6/10/2009 by Beth Bily

(Photo: Fermilab National Accelerator Laboratory near Chicago fires neutrinos at the existing MINOS detector in the Soudan mine. The new NOvA detector will observe a different type of neutrino behavior.)

Construction is just beginning on the Ash River neutrino detector lab.

The University of Minnesota and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory project received $40 million in federal funding. It was the region’s largest federal stimulus grant recipient. The lab will be located about 40 miles south of International Falls.

The NuMI Off-Axis Electron Neutrino Appearance Experiment (NOvA) will operate as a laboratory of the U of M’s School of Physics and Astronomy. The new facility will supplement and complement ongoing subatomical research at the Soudan Underground Mine.

U of M physicist Marvin Marshak is heading the research effort. NOvA will look for a third, thus far unobserved type of neutrino oscillation (changing from one form to another). Two other types are already under observation at Soudan.

The detector will be located 45 feet below ground and the information it gathers may give scientists insight into the origins of the universe and the abundance of matter over antimatter. “This research will really help to understand the Big Bang,” Marshak said.

The widely accepted theory is that the universe was born with a massive cosmic explosion and continues to expand.

The project started with a ceremonial, by invitation-only groundbreaking on May 1. Contractors were given the green light to begin work on May 22, Marshak said. The principal firms are Minneapolis-based Adolfson & Peterson Construction Management Co. and Hoover Construction in Virginia. In late May, subcontractors had not been selected.

Total project cost is $270 million. The entire project will be funded by the federal government through a combination of stimulus money and an allocation from the U.S. Department of Energy.

Marshak expects 60 to 65 construction workers will work on the project this season. The facility itself is scheduled for completion in November 2010. Equipment installation will take another two to three years. The lab is expected to be operational by 2014 and will operate for 10 years.

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