Summary of the
MINOS Proposal,
A Long -baseline Neutrino Oscillation Experiment at Fermilab
March 1995
Argonne -
Athens - Caltech - Chicago - Dubna - Elmhurst - Fermilab -
Indiana - IHEP Beijing -
IHEP Protvino - ITEP - Harvard - James Madison - Lebedev - Livermore -
Minnesota - Oxford - Pittsburgh - Rutherford - Stanford -
Sussex - Texas A&M -
Texas - Tufts - UCL - Western Washington - Wisconsin
The MINOS Collaboration proposes to conduct a search for nu_mu > nu_tau and nu_mu
> nu_e oscillations using a new nu_mu beam from the Fermilab Main Injector with energies
well above tau production threshold. Oscillations will be detected by the comparison
of signals in a 'near' detector at Fermilab and a 'far' detector situated 730 km away in
the Soudan
underground laboratory . The experiment will require self-consistency
among several tests for oscillations to build a compelling case for any discovery . A new
10 kton detector will be built at Soudan to allow the exploration of oscillation parameters
down to Delta _m {^2} ~ 0.002 eV{^2} and sin{^2}(2Theta) ~ 0.01. In addition
the existing, much finer grained but smaller, Soudan 2 detector will provide an
independent check of any potential signal with sin{^2}(2Theta) larger than ~ 0.1.
The MINOS proposal was presented at the February 17-18th (1995) meeting of the Fermilab
PAC and received strong support from the committee. The project was "baselined"
as a new DOE project in the fall of 1998 and is scheduled to take its first
data in 2003. At this time the construction of the far detector cavern at the Soudan
Mine has been completed and the collaboration plans to begin assembling the first
plans of the detector in late August, 2001.
A engineering model of a single module of the final detector is shown in the
linked postscript file MINOS Model.
The completed detector will consist of two of these ~30 meter long
modules arranged in a line pointing back toward the source of neutrinos coming
from the Fermilab Main Injector.
To see the materials for constructing the MINOS far detector at the Soudan Mine
transported from the mine shaft to the experimental area, you can view the following
materials handling video clip.
To see the construction of a MINOS far detector plane, click on the following
plane mounting video clip.
For more information about the MINOS experiment at Fermilab see the
attached PDF files from Fermilab's Public Information Office.
What are neutrinos?
The story of the neutrino.
How to make a neutrino beam.
Can neutrinos change flavor?
How do you detect neutrinos?
Minnesota Underground.
MINOS Experiment Website.
Soudan Lab Website.to see the latest photos from the
far detector construction at the mine.
Setup March 1995, updated June 13, 2002.