ANTIMATTER GOES INTERNATIONAL

摘要

A planned neutrino detector in a US mine - the Long Baseline Neutrino Experiment - could unlock mysteries about antimatter, but its future is uncertain (see main story). Can other nations come to antimatter's rescue? The European Union has plans to build a similar experiment LAGUNA, but they are very preliminary. For example, no site has been chosen. Meanwhile, a proposed Japanese experiment, Hyper-Kamiokande, would have a shorter distance between the neutrino source and detector than LBNE, making some aspects of the measurement harder (arxiv.org/abs/1109.3262). If the US commits to funding LBNE now, then Europe and Japan may collaborate on LBNE rather than developing competing experiments. "My expectation is if we go ahead, other countries will help us," says Pier Oddone of Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois. "But nobody's going to come and tie their fate to ours if the perception is that the US can't decide what it wants to do."