Hyper-Kamiokande is a neutrino observatory being constructed on the site of the Kamioka Observatory, near Kamioka, Japan.
The project started in 2010 as a successor to Super-Kamiokande. It was ranked as among the 28 top priority projects of the Japanese government. Thirteen countries from three continents are involved in this program.[1]
Construction was given final approval on 13 December 2019.[2] Mass production of the photomultiplier tube detectors began in 2021.[3] Construction of the access tunnel was completed on February 25, 2022.[4] The beginning of data-taking is planned for 2027.[5]
Hyper-Kamiokande will have a tank with a billion litres of ultrapure water (UPW), 20 times larger than the tank for Super-Kamiokande. This increased capacity will be accompanied by a proportional increase in the number of sensors. The tank for Hyper-Kamiokande will be a double cylinder 2 × 250 meters long, always approximately 40 × 40 meters, and buried 650 meters deep[6] to reduce interference from cosmic radiation.
Among the scientific objectives will be the search for proton decays.[2][7] Super-Kamiokande put a lower bound on the proton's half life of around 1034 years, which is enough to rule out some Grand Unified Theories (GUTs) such as SU(5); Hyper-Kamiokande will allow for a lower bound of around 1035, enabling other GUT candidates to be tested.[2][7]
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