The Warwick EPP group are pleased to announce the completion of our final P0D ECal module!

Since October 2009 the group has been working hard to build and test six ECal modules destined for the T2K near detector where they will help investigate the mysterious phenomenon of "neutrino oscillations". The first three modules built at Warwick have already been installed in the detector, with the final three following them in September, ready for data-taking resuming in October.

The group is now looking forward to making equally significant contributions to the physics analysis, which will soon make T2K the world's leading neutrino oscillation experiment.

We are pleased to announce the completion of the penultimate P0D ECal module!

For this, the second of the two larger modules, Warwick were also required to assemble the layers of lead and scintillator which make up the active part of the detector. Despite the more lengthy construction requirements everything is on schedule to complete all the modules in time for their September installation in Japan.

The group would like to thank Keith Briggs, a long-time technician at Warwick's Physics Department, who has been a key figure in this construction project and retired last week.  

Meanwhile in Japan... the first three Warwick modules, belonging to the left-side on the near-detector, survived their journey are currently being installed.

 

Tuesday 25th May marks the completion of yet another P0D ECal module by the T2K group at Warwick, and this was the fastest one yet!

Last week, all of the modules destined for the left-hand side of the magnet arrived on-site in Japan, ready for final checks before installation. But this latest module will have to wait before being shipped out: our T2K collaborators at the Rutherford-Appleton Laboratory are to run vital tests on some of the calibration hardware which will be used when the detector is in the experiment.

For now Warwick are moving on to the construction of the penultimate module: the Right-Side P0D ECal (which is almost twice the size of the smaller top/bottom ones).

On Monday 19th April Warwick shipped out the third completed detector module, representing the half-way milestone in our efforts to construct all of the "P0D ECal" Detector modules. These first three "left" modules will be installed during July.

 But there's no waiting around... construction on the first of the modules destined for the "right" side of the detector is already well under-way to meet the installation deadline of early September.

The T2K group at Warwick University have now completed their second detector module! In total six "P0D ECal" modules will be built to aid in the detection of particles escaping from an inner detector known as the "P0D".

This (Top-Left) module will, along with our first, be installed during a service window early in the summer. Warwick now move on to the third (Bottom-Left) module, which will be the last module destined for the left side of the detector.

 

 

On 24th February, the T2K experiment observed the first neutrino event its the far-detector Super-Kamiokande. This is a significant milestone for the collaboration as we move from the construction phase into data taking.

Over the next few months T2K will continue taking data before a summer shutdown to install the last few detector modules, including the six "P0D ECal" modules being built here at the University of Warwick. The experiment will then embark fully on its quest to make the first measurement of the important parameter θ₁₃ which is critical to answering some of the biggest questions in particle physics today.

You can learn more about the T2K experiment by reading our public overview, and more about this event from the press release.

 

The magnet surrounding T2K's near-detector (ND280) was closed up today (26.01.2010) in preparation for data taking beginning next week! The magnet won't be opened again until the summer when the remaining detectors will be installed. See the YouTube video of the closing.

T2K's near-detector (ND280) this morning (19.12.2009) recorded its first neutrino event believed to have originated in the J-PARC neutrino beam. The event was ideal, passing through all installed sub-detectors. See the event display below:

 

Warwick today (14.12.2009) completed construction of the first P0D ECal module for the near-detector (ND280) with five more to follow next year. The detector will now be shipped out to Japan for installation with the other ECal modules built by our collaborators at Liverpool, Daresbury, Sheffield and Lancaster.

 

During a test run of the J-PARC neutrino beam on 22.11.2009 the T2K experiment saw its first neutrino interaction in the INGRID near-detector. This represents a significant milestone for the collaboration which is now looking forward to a full physics run early next year.

• KEK press release
• UK STFC press release