Date: July 12, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Physics Experiments Proposed For Underground Laboratory In
The National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy have overseen the effort to build DUSEL, a major underground research laboratory to be located in an abandoned mine in Lead, South Dakota. The agencies asked the Research Council to assess the scientific value of the physics experiments proposed for the laboratory and the need to conduct the research in the
“These experiments have the potential to provide breakthrough discoveries in physics that scientists can build upon for decades to come,” said Andrew Lankford, professor of physics and astronomy at the
Three major experiments are planned for the facility. The direct detection dark matter experiment would broaden knowledge about dark matter, a substance that makes up approximately 80 percent of the material universe. The long baseline neutrino oscillation experiment would provide significant advances in the study of neutrinos, the “ghost particles” of physics that could reveal critical information about how the universe evolved. This experiment would also enable other important physics research, such as the study of whether protons decay. And the neutrinoless double beta decay experiment is the only practical way to determine whether neutrinos are their own antiparticles, information that is vital to understanding how particles came into existence in the early universe.
The report says that benefits to the
Although the final decision on building an underground national lab will involve many other factors, including costs and the goals of funding agencies, such a laboratory could offer significant advantages over sending
In addition to the three physics experiments, a small, accelerator-based study to measure low-energy nuclear cross sections would advance understanding of nuclear processes that generate stellar energy and explain aspects of solar neutrinos, the report says.
The study was sponsored by the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy. The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering,
Contacts:
Luwam Yeibio, Media Relations Assistant
Office of News and Public Information
202-334-2138; e-mail news@nas.edu
Additional resources:
Pre-publication copies of An Assessment of the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory are available from the National Academies Press; tel. 202-334-3313 or 1-800-624-6242 or on the Internet at http://www.nap.edu. Reporters may obtain a copy from the Office of News and Public Information (contacts listed above).
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NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences
Board on Physics and Astronomy
Committee on the Assessment of the Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory (DUSEL)
Andrew J. Lankford (chair)
Professor and Chair
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Professor of Physics
Center for Theoretical Physics
Eugenio Coccia
Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics
Professor Emeritus
Department of Civil Engineering
Senior Consulting Engineer
Professor of Physics
California Institute of Technology
Professor of Physics, and
Division Head
Particle and Nuclear Experimental Physics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Director
Institute for Cosmic Ray Research
Stephen E. Laubach
Senior Research Scientist and Jackson Research Excellence Fellow
Bureau of Economic Geology
Ann Nelson
Professor
Department of Physics
Professor
Department of Physics and Astronomy
Pupin Professor of Physics Emeritus
Marjorie Shapiro
Senior Faculty Member
Physics Division
Professor of Physics
University Distinguished Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics and Crop and Soil Sciences, and
Director
Center for Microbial Ecology
David Wark
Senior Laboratory Fellow
Rutherford Appleton Laboratory
Science and Technology Facilities Council, and
Professor of Physics
STAFF
James Lancaster
Study Director