Prof. Gustavo Valdiviesso established an international cooperation agreement with the Fermi National Laboratory (USA), also known as Fermilab, where Unifal-MG is now recognized as a user-institution of the laboratory. Within Fermilab, experimental and theoretical research in the area of high-energy physics and related areas is developed. Unifal-MG is a member of two experiments in neutrino physics: SBND (Short Baseline Neutrino Detector), which aims to study the neutrino-nucleus shock section with unprecedented precision, and also to aid in the search for possible neutrinos beyond the Standard Model; DUNE (Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment), which has a range of scientific objectives ranging from the search for a possible violation of CP in the leptonic sector of the Standard Model to the detection of supernovae and proton decay. Our research has contributed to both the simulation and characterization of electronic systems. Both experiments are in the development phase with SBND in a more advanced state: SBND should start operation in 2021 while DUNE will not start until 2025.
The Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility will create the world’s most powerful neutrino beams and send them 1,300 kilometers straight to the huge, high-precision DUNE detectors 1.5 kilometers underground.
The beams will be created with particle accelerators located at Fermilab in Illinois. The DUNE detectors will be housed in caverns at the Sanford Underground Research Facility in South Dakota. These supersensitive detectors will contain nearly 70,000 tons of liquid argon to record neutrinos with unprecedented accuracy.