Interesting Facts

About the Booster Neutrino Experiment (BooNE): BooNE is the only experiment to search the entire range covered by the LSND oscillation signal. First proposed in 1997, BooNE has been collecting data since August 2002. The BooNE collaboration is small by high energy physics standards, comprising 75 physicists from 16 instiutions. If BooNE detects a supernova, it will send an automatic signal to telescopes around the world describing its position. About the MiniBooNE detector: The MiniBooNE detector is a 40-foot (12-meter) diameter sphere. It contains 800 tons of mineral oil, which is equivalent to one quarter of a million gallons or 44 tanker trucks. There are 1520 individual detectors (phototubes) lining the detector. The detector sees one neutrino collision every 20 seconds. Approximately 1 million neutrino events are collected per year. About the BooNE neutrino beam: The neutrino beam is produced using 8 GeV protons from the Fermilab booster. The neutrinos are delivered in bursts lasting 1.5 millionths of a second, 5 times per second. The BooNE horn is used to focus the intense, high-energy particle beam and create an intense beam of neutrinos. The horn: -operates at 170 kA for 150 millionths of a second; -pulses five times per second; -must be able to withstand these extreme conditions for 100 million pulses. The BooNE horn has already endured more pulses than any other horn ever! By switching the polarity of the horns, the neutrino beam can be converted into an anti-neutrino beam. About neutrinos: Neutrinos come in three flavors: electron, muon, and tau. Neutrinos are everywhere! - 100 trillion neutrinos pass through our bodies every second; - in every gallon of space, there are a million neutrinos. Neutrinos are created by nuclear reactions in our Sun, and carry away about 10% of the Sun's energy. Most neutrinos were created some 13 billion years ago, in the earliest moments of the Big Bang. In a supernova, neutrinos escape the imploding star faster than the light. If a neutrino has mass, its flavor can change midflight -- i.e. the neutrino oscillates.