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Casting a net for neutrinos

The KM3NeT experiment will catch the elusive particles using the Mediterranean Sea

For Symmetry Magazine:

Like ordinary telescopes, KM3NeT operates in darkness—but there the resemblance ends. The Km3 Neutrino Telescope (where km³ means a cubic kilometer) is a suite of detectors that sits at the pitch-black bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, 3.5 kilometers below the waves and strong currents of the surface.

KM3NeT needs this absolute night to see the faint amount of light from ghostly neutrinos striking water molecules. Neutrinos pass through most material as though it weren’t there, which is why detectors need to be so big to spot them—more volume means more chances to see a neutrino interact. When completed, KM3NeT will be the largest neutrino detector in the world, made of about 1.3 trillion gallons of seawater. [Read the rest at Symmetry Magazine…]