Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment

The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a neutrino experiment under construction in the United States, with a near detector at Fermilab, Illinois, and a far detector at the Sanford Underground Research Facility, South Dakota, that will observe neutrinos produced at Fermilab. An intense beam of trillions of neutrinos from the production facility at Fermilab will be sent over a distance of 1,300 kilometers (810 mi), with the goal of understanding the role of neutrinos in the universe. More than 1,000 collaborators are involved in the project. The experiment is designed for a 20-year period of data collection.

The primary science objectives of DUNE are

• Investigation of neutrino oscillations to test CP violation in the lepton sector, which explores why the universe is made of matter.
• Determination of the ordering of neutrino masses.
• Studies of supernovae and the formation of a neutron star or black hole, even though the detector is 1,490 meters (0.93 mi) deep underground with no direct view of the sky.
• Search for proton decay, which has never been observed but is predicted by theories that unify the fundamental forces.

In 2014, the Particle Physics Project Prioritization Panel (P5) ranked this as "the highest priority project in its timeframe" (recommendation 13). The importance of these goals has led to proposals for competing projects in other countries, particularly the Hyper-Kamiokande experiment in Japan, scheduled to begin data-taking in 2027. The DUNE project has suffered delays to its schedule and cost increases from under $2B to over $3B, leading to articles in Science and Scientific American describing it as "troubled". In 2022, DUNE set a neutrino-beam start-date for the early-2030's, and the project is now phased.