A survey of underground laboratory space

Dave WarkUniversity of Sussex/

Rutherford Lab

Journées du , LPNHEParis

Nov. 27, 2003

Why go underground?

To avoid direct andindirect backgrounds

from cosmic-ray muons!

proton decay

What experiments must be done underground?

Solar Neutrino

0 decay

Supernova

Atmospheric

Reactor oscillation

Dark Matter Searches

Long Baseline oscillation

Even an accelerator!

Where are such experiments done?

WIPP

Homestake

Soudan

Sudbury

Boulby

CanfrancFrejus Gotthard

Gran Sasso

Kamioka

Cheongpyung

Oto

Baksan

Kolar

Pyhasalmi

Which immediately begs the question…

As far as I know nobody knowsthe answer to that question.

…fit in these?Will these…

Possible Responses…• It will be all right on the night…

– Pro: These experiments are mostly small, as each one is available it can look around and find somewhere to go, and after all, we haven’t run into any trouble yet.

– Con: These experiments are not all small, and if several large ones become ready simultaneously we could face long delays.

• Let’s all build more labs!– Pro: A little healthy competition is good for the field, there are enough high-quality

projects that everyone is likely to get at least one, and the funding isn’t a zero-sum game.– Con: This doesn’t guarantee that we will have space when we need it, and conversely

money that could be spent building experiments may get used digging holes in the ground that won’t be used.

• Somebody should make reasoned estimates and see if it looks like we will have sufficient space, or if we are in trouble, or if we are in real trouble. – Note that this is an information gathering exercise only.

A survey of underground lab space – need and availability

• I have been charged by ApPEC with producing estimates of likely future need and availability of underground lab space.

• The exact nature of this review is not yet finalized.• I propose that a panel of experts from around the world meet at a workshop and,

building on the work that has gone before, produce estimates for review by the community.

• Much of the information already exists in the form of conference proceedings (such as NESS 2002) and reports prepared for other facilities – what is needed is for the information to be brought together in one place and evaluated.

• What is it really reasonable that we will build? How many experiments (and how big) do we really need? How many experiments could a reasonable extrapolation of the size of the community support? How many experiments would a reasonable enhancement of our budgets buy? The most important output would be a range of numbers for need and availability under clearly stated assumptions, and a flagging of any problems revealed.

• All comments/advice are welcome – email to d.l.wark@rl.ac.uk