Exploring the Beyond: An 800-Mile Quest to Unveil Hidden Dimensions in Science

• Set to go live in 2028, the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) aims to explore the development of “ghost particles” referred to as neutrinos and antineutrinos.
• This could assist researchers in determining why matter prevailed over antimatter in the nascent universe, while also offering insights into another concept in physics—Large Extra Dimensions (LEDs).
• LEDs may elucidate why gravity is less potent compared to other essential forces of nature, as well as why neutrinos possess such minuscule masses.

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While numerous intriguing experiments occur on land or even in space, some of the most captivating scientific work is happening beneath our feet. The world’s leading particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider, is securely situated underground in Geneva, Switzerland. The first laser interferometer in the world, KAGRA, was constructed entirely underground, and its predecessor in gravitational-wave detection, LIGO, similarly has infrastructure buried in the earth.

Nonetheless, arguably the most eagerly awaited underground scientific endeavor is the forthcoming Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE). Its name indicates that its principal goal is to examine neutrinos and antineutrinos, often dubbed “ghost particles” due to their notoriously elusive characteristics. DUNE faces substantial challenges, as these particles—in all three “flavors”—each possess a mass billions of times less than that of an electron. Nevertheless, neutrinos and antineutrinos could elucidate why matter triumphed over antimatter at the universe’s inception, resulting in the formation of… well… everything.

Given the magnitude of this project—approximately 800 miles long, to be precise—other discoveries are also within reach. In fact, a recently released study in the Journal of High Energy Physics from the High Energy Physics Center at Chung-Ang University in South Korea suggests that DUNE could illuminate a concept known as Large Extra Dimensions, or LEDs.

In straightforward terms, the DUNE particle accelerator will generate (from its site at Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois) muon neutrinos and antineutrinos, which will subsequently move to a detector situated 1.5 kilometers underground in South Dakota. Throughout their four-millisecond journey from Illinois to South Dakota, the neutrinos are anticipated to transform into electron neutrinos and tau neutrinos (neutrinos have a tendency to do that). Grasping this neutrino transformation could assist in understanding the events occurring during those initial moments following the Big Bang, yet neutrino behavior could also reveal the existence of additional spatial dimensions alongside our conventional four dimensions.

LiveScience reveals that these Large Extra Dimensions are indeed quite small—about one millionth of a meter—but they appear incredibly large compared to typical subatomic measurements in the domain of femtometers (one-quadrillionth of a meter).

“The main impetus for this hypothesis is to understand why gravity is significantly weaker than the other fundamental forces present in nature,” Mehedi Masud, a co-author of the analysis from Chung-Ang University, explained to LiveScience. “Additionally, the theory of large extra dimensions provides a possible rationale for the emergence of the minuscule neutrino masses, a phenomenon that eludes explanation within the Standard Model of particle physics.”

The authors are confident that DUNE should be capable of detecting these dimensions, as they will modify neutrino oscillations—provided they exist at all. Through computer simulations, Masud and his associates believe that DUNE is sensitive enough to verify the presence of LEDs if they are approximately one millionth of a meter in size. Merging DUNE’s efforts with data from other colliders and cosmological experiments could further enhance our comprehension of LEDs.

For the time being, this remains purely theoretical. However, once DUNE becomes operational in 2028, numerous long-standing inquiries should be resolved—or at the very least, evolve into new, thrilling questions.