Pioneering Solar Neutrino Research: BelSU Physicists Secure Grant with International Team

Scientists from the Laboratory of Advanced Radiation Research and Technology at Belgorod National Research University (BelSU), led by senior researcher Andrey Oleynik, are part of an international team that includes researchers from Russia, Japan, the UK, and China. They have won a competition to develop experiments at the Jinping National Laboratory, the largest underground laboratory in the world, located in Sichuan Province.

This facility focuses on fundamental questions regarding the structure of the universe and seeks to discover elementary particles that rarely interact with ordinary matter. One of its key components, the PandaX experiment, is among the largest particle and astrophysical xenon detectors globally, designed to search for dark matter particles and study neutrino properties.

The NSFC grant marks the culmination of six months of intensive collaboration among this international team, centred on the project titled Development of Key Methods for Measuring Solar Neutrinos Using an Underground Xenon Detector. Spanning four years, this project aims to enhance the capabilities for detecting solar neutrinos.

“The uniqueness of this project lies in its potential to serve as an incubator for developing each research topic into larger, independent projects,” said Oleynik. “We anticipate that each will significantly contribute to addressing the challenges associated with detecting weakly interacting particles. Currently, we are actively developing a calibration generator and participating in a project at Moscow State University’s Institute of Nuclear Physics focused on ultra-low-background titanium. Based on our collaboration with the Chinese team, we also plan to expand our projects and set more ambitious goals.”

Oleynik highlighted that this collaboration with PandaX provides BelSU students with valuable opportunities to gain hands-on experience in large-scale international scientific experiments while contributing to our understanding of the fundamental laws governing our universe. BelSU Rector Evgeniya Karlovskaya congratulated the scientists in her Telegram channel, wishing them success in realizing their planned experiments.