicians, environmental agencies, planning authorities, site owners and others. It is these meetings that have allowed information to be accumulated in to the detailed comparison tables. The background and content of these tables, written for each site, is outlined below:
Stakeholders, ownership and legal issues
This section collects together detailed information regarding the ownership and legal status of the site and who are all the stakeholders and other important interested parties. This can be a wide ranging set of organisations, covering for instance all bodies associated with planning permissions, including the local authorities, health and safety executives and the science groups involved. Furthermore it includes: environment agencies, emergency services, planning agencies, local council, authority, local public transport, local mayor, local mps, local mep, regional development agencies, national scientific community, local university scientific community, national science funding agencies, local, regional, national university political support, local schools and educational authorities, local industry, and philanthropic supporters.
Socio-economic advantages for LAGUNA
This aspect aims to cover the prospects that construction of LAGUNA at the site can have economic advantages that go beyond those of LAGUNA itself. For instance, for the mine sites this might include shaft updates and new ventilation required for LAGUNA, that is of benefit to the mine company. Sharing of such infrastructure not only leads to a cost saving on both sides but provides a political attraction for the tax payer and government since pure science would be having a clear economic impact on industry, and vice-versa. Other areas broadly covered here are: (i) environmental and energy sustainability, (ii) societal and economic benefits, (iii) interdisciplinary science and engineering.
Local towns, industry, commerce, community and accommodation
Interaction with local commerce and industry is a vital aspect of the socio-economic impact that might come from LAGUNA. This section gathers information relevant here such as size and types of local towns and villages including living conditions and amenities, the types of industry and hence the skills available in the region, the issues of access to the region and industry, for instance those industries of relevance to LAGUNA, such as liquid production and construction industries, steel and other materials. Finally a summary of the available, and lacking, skills and manpower in the region is given.
Outreach, knowledge exchange and economic impact
Societal impact also comes from education, exchange of new knowledge between academics and industry. This section covers these issues and the wider societal impact. The science of LAGUNA sparks immediate public interest so that there are opportunities to build a strong public and schools outreach programme. Operations underground allow prospects to engage biologists, geophysicists, environmental scientists, rock engineers and interested lay people. There is also prospect for media interest via TV, radio and press. The diversification into interdisciplinary areas with a wider base of stakeholders yields opportunities to expand media outreach further. We can make use of the novelty value to disseminate not just underground science but hard fundamental physics, particle physics and cosmology in general as well.
Identified critical socio-economic factors and mitigation summary
For each site, having collected relevant information from the sections above, it is important to identify any critical factors and develop a mitigation strategy if these pose a challenge to the viability of the site. This achieved in this section. Typical issues expected include for instance, the legal ownership of the site and it's long term viability, such as for a mine site where the resource being produced may eventually become uneconomic. Another issue is the level of scientific support in the nation aiming to host LAGUNA and the practical impact this may have on funding opportunities.
Environmental impact analysis
LAGUNA recognises that a formal environmental impact analysis should be undertaken by any viable site. Whilst this is outside the remit of the current study an outline assessment, at least to identify the main issues, is seen as important and is included in this section. Typical issues that clearly need to be covered here are: (i) the impact of rock removal from the site, (ii) the means for transporting construction materials to the site, (iii) the impact of delivery of scintillator oil, liquid argon and other materials, (iv) the planning process, for instance for new surface buildings to have minimum visual impact. The relevant regulatory framework needs to be addressed, for example in the UK this includes:
• the Environmental Protection Act
• the Town and Country Planning Act
• the Planning Hazardous Substances Regulations
• the Pollution Prevention and Control (PCC) regulations
Socio-economic impact analysis tables
Finally, for each site an impact analysis has been undertaken, given in the form of the template tables as indicated above. Again this recognizes that socio-economic factors associated with LAGUNA, due to its scale and importance, can have an impact in determining the feasibility and success as much as the geo-technical issues. This is divided into two parts: (1) Social, Economic and Political Organizations and People Relevant to the Infrastructure - levels of support, risks and impact, and (2) Socio-Economic Impact Assessment Summary. The first table collates information on organizations that will be influential in determining whether the infrastructure can or should proceed or not at the site. The second table outlines an assessment of the socio-economic impact (benefit or otherwise) that the new infrastructure itself will have, once the go-ahead is given and construction is complete.
Tables available in the deliverable contain for each site input from each site on the type of social, economic and organisation involved, the contact details, the role and importance, the risk, benefit or impact to the project and the status of the engagement. The organisations covered include, for instance: the site owners, science sponsors, environmental agencies, emergency services, planning agencies, local council authorities, local public transport, local mayor, MPs, MEPs, regional agencies, national science agencies, local and national universities, schools and educational authorities and philanthropic organisations.
Tables available in the deliverable contains for each sitethe socio-economic impact assessment and cover the main likely issues and an estimate of the impact. Items include: job creation (where an estimate of the likely direct and indirect jobs to be generated is considered), skills and knowledge exchange, economic impact in general (such as the predicted income to the region), environment, local services, local transport, local political profile and status, impact on science for the region and nation, impact on schools, society and education.
Conclusion on Socio-economic Aspects and Deliverable WP3.4
The issues above were successfully gathered for each site during year two and a draft document for deliverable WP3.4 was completed in Sept. 2010 amounting to ~115 pages.
List of Websites:
http://laguna.ethz.ch/laguna-eu/
Prof. Dr. André Rubbia
Project LAGUNA Coordinator
Institute for Particle Physics
Schafmattstrasse 20
CH-8093 Zurich
Switzerland
Tel. +41 44 633 3873
Fax. +41 44 633 1233
Email rubbia@ethz.ch
