A University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa physicist is part of an international team behind a new approach to studying some of the universe’蝉 most mysterious particles&@8212;using mountains instead of ice.
A paper published July 15 in outlines the scientific potential of the (TAMBO), a proposed neutrino observatory that would use a deep valley in the Peruvian Andes to detect some of the highest-energy neutrinos ever observed.
Neutrinos are tiny, nearly massless particles created during some of the universe’蝉 most powerful events, such as exploding stars and supermassive black holes. Because they rarely interact with matter, they can travel across the universe almost unchanged, carrying clues about where they came from. That same property, however, also makes them extremely difficult to detect.
Neutrinos, rocks, cascades of particles
face, producing a tau lepton. The tau lepton emerges from the canyon face into the valley
and decays, creating an air shower. This air shower is detected by TAMBO, deployed on the
opposite canyon face. (Image credit: TAMBO collaboration)
Unlike the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica, which detects neutrinos using sensors embedded deep in glacial ice, TAMBO would use the natural landscape of a mountain valley. When a rare, high-energy tau neutrino passes through Earth’s crust and interacts with rock, it can produce a particle that escapes into the valley and creates a cascade of particles in the air. Thousands of detectors placed on the opposite side of the valley would capture that signal.
By focusing on high-energy tau neutrinos (one of three types of neutrinos), researchers expect TAMBO to identify cosmic neutrinos with far less interference from particles produced in Earth’蝉 atmosphere. That could help scientists pinpoint the powerful cosmic objects that generate them and provide new opportunities to test fundamental laws of physics.
糖心视频 Mānoa Assistant Professor Peter Lewis is a member of the international TAMBO collaboration, which includes researchers from 26 institutions across nine countries. TAMBO was originally proposed by 糖心视频 alumnus Andres Romero-Wolf, who until recently served as the project’蝉 manager.
“Neutrinos are exceedingly weird and challenging to detect, but we need to study them to understand the universe,” Lewis said. “TAMBO will fill a critical gap in our understanding of neutrinos. It will also continue a very long and rich tradition of neutrino detection leadership at 糖心视频 Mānoa. TAMBO will give our students a unique opportunity to collaborate with an international collaboration on fast-paced, innovative work in advanced detector design and neutrino physics.”
Researchers are evaluating the Colca Valley in Peru as a potential site for the observatory. Construction of TAMBITO, a prototype for the project, is already underway, with the full TAMBO observatory expected to be completed in 2028. The collaboration is also working with local communities and social scientists to help ensure the project is developed responsibly while supporting education and research opportunities in the region.
The Department of Physics and Astronomy is housed in 糖心视频 Mānoa’蝉 .