The 2024 New Year will go to the grassroots
It is an honor to be able to take over the baton from the hands of the predecessor 'Panda Man' and stick to the laboratory 2,400 meters underground to ensure the continuous and stable operation of the detector, and this Spring Festival will be more fulfilling and meaningful. Zeng Xinning, a 2019 Ph.D. student in the School of Physics and Astronomy of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, is pouring pure water into the pure water shield of the PANDAX-4T experimental system.
Led by Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Peking University, Beihang University, Shandong University, Fudan University, University of Science and Technology of China, Sun Yat-sen University, Nankai University, Chengdu University of Technology, and Yalongjiang Hydropower Company, the Pandax experiment mainly uses liquid xenon to find dark matter and neutrino signals in the universe. Since the project was launched in 2009, over the past 10 years, batches of "panda people" have been relayed, and three generations of liquid xenon detectors have been developed, and the detection sensitivity has reached the international leading level. At present, the third-generation four-ton experiment Pandax-4T is being carried out, and the trial operation data has once again refreshed the limit of dark matter detection, and for the first time in the world, the electromagnetic properties of dark matter have been systematically and comprehensively studied.
In order to cooperate with the construction of the second phase of the Jinping Underground Laboratory in China, the PANDAX-4T experiment was shut down for one year, and the first phase of the detector was upgraded. In December 2023, the Jinping large facility will be completed and put into operation, and the PANDAX-4T experiment will also need to resume physical data as soon as possible, and the Spring Festival period is a critical stage for operation recovery.
Time is running out, seize the day. Associate Professor Huang Junting from the School of Physics and Astronomy at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Associate Professor Wang Siguang from the School of Physics at Peking University led 8 students from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Sun Yat-sen University, Nankai University, Fudan University and other universities to the laboratory site to complete the operation restoration work.
At present, the pure water shield is being restored, and we are filling pure water in shifts from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day, with a total of 900 cubic meters to be irrigated, which is expected to be completed after the Spring Festival. In addition, there are many parameters that need to be monitored to ensure the stable operation of liquid xenon detectors. As the person in charge of the site, Huang Junting arranged the work tasks in an orderly manner.
This time on duty is no different from the usual duty, to ensure the normal operation of the probe, and dark matter can only be observed when it comes. Wang Siguang introduced that during the Spring Festival in previous years, teachers would also be on duty in the experimental team to ensure the normal operation of the detector.
It is our duty to be on duty to guard the experimental device and complete the experimental operation as soon as possible. I believe that the Spring Festival that will be spent in the mountains this time is one of the most meaningful and special experiences in the lives of most participants. Wang Siguang said.
At present, the detector is still in the pre-operation test stage, and I am responsible for the monitoring of the data taken during the test, including electronics and on-site assistance for the measurement of the radioactivity of the material in the low-background group, and I need to continue to do a good job in the field hardware during the Chinese New Year. Shao Xiyuan, a student at Nankai University, introduced.
Probes provide a huge amount of data, but searching for dark matter signals from this massive amount of data is another challenge. There have been countless days and nights when teachers and students discuss the "anomalies" seen in the data, and deduce the physical processes that occur in the detector through the clues in the data. Scientific research is like a detective solving a crime, guessing, discussing, verifying, failing and reinventing the wheel, and then continuing to guess and verify until the truth comes out.
Whoever is the first to find dark matter will be ahead of the curve in science. Zeng Xinning introduced that through the joint efforts of scientists around the world, the dark matter parameter space has been continuously compressed, leaving little for mankind to reach, and scientific experiments need to race against time.
In order to ensure the normal operation of scientific research, the team's driver, Master Chen, also stayed to celebrate the New Year with the teachers and students. Chef Chen is from Sichuan, and he also went to the mountain to purchase some New Year goods, and prepared to make hot pot for everyone at the Chinese New Year's Eve dinner.
When our lab was first set up, the environment was even harsher, but all the teachers and students of the Pandax team overcame many difficulties to ensure that the experiment went smoothly and achieved world-leading results. Now, we need to pass on this dedication and love to ensure the smooth upgrade of the experiment and the normal operation of the detector in the future. Li Jiafu, a student at Sun Yat-sen University, said.
In Huang Junting's opinion, listening to the sounds of the universe in the world's deepest and largest extremely deep underground laboratory is a very "cool" thing. "Scientific research is very interesting, and I hope to have the opportunity to take my children up the mountain to see how 'cool' scientific research is," he said. ”
China Education Daily, 2024-02-07, page 1
Author: Ren Zhaoxia, reporter of this newspaper.