Open AccessStatus of Super-Kamiokande Gadolinium project
Author(s) -
M. Ikeda
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
journal of physics. conference series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.21
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1742-6596
pISSN - 1742-6588
DOI - 10.1088/1742-6596/2156/1/012150
Subject(s) - gadolinium , detector , nuclear physics , physics , neutron , cherenkov radiation , super kamiokande , neutron capture , environmental science , radiochemistry , nuclear engineering , materials science , chemistry , optics , engineering , neutrino , solar neutrino , metallurgy , neutrino oscillation
Super-Kamiokande (SK) is the world’s largest underground water Cherenkov detector. The latest phase of operations began in July 2020 when, in order to improve neutron detection efficiency, about 13 tons of gadolinium (Gd) sulfate octahydrate was dissolved into SK’s pure water. Gd has a large thermal neutron capture cross section and emits visible gamma rays. This first loading marked the start of what is now called SK-Gd, and stable physics data taking has been ongoing since then. This presentation will focus on details of the first Gd loading and the detector status including detector calibrations. Also, the future plan and the prospect of observations with SK-Gd will be discussed.