The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a long baseline neutrino experiment which aims to:
Discover CP Violation in the leptonic sector
Determine the neutrino Mass Ordering
Precisely measure neutrino oscillation parameters
Test the 3-flavour paradigm
This ambitious program also includes the search for Nucleon Decay and the astrophysical observations of Galactic Supernovae.
Neutrinos produced by a high-power wide-band neutrino beam produced at Fermilab, will be detected at a baseline of 1300 km, by 4 giant liquid argon (LAr) detector modules deep underground (SURF laboratory, South Dakota), each module containing 17ktons of LAr.
Two of these modules, the first ones to be built, will be Liquid Argon Time Projection Chambers (LArTPCs). These TPCs will be able to produce fine-grained images of the products of neutrino interactions within the liquid argon volume with unprecedented precision. The construction of the installation site is currently underway, and the installation of the detectors will begin in 2026. A second construction phase (Phase 2) is foreseen to begin once the first two detectors are operational. Phase 2 will include an increase in the intensity of the beam, an improvement of the Near Detector, and notably the construction of the two remaining Far Detector modules. The design of the new detectors is currently underway.
The DUNE team at APC is highly invested in the construction and exploitation of the first two modules, FD1 and FD2. In particular, the group contributes to the Photon-Detection System (PDS) that is instrumented within FD2, which is used to obtain event arrival times and is vital to the 3D localization of events within the detector. In addition, the group collaborates with international partners to develop an improved version of this PDS for the Phase 2 detectors. The goal is to achieve higher sensitivity, higher speed and better timing precision, that would help overcome current limitations, such as radioactive background, and extend the sensitivity to low energy physics. To achieve this, we are developing improved cryogenic readout electronics for the photon detectors and contributing to the design of the detector.
The selected candidate will participate in the R&D towards this upgraded PDS, by contributing to the production of detector simulations that reflect the new technological improvements. The candidate will then develop the analysis and software tools necessary to evaluate the potential impact of such improvements in different physics cases, such as the sensitivity of the DUNE Far Detector to neutrinos coming from Supernovae. The exploitation of machine learning tools could help boost the potential of the new detector.
Additionally, the selected candidate will participate in the laboratory R&D work to develop the new cryogenic signal-over-fiber readout electronics. This is an innovative technology first conceived for FD2, and that is being redesigned in view of its implementation in FD3. The candidate will contribute to the laboratory testing of these electronics, both at APC and potentially at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland.