KM3NeT Project:
Scientists are deploying two telescopes which are part of the Cubic Kilometre Neutrino Telescope or KM3NeT to detect high-energy neutrinos, also known as ghost particles, under the Mediterranean Sea.
- KM3NeT Project is a research infrastructure housing the next generation neutrino telescopes with a volume of at least one cubic kilometre.
- It uses Cherenkov radiation (light that neutrinos produce when they interact with a water or ice molecule) to study neutrinos.
- As a European research infrastructure, it is located in the Mediterranean Sea and involves collaboration among multiple countries.
- Key components:
- ARCA (Astroparticle Research with Cosmics in the Abyss): It will help scientists in searching neutrinos from distant astrophysical sources such as supernovae, gamma ray bursters or colliding stars. It is located offshore Sicily, Italy.
- ORCA (Oscillation Research with Cosmics in the Abyss): This telescope is the instrument for KM3NeT scientists studying neutrino properties exploiting neutrinos generated in the Earth’s atmosphere. It is located offshore of France.
- These telescopes are much like the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, which can detect high-energy neutrinos from deep space but is under the frozen ice in the Antarctic rather than being in the water.
- Arrays of thousands of optical sensors will detect the faint light in the deep sea from charged particles originating from collisions of the neutrinos and the Earth.
