Maurizio Spurio

NEUTRINO TELESCOPES

Neutrino telescopes are experimental apparatuses taking data under water or in the ice of the South Pole for the

• study of the neutrino properties
• search for very high energy neutrinos from the cosmos with the aim of understanding the processes that originate supernovae, pulsars, AGN, coalescence of neutron stars,...

KM3NeT is a largely European project, which is building two large apparatuses for the detection of neutrinos. The KM3NeT/ARCA telescope is under construction about 100 km off the coast of Portopalo di Capo Passero (Sicily), with the aim of studying TeV neutrinos of astrophysical origin. The KM3NeT/ORCA detector is under construction off the coast of Toulon (France), to study lower energy neutrinos; the main scientific objectives are related to neutrino properties, in particular the determination of their mass hierarchy. The measurements in Italy and France will also house instrumentation for long-term and online monitoring of the deep-sea environment, which will be used for geophysical and marine biology studies.

KM3NeT uses the experience of a smaller detector (ANTARES) which has been taking data both since 2008 (closing operations scheduled for 2022).

Several theses are available, such as the study of neutrinos temporally coinciding with gravitational waves and GRBs, study of neutrinos from the central Galactic region and search for diffuse neutrinos of very high energy, both using the ANTARES data and using the first data collected by KM3NeT. Furthermore, theses of a more technological nature (data acquisition, calibration of submarine equipment) are available, as well as theses related to the marine environment.

For further information, also about bachelor thesis, please contact:

• Prof. Maurizio Spurio, maurizio.spurio@unibo.it
• Prof. Annarita Margiotta annarita.margiotta@unibo.it
• Dr. Giulia Illuminati, giulia.illuminati3@unibo.it