India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO)

 India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO) 

India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO)

 it will be one of the largest basic science projects in the country. 

Nobel laureate and neutrino researcher Takaaki Kajita is convinced that the proposed underground laboratory is still worth fighting for.अभी भी संघर्ष के लायक है

Neutrinos 

are abundant particles that may be relevant to our understanding of the origin of matter in the universe. 

history 

About 60 years ago, historic science experiments inside a goldmine in Kolar, Karnataka, would lead to the 1965 discovery of atmospheric neutrinos.

 This was a collaboration between Indian, Japanese and British scientists.

underground Kamioka Observatory  

 

Japan continued with experiments on—or rather, under—their soil, in the underground Kamioka Observatory situated under Mount Ikeno. 

This was where Masatoshi Koshiba’s team would discover cosmic neutrinos in the late 1980s. 

Japan decided to establish a dedicated neutrino observatory, Super-Kamiokande, which began operation in 1996. In 2002, Koshiba won a Nobel Prize for his contributions.

neutrino oscillation  

1 Meanwhile, Japanese researchers received the first evidence for a phenomenon called neutrino oscillation within a year of the Super-Kamiokande.

 2 This discovery would go on to (jointly) win Koshiba’s student Takaaki Kajita, another Nobel in 2015.

Indian scientists

 1 Though the original experiments had to end in 1992 due to the closure of the goldmines in Kolar, plans to build our own observatory were already underway. 

2 After extensive deliberations, a proposal was drawn and in 2011, set aboutRs.1,350 crores for an India-based Neutrino Observatory, which would be situated 1.3 km underground in Tamil Nadu. 

3 Over a decade later, there has been no progress. Today, the fate of INO is uncertain

Two of the main reasons for opposition to INO 

1 are adverse 

• environmental impacts 
• and the fear of radioactivity. 

2 This is despite INO scientists repeatedly stating that the observatory would be located a kilometre underground and hence would have minimal impact on wildlife and the ecosystem. 

 

What about radioactivity? 

“The experiment will neither produce any radioactivity nor can it function well where there is radiation,” 

The whole point of housing the detector underground is to protect it from the natural radiation that hits the surface of Earth.

timing of a supernova  

The biggest stroke of luck for the Japanese neutrino scientists was the timing of a supernova that was observed in February 1987.

 The Supernova 1987A happened while the Kamiokande-II detector was online, leading to the discovery of cosmic neutrinos by the team led by Koshiba. 

A neutrino observatory at india 

is envisioned to give the Indian scientific community, including students of particle physics, the opportunity to work with a world-class detector without needing to travel outside national borders.

Today, the Super-Kamiokande facility continues to train new generations of particle physicists.

While some of them secure positions abroad, many choose to stay back in Japan. After he won his Nobel in 2015, Kajita himself declined invitations to take up new positions in other countries.

source the hindu