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36-569: The experimental set-up was located deep underground in the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso in Italy . The experimental set-up was made by nine 9.70 kg low-radioactivity scintillating thallium -doped sodium iodide crystals [NaI(Tl)]. Each crystal was faced by two low-background photomultipliers through 10 cm light guides. The detectors were installed inside a sealed copper box flushed with highly pure nitrogen in order to insulate

72-593: A 10-kilometre (6.2-mile) two-lane highway tunnel carrying the A24 motorway , the Traforo del Gran Sasso , was bored through the Gran Sasso Massif. In 1995, a second parallel tunnel was completed. Construction of the tunnel included an underground particle physics laboratory at Assergi, the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso or Gran Sasso National Laboratory . The first large experiments there started in 1989. The laboratory

108-417: A deep valley. Corno Grande and Corno Piccolo's ash coloration come from their limestone and dolomite composition. The peaks are snow-covered for much of the year though the snow cover appears to be less each decade. Corno Piccolo is referred to as, "The Sleeping Giant". This is due to the appearance of a profile of a reclined face. This view of Corno Piccolo is evident when viewing the mountain from Pietracamela,

144-483: A flawed optic fiber cable in OPERA receiver of the laboratory, resulting in late arrival of the clock signal to which the neutrinos' arrivals were compared. Although the official statement published by OPERA does not declare any anomaly in the velocity of the neutrinos, and therefore the case is completely solved, the development of the story has given the community pause for thought. In 2014 Borexino measured directly, for

180-465: A member of the coordinating group ILIAS . The laboratory consists of a surface facility, located within the Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga National Park , and extensive underground facilities located next to the 10 km long Traforo del Gran Sasso freeway tunnel. The first large experiments at LNGS ran in 1989; the facilities were later expanded, and it is now the largest underground laboratory in

216-468: A researcher of Institute of Nuclear Physics in Lyons, France, presented preliminary findings that indicated neutrinos produced at CERN were arriving at OPERA detector about 60 ns earlier than they would if they were travelling at the speed of light. This faster-than-light neutrino anomaly was not immediately explained. The results were subsequently investigated and confirmed to be wrong. They were caused by

252-528: A small town near Prati di Tivo , on the north side of the mountain. Corno Grande and Corno Piccolo with their rough vertical walls provide serious rock climbers with challenges. Situated below the peak of the Corno Grande is the Calderone glacier , although deglaciation has significantly reduced the glacier's size. Glaciologists now question whether the glacier will survive past 2020. The mid- to lower slopes of

288-440: A variety of chamois at the very edge of extinction but now making a comeback in the park through a joint effort by WWF Italia and the park administration. Other species of wildlife include wild boar , foxes , grass snakes such as Orsini's viper , and a wide variety of bird life including golden eagles , peregrine falcons , goshawks , ortolan buntings , rock sparrows , crested larks , red-backed shrikes and downy pipits. At

324-479: Is composed of three large underground chambers, sometimes referred to collectively as the third tunnel, and lies beneath 1,400 metres (4,600 feet) of rock. Construction of the laboratory and second tunnel faced opposition from Italian and international environmental groups including Pro-Natura International , LIPU and Club Alpino Italiano , as well as the World Wide Fund for Nature , Greenpeace , and Friends of

360-475: Is remarkably free of tourists despite its proximity to Rome and the events of the Gran Sasso raid that took place there in 1943. This is especially true in summer with most Italians preferring beach vacations and foreign visitors more likely to visit the mountains of northern Italy. Pope John Paul II loved to secretly ski at Gran Sasso where he would retire often and pray at the church of San Pietro della Ienca. When he died Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz , gave

396-618: Is the highest mountain in the Apennines, and the second-highest mountain in Italy outside the Alps . The mountain lies within Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park . The three main summits of the Gran Sasso are Corno Grande , which at 2,912 metres (9,554 feet) is the highest peak in the Apennines, nearby Corno Piccolo , and Pizzo d'Intermesoli , which is separated from the other two peaks by Val Maone,

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432-459: Is the largest underground research center in the world. Situated below Gran Sasso mountain in Italy , it is well known for particle physics research by the INFN . In addition to a surface portion of the laboratory, there are extensive underground facilities beneath the mountain. The nearest towns are L'Aquila and Teramo . The facility is located about 120 km from Rome . The primary mission of

468-738: The Canfranc Underground Laboratory in Spain, has not seen evidence for annual modulation in 112.5 kg of NaI(Tl) crystals and is thus incompatible with DAMA/NaI and DAMA/LIBRA and in November new results from COSINE-100 experiment after 1.7 years of data collection also failed to replicate the signal of DAMA. DAMA/NaI has been replaced by the new generation experiment, DAMA/LIBRA . These experiments are carried out by Italian and Chinese researchers. Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso ( LNGS )

504-608: The Majorana /Dirac nature of the neutrino, called CUORE (Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events), is operating in the laboratory (as of 2018). The detector is shielded with lead recovered from an ancient Roman shipwreck, due to the ancient lead's lower radioactivity than recently minted lead. The artifacts were given to CUORE from the National Archaeological Museum in Cagliari . In September 2011, Dario Autiero,

540-547: The Medicis ; Calascio, which sits before the ancient fortress ruin of Rocca di Calascio, Santo Stefano di Sessanio, and Castel Del Monte. In 2005, a 2,424-metre-high (7,953 ft) peak previously named "The Gendarme" was renamed "John Paul II Peak" on what would have been Pope John Paul II 's 85th birthday. He had visited the Gran Sasso many times, saying it reminded him of the mountains of his native Poland. In January 2017, an avalanche hit Rigopiano hotel , killing 29. In 1984,

576-468: The OPERA and ICARUS detectors, in a study of neutrino oscillations that will improve on the results of the Fermilab to MINOS experiment. In May 2010, Lucia Votano , Director of the Gran Sasso laboratories, announced, "The OPERA experiment has reached its first goal: the detection of a tau neutrino obtained from the transformation of a muon neutrino , which occurred during the journey from Geneva to

612-808: The DAMA collaboration in fall 1997 and published beginning of 1998. The final paper with the full results was published in 2003 after the end of experiment in July ;2002. Various corollary investigations are continuing and have also been published. The model-independent evidence is compatible with a wide set of scenarios regarding the nature of the dark matter candidate and related astrophysical, nuclear and particle physics , for example: neutralinos , inelastic dark matter, self-interacting dark matter , and heavy 4th generation neutrinos . A careful quantitative investigation of possible sources of systematic and side reactions has been regularly carried out and published at

648-556: The DAMA-signal. They are using a similar experimental setup to DAMA (NaI(Tl)-crystals). They published their results in December 2018 in the journal Nature; their conclusion was that their "result rules out WIMP –nucleon interactions as the cause of the annual modulation observed by the DAMA collaboration". A possible explanation of the reported modulation was pointed out as originating from the data analysis procedure. A yearly subtraction of

684-447: The Earth . Environmentalists noted that the nuclear physics laboratory would lie on or near two major and highly active seismic faults, that construction of the tunnels would interfere with a major aquifer , and that construction waste would degrade an environmentally sensitive and significant area. Many credit the opposition created by the tunnel and laboratory construction with galvanizing

720-599: The Gran Sasso Laboratory." This was the first observed tau neutrino candidate event in a muon neutrino beam, providing further evidence that neutrinos have mass. (Research first determined that neutrinos have mass in 1998 at the Super-Kamiokande neutrino detector. ) Neutrinos must have mass for this transformation to occur; this is a deviation from the classic Standard Model of particle physics , which assumed that neutrinos are massless. An effort to determine

756-590: The Gran Sasso are grazed in spring, summer and autumn by large flocks of sheep guarded by Maremmano-Abruzzese sheepdogs as well as herds of cattle and semi-wild horses. The pastures are covered with field grasses and meadowland wildflowers. The park is also the habitat for diverse wildlife from rare species such as the Apennine wolf , the Marsican bear , European wildcat and the Abruzzo chamois ( Rupicapra pyrenaica ornata ),

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792-512: The Italian environmental movement and leading to the creation of the Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park in 1991. In recent years, the laboratory has itself begun promoting preservation of the Gran Sasso environment. Because of its low background radiation, the underground laboratory is used for experiments in particle and nuclear physics, including the study of neutrinos , high-energy cosmic rays , dark matter , nuclear decay , as well as

828-518: The Sun (only 1% of Sun's energy output). With this outcome Borexino has unraveled both the two processes powering the Sun and many main sequence stars. Gran Sasso Gran Sasso d'Italia ( Italian: [ɡran ˈsasso diˈtaːlja] ; lit.   ' Great Rock of Italy ' ) is a massif in the Apennine Mountains of Italy . Its highest peak, Corno Grande 2,912 metres (9,554 ft),

864-524: The Sun's core. The Gran Sasso is located in the Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park . Running through this nature preserve is a portion of the Italian State Highway 80 (SS80), known as the Grand Highway of the Gran Sasso and Monti della Laga National Park ("Strada maestra del Parco"). While frequented by skiers in winter, and mountain climbers and hikers in other seasons, the Gran Sasso

900-532: The constant component can give rise to a sawtooth residual in the presence of a slower time dependence. New support for this hypothesis came in August 2022 when COSINE-100 applied an analysis method similar to one used by DAMA/LIBRA and found a similar annual modulation suggesting the signal could be just a statistical artifact. In May 2021, the ANAIS dark matter direct detection experiment, after acquiring data for 3 years at

936-424: The detectors from air that contains trace amounts of radon, a radioactive gas. To reduce the natural environmental background the copper box is enclosed inside a multicomponent multi-ton passive shield made of copper, lead, polyethylene/paraffin, cadmium foil. A plexiglas box encloses the whole shield and is also kept in a highly pure nitrogen atmosphere. A concrete neutron moderator 1 m thick largely surrounds

972-463: The experiments from cosmic rays . Providing about 3400 metres of water equivalent (mwe) shielding, it is not the deepest underground laboratory, but the fact that it can be driven to without using mine elevators makes it very popular. Since late August 2006, CERN has directed a beam of muon neutrinos from the CERN SPS accelerator to the Gran Sasso lab, 730 km away, where they are detected by

1008-450: The first time, the neutrinos from the primary proton-proton fusion process in the Sun. This result is published on Nature . This measurement is consistent with the expectations derived from the standard solar model of J. Bahcall along with the theory of solar neutrino oscillations as described by MSW theory . In 2020 Borexino measured also solar neutrinos originated from CNO cycle , a fusion process common in giant stars but uncommon in

1044-434: The laboratory is to host experiments that require a low background environment in the fields of astroparticle physics and nuclear astrophysics and other disciplines that can profit of its characteristics and of its infrastructures. The LNGS is, like the three other European underground astroparticle laboratories ( Laboratoire Souterrain de Modane , Laboratorio subterráneo de Canfranc , and Boulby Underground Laboratory ),

1080-409: The local Abruzzo community some of the late pontiff's blood as a token of the love he had felt for the mountainous area. The Shrine of Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows at Isola del Gran Sasso d'Italia with average of two million visitors per year is one of the 15 most visited sanctuaries in the world. Acclaimed international movies shot at Gran Sasso include Jean-Jacques Annaud 's The Name of

1116-438: The northern base of Corno Piccolo is Prati di Tivo, a ski village. To the east of Corno Grande and Corno Piccolo lies Campo Imperatore , a 27-kilometre-long (17-mile) and 8-kilometre-wide (5.0-mile) high plain or plateau at about 2,000 metres (6,600 feet) height. Campo Imperatore is home to Italy's oldest continuously operating commercial ski area (connected to Fonte Cerreto via cable car). Hotel Campo Imperatore in Gran Sasso

DAMA/NaI - Misplaced Pages Continue

1152-486: The set-up. The experiment followed the proposal of Pierluigi Belli (then a Ph.D. student, now a research director of the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics), which his research group then followed up on. The DAMA/NaI set-up observed the annual modulation signature over 7 annual cycles (1995–2002). The presence of a model independent positive evidence in the data of DAMA/NaI was first reported by

1188-591: The study of geology , and biology . The laboratory employs over 700 scientists from twenty different countries. The LNGS was the destination of the neutrinos involved in the faster-than-light neutrino anomaly publicly announced in September 2011 and retracted in July 2012. In the summer of 2014 the facility was instrumental in confirming previous theories about the Sun's main source of energy, when proton-to-proton fusion-produced neutrinos were detected and measured, virtually at

1224-623: The time of each data release. No systematic effect or side reaction able to account for the observed modulation amplitude and to simultaneously satisfy all the requirements of the signature has been found. The experiment has also obtained and published many results on other processes and approaches. Negative results from the XENON Dark Matter Search Experiment seem to contradict DAMA/Nal's results. The COSINE-100 collaboration has been working in Korea towards confirming or refuting

1260-554: The world. There are three main barrel vaulted experimental halls, each approximately 20 m wide, 18 m tall, and 100 m long. These provide roughly 3×20×100=6,000 m (65,000 sq ft) of floor space and 3×20×(8+10×π/4)×100=95,100 m (3,360,000 cu ft) of volume. Including smaller spaces and various connecting tunnels, the facility totals 17,800 m (192,000 sq ft) and 180,000 m (6,400,000 cu ft). The experimental halls are covered by about 1400 m of rock, protecting

1296-634: Was Benito Mussolini 's prison until his freeing in September 1943 by Nazi commandos in the Gran Sasso raid . The plateau is also the site of the Campo Imperatore station of the Rome Observatory , from which the Campo Imperatore Near-Earth Object Survey and other astronomical studies are carried out. At the southern edge of Campo Imperatore and within the bounds of the national park are three medieval hill towns once ruled by

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