The MONUMENT Project: Measuring Ordinary Muon Capture to Check Nuclear Matrix Elements of Double-β Decays

The MONUMENT project is aimed at experimentally measuring muon capture on several daughter nuclei (in relation to candidates for the neutrinoless double beta decay). These measurements are of significance to verify the accuracy of theoretical calculations of nuclear matrix elements. The group of DLNP scientists, along with their European colleagues, submitted an application for measuring muon capture on several isotopes at the Meson Factory of the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Switzerland. The application was considered and approved by the PSI Program Committee. The beam time was provided for the research in 2021 with a further programme at least for three years.

New Release of the Cartoon “Baikal Seal and the Mystery of the Lake”

The Laboratory of Popular Science Animation of the School for Young Film-Makers of the Tregubovich Children’s and Youth Film Festival (https://tregubovich-bogotol.vsite.biz/) has completed its final work, the animated film about the Baikal Neutrino Telescope “Baikal Seal and the Mystery of the Lake”. The screenplay of this fascinating cartoon was created by Dmitry Naumov, Doctor of Physics and Mathematics, DLNP Deputy Director, and Natalia Mazarskaya, translator and editor from our Laboratory. Many thanks to young cartoon makers from the boarding school for gifted children “Cosmonautics School” (Zheleznogorsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai), Lesosibirsk Military School (Krasnoyarsk Krai), non-profit Media Studio “Cool Skills” and to their teachers!

“Influence of Structural Defects of Lutetium Oxyorthosilicate on Optical Properties of LYSO crystals” by V. A. Kalinnikov

The electromagnetic calorimeter of the COMET experiment will be manufactured using LYSO crystals. When developing calorimeters using scintillators based on lutetium oxyorthosilicate (LYSO crystals), problems arise associated with the strong scatter of the light yield, both for different crystals and along the length and volume of an individual crystal.  

November Issue of GNN Monthly about the News from the World of Large Neutrino Telescopes

Read in the November issue of the Global Neutrino Network bulletin how new detection units were deployed on the ORCA site in the Mediterranean Sea and about prospects of the development of the IceCube upgrade projects. Also, you will find here summaries of recently published interesting papers in astrophysics. The current GNN Monthly issue.

A New Year’s Gift from Space

The Neutrino Telescope at Lake Baikal has detected a signal from a radio blazar flare On 8 December 2021, scientists from the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole announced the observation of a track, a candidate for the astrophysical neutrino with an estimated energy of about 172 TeV. One of the brightest radio blazars in the sky, PKS 0735+17, is located in the region where the neutrino was presumably born (considering the direction of the incoming particle). The event stands out since this is the most powerful radio blazar flare in the gamma and visible ranges in the entire history of observations of this blazer. Also, its X-ray brightness increased, and the radio burst started. The coincidence between neutrino detection time and such a powerful blazar flare is the second one in the entire history of IceCube observations.  

Nikolay Anfimov Took Part in the “JINR Visiting Dubna Schools” Marathon

On 13 December 2021, the next meeting of the marathon “JINR Visiting Dubna Schools” took place at the Kadyshevsky Physics and Mathematics Lyceum. The project was initiated by the JINR University Centre within the Year of Science and Technology in the RF. Nikolay Anfimov, the Head of the Sector of Research Methodology of the Experimental Department of the Dzhelepov Laboratory of Nuclear Problems, talked with senior pupils about the main research directions of each laboratory of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research. The marathon started in April 2021. It was dedicated to the 65th anniversary of JINR.

“Zvezda”: Physicist Talked about “Ghost Particles” with Ultrahigh Energy Caught at the Large Hadron Collider

“Studying neutrino properties allows going beyond the Standard Model of elementary particles and revealing the mystery of the structure of the Universe,” remarked the scientist. Yury Gornushkin, the head of the Sector of Experimental Neutrino Physics of the Dzhelepov Laboratory of Nuclear Problems of the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) explained what is special about neutrino detection at the Large Hadron Collider. Being interviewed by “Zvezda”, the scientist explained that these elementary particles are of interest for many physicists in the world because studying neutrino properties allows going beyond the Standard Model and revealing the mystery of the structure of the Universe.

2021 Bruno Pontecorvo Scholarship for Early-Career DLNP Scientists: Liudmila Kolupaeva

On Monday, 6 December 2021, the submission of applications for the annual Bruno Pontecorvo Scholarship Competition for early-career DLNP scientists will be completed. The scholarships are intended to support the activities of young scientists whose research interests are particle and nuclear physics. Liudmila Kolupaeva, Candidate of Physics and Mathematics, a researcher of Sector 2 of Accelerator Neutrinos of the DLNP Experimental Department of Particle Physics, is among the last-year winners. The Group of Scientific Communication talked to Liudmila and asked her about her career in science, research interests and plans.  

“Perfection of Knowledge”

Recently, we have come across an Italian stamp from 2014 issued as part of a small series “Perfection of Knowledge”. The detector Borexino of the Gran Sasso National Laboratory of the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics is depicted in it. The philatelist M. Teplinsky wrote once, “... Stamps can help us not only get to know one or another country, its flora and fauna, history and art, but also learn about state policy which is directly or indirectly reflected in the choice of stamp motives...”.  

2022 Bruno Pontecorvo Scholarship Competition Announced

In order to honour the memory of the distinguished scientist, Academician Bruno Pontecorvo, and to reward and motivate young scientists, the Dzhelepov Laboratory of Nuclear Problems has established annual Bruno Pontecorvo Scholarships. The scholarships are intended to support the activities of young scientists working in particle and nuclear physics. DLNP staff members aged below 35 as of 31 December 2021 may take part in the Scholarship Competition.

Two Research Projects of Our Laboratory Supported by the Russian Science Foundation

The Russian Science Foundation has announced the results of the competition of small separate scientific groups. A large number of participants were involved in the competition. Experts decided to support 1822 projects, among them there are two projects of the Dzhelepov Laboratory of Nuclear Problems: “Development and Studies of Detectors and Background Suppression Methods for Low-Background Experiments” headed by the DLNP senior researcher K. N. Gusev; “Development of the Programme of Participation in the DUNE Experiment for Precision Measurements of Neutrino Oscillations” led by the Head of the DLNP Sector of Accelerator Neutrinos.

Survey of JINR Staff Social Satisfaction

The JINR Science Management Department in cooperation with the Subfaculty of Sociology and Humanities of the Dubna State University is surveying social satisfaction of JINR staff with working and living conditions, science activity management and also opportunities to rest. We welcome you to take part in the survey from 1 to 6 December 2021 inclusive. Anonymity is guaranteed. Sincerity and completeness of your answers are the keys to the objectivity of the results. They will allow us to create a real picture of the state of affairs and to influence many decisions on current problems in the lives of JINR staff.