Research Program of the Baksan Neutrino Observatory of the Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Scie
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search Program of the Baksan Neutrino Observatory of the Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences: 50 Years in the Making V. V. Kuzminov* Institute for Nuclear Research, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, 117312 Russia *e-mail: [email protected] Abstract—A brief history of the development of the Baksan Neutrino Observatory (BNO) of the Institute for Nuclear Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences (INR RAS) is presented. Ground and underground facilities are described. The main problems solved using these facilities and results of the conducted measurements are listed. Long-term research plans are discussed. Keywords: cosmic rays, solar neutrinos, low-background studies, ground and underground complex of facilities DOI: 10.1134/S1063779618040391
Ideas on the development of a specialized underground complex for fundamental research in the field of neutrino astrophysics and cosmic ray physics appeared in the late 1950s. In our country, research in this area was conducted under the supervision of Academician M.A. Markov. In the 1960s, he proposed to investigate weak interactions in underground experiments using cosmic ray neutrinos. The method he proposed is based on the detection of muons produced by the interaction of neutrinos with nucleons of the materials in the interior of the Earth. Theoretical calculations were carried out. First estimates of the intensity of the high-energy neutrino flux from possible galactic sources were made. Another line of research that is possible only in underground conditions arose as a result of the development of methods for detecting and measuring the flux of neutrinos coming from the Sun. The facilities were built underground because on the surface of the Earth the background created in the detectors by cosmic-ray muons exceeds the expected effect many times and completely masks it. On June 19, 1963, the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences adopted a resolution on the construction of an underground station and the creation of the Neutrino Laboratory (Head, G.T. Zatsepin; Head of the Sector, A.E. Chudakov) at the Physical Institute. By 1967, the scientific justification was complete, and the neutrino station project was developed. On June 29, 1967, the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union issued a decree establishing a station (Observatory) and in the same year work started. A.A. Pomanskii was appointed the first head of the station.
These people are shown in the photographs in Figs. 1 and 2. It was decided to place the future observatory near Mount Elbrus in the Baksan River gorge in Kabardino-Balkaria. The project envisaged the construction of two parallel horizontal tunnels in the Andyrchi mountain (the summit is 3937 m), along which physical facilities will be located. At the end of the gallery of
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Fig. 1. In the lobby of the conference NEUTRINO’77 (from left to right): (1) Deputy Head of the Baksan Neutrino Observatory of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union E.N. Alekseev, (2) Academician G.T. Zatsepin, (3) Academician M.A. Markov, (
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