STRAW and STRAW-b: Pathfinder missions for a new large scale neutrino telescope in the Pacific ocean

Excellence Cluster ORIGINS - Visitor Talk

  • Date: Feb 20, 2020
  • Time: 11:00 AM - 12:30 PM (Local Time Germany)
  • Speaker: Andreas Gaertner (University of Alberta)
  • Location: Garching, TUM Physik I
  • Room: Seminar room 2024
  • Host: Excellence Cluster ORIGINS
 STRAW and STRAW-b: Pathfinder missions for a new large scale neutrino telescope in the Pacific ocean
In the search for astrophysical neutrinos, neutrino telescopes instrument large volumes of clear natural water. Photomultiplier tubes placed along mooring lines detect the Cherenkov light of secondary particles produced in neutrino interactions. This allow us to search for possible neutrino sources in the sky. To overcome the challenges of deep underwater experiments, we are developing prototype mooring lines in collaboration with Ocean Networks Canada, an initiative of the University of Victoria, which provides the infrastructure for many Oceanographic instruments. The STRAW mooring lines were deployed in June 2018, and provide continuous monitoring of optical water properties at a new possible detector site in the Pacific. Their successor STRAW-b, currently under development at the TUM Physics Department, will complement the measurements of STRAW. We test new engineering and deployment strategies, scaleable for larger setups with up to one hundred mooring lines.
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