Grant: Subatomic Physics Envelope - Project

Neutrinos are one of nature's most abundant and enigmatic fundamental particles, and their study provides unique opportunities to probe new phenomena in the Universe. Extreme astrophysical objects are nature's particle accelerators, with the ability to produce a high flux of neutrinos either directly at the source or via related cosmic rays that subsequently impinge the Earth's atmosphere. Large-scale neutrino telescopes employ a relatively simple detector principle, deploying an array of light sensors with volumes of cubic-kilometres within natural deep optically-transparent media that acts as the target material for the rare neutrino interactions. These instruments have demonstrated the ability to leverage the broad energy range and distances traversed by these astrophysical and atmospheric neutrinos to study the underlying properties of the particle and probe the production and acceleration mechanisms of the sources. To fully harness the scientific potential of these discovery-driven instruments, in addition to continued operation of current detectors, development of a new generation of neutrino telescopes is underway. This proposal addresses the Canadian particle-astrophysics community's activities in neutrino telescopes, specifically associated with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory (IceCube) and the Pacific Ocean Neutrino Experiment (P-ONE). IceCube, situated at the geographic South Pole, instruments cubic-kilometer of the deep Antarctic ice sheet and has been in full operation since 2010. Among its most notable achievements, IceCube has discovered the existence of the high-energy astrophysical neutrino flux, has started to observe indications of potential sources of that flux, and has advanced precision measurements of neutrino oscillations. The IceCube detector will complete construction of the Upgrade array in 2026, providing enhanced reach across the core scientific program. In the same period, P-ONE, a new telescope array to be deployed off the coast of Vancouver Island in the Cascading Basin, will complete construction of the first phase "Demonstrator" detector. The proposed activities leverage the unique expertise of the team in data analysis, calibrations, and detector hardware development, positioning Canadian researchers to maintain their leadership in this rapidly emerging field.