KM3NeT Project

07.01.2025

KM3NeT Project

Why in the news?           

              Scientists are deploying two telescopes which are part of the Cubic Kilometre Neutrino Telescope or KM3NeT to detect high-energy neutrinos, also known as ghost particles, under the Mediterranean Sea.

About KM3NeT Project:

• It is a research infrastructure housing the next generation neutrino telescopes with a volume of at least one cubic kilometre.
• It uses Cherenkov radiation (light that neutrinos produce when they interact with a water or ice molecule) to study neutrinos.
• As a European research infrastructure, it is located in the Mediterranean Sea and involves collaboration among multiple countries.

Key components:

○ARCA (Astroparticle Research with Cosmics in the Abyss): It will help scientists in searching neutrinos from distant astrophysical sources such as supernovae, gamma ray bursters or colliding stars. It is located offshore Sicily, Italy.

○ORCA (Oscillation Research with Cosmics in the Abyss): This telescope is the instrument for KM3NeT scientists studying neutrino properties exploiting neutrinos generated in the Earth's atmosphere. It is located offshore of France.

○These telescopes are much like the IceCube Neutrino Observatory, which can detect high-energy neutrinos from deep space but is under the frozen ice in the Antarctic rather than being in the water.

• Arrays of thousands of optical sensors will detect the faint light in the deep sea from charged particles originating from collisions of the neutrinos and the Earth.

What is the IceCube Neutrino Observatory?

• It is a device located at the Earth’s South Pole that detects subatomic particles called neutrinos. Built and maintained by the IceCube Collaboration, it consists of approximately 350 physicists from 58 institutions across 14 countries, led by the University of Wisconsin–Madison.
• IceCube collaborators address several big questions in physics, like the nature of dark matter and the properties of the neutrino itself.

                                                                          Source: Indian Express

Consider the following statements regarding the KM3NeT Project:

Statement-I:It is a research infrastructure which uses Cherenkov radiation to study neutrinos.

Statement-II It is located in the Arctic Ocean and involves collaboration among multiple countries.

Which one of the following is correct in respect of the above statements?

A.Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct, and Statement-II is the correct explanation for Statement-I.

B.Both Statement-I and Statement-II are correct, and Statement-II is not the correct explanation for Statement-I.

C.Statement-I is correct, but Statement-II is incorrect.

D.Statement-I is incorrect, but Statement-II is correct.

Answer C