| NSF Org: |
PHY Division Of Physics |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | August 10, 2023 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | August 10, 2023 |
| Award Number: | 2309965 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Helio Takai
htakai@nsf.gov (703)292-4565 PHY Division Of Physics MPS Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences |
| Start Date: | August 1, 2023 |
| End Date: | July 31, 2026 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $100,000.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $100,000.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
2425 CAMPUS RD SINCLAIR RM 1 HONOLULU HI US 96822-2247 (808)956-7800 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
2505 Correa Rd HONOLULU HI US 96822 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): |
WoU-Windows on the Universe: T, Particle Astrophysics/Undergro |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.049 |
ABSTRACT
Hyper-Kamiokande is a particle physics detector that is constructed 600m underground in the Kamioka mine In Hida City, Japan. The detector consists of a 68m diameter and 71m high water tank surrounded by 20,000 50cm diameter photo-sensors which detect the light emissions of particles traversing the water. Its primary purpose is to study neutrinos, elementary particles without electric charge that interact only weakly with detector materials, thus requiring a large detector mass. Hyper-Kamiokande?s mass of 260,000 metric tons makes it the largest detector of this type that has been built so far: the target mass available for neutrino measurement of Hyper-Kamiokande will be more than ten times the equivalent mass of Super-Kamiokande, its predecessor. Hyper-Kamiokande will observe neutrinos in a wide energy range from a variety of natural and man-made sources such as astrophysical neutrinos (e.g. from the sun or stellar explosions known as supernovae), atmospheric neutrinos, and in addition, neutrinos from a beam produced by a particle accelerator at a distance of 295km. Neutrinos are ideal messengers to understand astrophysical phenomena as they are not influenced by electromagnetic forces. Hyper-Kamiokande will therefore serve as an astrophysical neutrino observatory, but it will also study the nature of the neutrino particle itself and will search for the extremely rare decays of protons (or neutrons). This project is to focus upon the astrophysical neutrinos including those of lower energy that may result in new discoveries. A large set of activities included within the participating universities focusing on students in K-12 and at the undergraduate level will provide these students with the opportunity to engage in a world class experiment involving a broad international collaboration.
To realize the astrophysical potential of Hyper-Kamiokande, the project will focus on work to optimize triggering, calibration and reconstruction of neutrino interactions, in particular at the lowest detectable energies. Hyper-Kamiokande will measure neutrino oscillations of atmospheric neutrinos, solar neutrinos, and other cosmic neutrinos. These measurements are in addition to accelerator beam measurements. The motivation for also pursuing these ?natural? cosmic neutrinos remains strong, as they will significantly contribute to the determination of the ?mass ordering? of neutrinos and support and complement CP-violation searches and other beam-related neutrino measurements. Given enough running time, the detection of a neutrino burst from a core-collapse galactic supernova is assured. Such a burst will consist of tens of thousands of neutrino interactions within about ten seconds. Not only will the neutrino energy spectra, time distribution, and flavor composition directly give access to the explosion mechanism and other astrophysical data, but will also explore neutrino properties that cannot be studied any other way: in particular, neutrino-neutrino interactions may play a role. This will test the standard model of particle interactions in regimes otherwise inaccessible. Hyper-Kamiokande promises to give cosmic insights substantially advanced from our current understanding.
The award is aligned with the NSF Big Idea of Windows on the Universe: the Era of Multi-messenger Astrophysics as it coordinates the use of multi-messengers observations utilizing cosmic neutrinos and providing alerts to the larger community.
This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
Please report errors in award information by writing to: awardsearch@nsf.gov.
