A year in review
A Davis Cavern makeover, record-setting attendance at Neutrino Day X, innovative safety initiatives, the Majorana Demonstrator's science publication, ProtoDUNE's first signature tracks and the ongoing assembly of a 10-ton dark matter detector—2018 brought with it a stunning highlight reel for Sanford Underground Research Facility (Sanford Lab). Executive Director Mike Headley shares his thoughts about the many accomplishments in 2018.
"Over the years, we’ve made some great strides at Sanford Lab—not the least of which was building an underground research facility for world-leading physics experiments. We reached the level we have today because of the dedication of our staff, board, DOE partners and experiment collaborators."
—Mike Headley, Executive Director of Sanford Lab
Davis Cavern renovation
To make way for the next-generation dark matter experiment, LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ), Sanford Lab renovated the Davis Cavern. The project included removing an existing cleanroom, tearing down a wall between two former low-background counting rooms, installing a new hoist system, building a work deck and modifying the water tank to accommodate the larger cryostat. Additionally, a radon reduction room and a xenon storage room were installed outside the Davis Campus itself. With the completion of the work, assembly on the LZ experiment is well under way.
LZ assembly
With the celebrated arrival of the first of two photomultiplier tube (PMT) arrays on Dec. 13 from Brown University, the pace of delivery to Sanford Lab accelerated. As main components—including four large acrylic tanks, the outer cryostat and the PMT arrays—arrive, researchers have begun the meticulous work of piecing together a 10-ton dark matter detector.
Neutrino Day X
It was a day of X-treme fun as children and adults toured the Yates Hoistroom, painted space rocks, watched geology demonstrations, “discovered” the different types of neutrinos, saw “wild science” demonstrations and learned about the science at Sanford Lab through hands-on activities and experiment displays.
Nearly 1,500 people—the most to ever attend in a single day—from several states and a handful of countries participated in the many different activities.
Deep Talks & CORES Award
In 2018, we wrapped up a second season of the Deep Talks lecture series and are well on our way into the third. The series featured blacksmithing and laser demonstrations, screenings of Hidden Figures and The Most Unknown, readings from our very own Deep Poets Society and demonstrations of new curriculum models from our Education and Outreach team.
This year, we introduced the CORES (Communications OutReach and Experiences in Science) award, in an effort to recognize those organizations or individuals who support the communication of science to the public. Crow Peak Brewing Company was the first-ever recipient of the CORES award. Their continued support of Sanford Lab’s Deep Talks lecture series propels our commitment to creating education and outreach experiences in our community.
ESH improvements
Over the past year, the Environment, Safety and Health department has made significant updates and improvements on eighteen fronts, including hazard mitigation, health and wellness programs, underground access and emergency rescue team.
Health initiatives
In 2018, Sanford Lab implemented a health and wellness program that began with the Walk the Neutrino Beam Challenge. In August and September, teams “walked” from Sanford Lab to Fermilab, along the future LBNF/DUNE neutrino beamline, then back again. Round trip, the subterranean journey is 1,600 miles. With more than 80 researchers and employees participating in the six-week challenge, Sanford Lab exceeded the goal, ending the friendly competition with a total of 39,548,401 steps—roughly 2,996 miles!
Our October initiative raised awareness about breast cancer research and prevention, in addition to funds for Foundation for Health, which supports local breast cancer patients.
The next challenge? The Winter Workout Challenge. We’ll update you on that in February.
$1,110
39,548,401
Dollars raised for Breast Cancer Awareness
Steps taken in six weeks during the Sanford Lab step challenge
Education and Outreach growth
The Education and Outreach department created three new assembly presentations that are now being presented around the state. Professional development opportunities were offered for educators through a week-long residential program and a graduate-level course in 3-dimensional science instruction. The team also developed and piloted three new curriculum units, focusing on properties of matter, energy transfers and phase changes, and the electromagnetic force involved in neutrino detection.
In October 2018, a current curriculum unit, Perplexing Puddles, was featured and recommended in a peer-reviewed professional journal, The American Biology Teacher.
Becky Bundy and Julie Dahl were 2 of 12 educators in the country to be selected as Master Teacher Policy Fellows by the American Association of Physics Teachers. Multiple staff members serve as facilitator and participant in the SDMath/SDSci Teacher Leadership Program sponsored by the SD Department of Education.
Majorana Demonstrator publication
In a study published March 26 in Physical Review Letters, nuclear physicists from several institutions working on the Majorana Demonstrator experiment have shown that they can shield a sensitive, scalable, 44-kilogram germanium detector array from background radioactivity. Led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, this accomplishment is critical to developing and proposing a much larger future experiment—with approximately a ton of detectors—to study the nature of neutrinos.
SIGMA-V
On May 22, researchers with the SIGMA-V experiment worked in near silence in the West Drift on the 4850 Level to test the SIMFIP (Step-Rate Injection Method for Fracture In-Situ Properties), a tool that revolutionizes the way scientists can study geothermal energy by measuring fracture openings in hard rock in the EGS Collab test site.
During its time on the 4850 Level this year, SIGMA-V conducted multiple such tests. The data they collected could remove barriers that stand in the way of commercializing geothermal systems, which have the potential to provide enough energy to power 100 million American homes.
CASPAR beams
Some experiments at Sanford Lab, like the Majorana Demonstrator or LZ expect to wait years before detecting the telltale signature for which they are searching. Since achieving its first beam in 2017, CASPAR has been actively running new experiments on the 4850 Level every few months.
This relatively quick turn-around allows CASPAR to study individual stellar processes, one at a time. Each experiment produces a new puzzle piece. Over time, these pieces add up, and theorists can put together a larger, more complete picture of the universe.
Black Hills Underground Campus
With the installation of the University of Alabama’s Ge-IV detector, the Black Hills State University Underground Campus now hosts seven low background counters (LBCs), including The Twins, which uses a dual-crystal low-background assay device.
These LBCs have assayed hundreds of materials for LZ. Bolts, screws, photomultiplier tubes, PTFE (a highly reflective plastic) segments and even zip ties need to be screened before they are added to the experiment. This counting process is vital as researchers decide which types of materials are best-suited for their extremely sensitive experiments.
Interactions Photowalk
This summer, 17 leading particle physics laboratories from around the globe opened their doors to photographers for the Global Photowalk competition, an event sponsored by the Interactions Collaboration, a group of particle physics communicators. At Sanford Lab, seven individuals participated in the event, capturing unique, behind-the-scenes images of the science taking place nearly a mile underground.
Sanford Lab also hosted this year’s Interactions Collaboration in October, as science communicators representing more than a dozen labs gathered from around the world.
Golden Coyotes
The South Dakota National Guard’s 28th annual Golden Coyote training exercise brought multiple units and nearly a hundred personnel together from across the globe to train and work on projects across South Dakota, including one at Sanford Lab.
The engineering companies stationed at Sanford Lab improved Park Avenue and Ellison Street, hauled 2,380 tons of gravel onsite, dug ditches and created culverts to redirect storm water runoff and reduce yearly maintenance. The companies also renovated multiple buildings, including the “Fish House,” the Old High Building and an office adjacent to the crusher room.
In June, a two-day emergency response training held in tandem with Sanford Lab’s Emergency Response Team (ERT) and the South Dakota National Guard.
In this scenario, the joint operation revolved around a simulated underground emergency—one that triggered a response from the 82nd South Dakota National Guard and the 84th Wyoming National Guard Civil Support teams. The teams worked alongside Sanford Lab’s ERT to address safety concerns underground, evacuate personnel and perform a medical helicopter evacuation.
ProtoDUNE's first tracks
In September, ProtoDUNE recorded its first particle tracks, signaling the start of a new chapter in the story of the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment.
The enormous ProtoDUNE detector—the size of a three-story house and the shape of a gigantic cube—was built and operated at CERN, the European laboratory for particle physics.
“Seeing the first particle tracks is a major success for the entire DUNE collaboration,” says DUNE co-spokesperson Stefan Soldner-Rembold of the University of Manchester, UK.
Photo by CERN
Maintenance Support Facility
In October, a commitment of $4 million from the Governor’s office brought the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority closer to commencing construction of a new 25,000-square-foot Maintenance Support Facility at Sanford Lab. The building will provide shop space for maintenance activities, a new warehouse and offices and meeting spaces.
The new facility will replace three existing structures at the Yates surface complex: the Machine Shop, Motor Shop and Iron House, all of which were used during Homestake mining days. The removal of the structures is expected to begin in spring of 2019.
LBNF international contributions
International support for the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) grew this year through collaborative agreements between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and both Italy's Ministry of Education, Universities and Research and India's Department of Atomic Energy.
In June, the DOE and the Italian Embassy, on behalf of the Italian Ministry of Education, Universities and Research, signed an agreement for collaboration on research with the international Short-Baseline Neutrino program hosted at DOE’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.
In April, DOE and India’s Department of Atomic Energy signed an agreement in New Delhi to open the way for jointly advancing cutting-edge neutrino science projects under way in both countries: the LBNF with the international Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment hosted at the DOE’s Fermilab and the India-based Neutrino Observatory.
Credit for this very successful year goes first to our staff. Their commitment to our mission ensures that scientists and other partners can do their work safely and efficiently every day. We also are grateful to our partners, including the various science collaborations at Sanford Lab; Fermilab, which has oversight responsibilities for our operations activities for the Department of Energy and is the lead DOE laboratory for the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility and Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (LBNF/DUNE) project; and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Finally, we so appreciate the continuing support we receive from the State of South Dakota and the SDSTA Board of Directors.