The Short-Baseline Neutrino Program (SBN) is a robust neutrino detection program located at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab), near Chicago, in the United States. Scientific knowledge and technological acquisitions that will be obtained at SBN are crucial to the success of the Dune (Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment) megaproject, one of the most ambitious scientific experiments ever designed, currently under construction. But, regardless of the contribution to Dune, the SBN is important in itself and could bring first-class information to understanding material reality (read more at: agencia.fapesp.br/25451).
The SBN will basically operate with two huge detectors: the Short-Baseline Near Detector (SBND), located 110 meters from the exit of the neutrino beam produced by the accelerator; and the Short-Baseline Far Detector, also called Icarus, located 600 meters from the exit. Comparison between measurements carried out in one detector and another will allow us to better understand the phenomenon of “neutrino oscillation”, that is, the transformation of one type (flavor) of neutrino into another. And, eventually, confirm the theoretical hypothesis that there may be other types (flavors) of neutrinos, currently unknown. In addition to these two detectors, the MicroBooNE experiment is also part of the program, which began taking data in 2015.
Groups of Brazilian researchers have been part of SBND since the creation of the international collaboration in 2015. And one of their main contributions was to the photon detection system used in the experiment. This detection is carried out by a device called X-Arapuca, which is an evolution of the Arapuca device, proposed by researchers Ettore Segreto and Ana Amélia Machado, from the State University of Campinas (Unicamp).
The 2023 winter meeting of the SBND international collaboration took place for the first time in Brazil, in São Paulo. And it was held in December, at the Principia Institute. 45 people participated in person and 50 remotely, who during the meeting discussed advances in the assembly, testing and calibration of the experiment, in addition to preparations for data analysis and advances in computational modeling of the main SBND studies.
