Speakers
Hide-Kazu Tanaka
(ICRR)
Hidekazu TANAKA
(ICRR)
Description
The Hyper-Kamiokande, which we are currently developing, is designed to be the next
decade's flagship experiment for the study of neutrino oscillations, nucleon decays, and astrophysical neutrinos. The detector is the third generation underground water
Cherenkov detector at Kamioka. Holding 1 million ton water target being about 20 times
larger than the Super-Kamiokande, the detector will extend the sensitivity to search for
baryon-number-violated proton (and bound neutron) decays by one order of magnitude
or more to test various grand unified theories. It also aims to explore the full picture of
neutrino masses and mixings by using intense accelerator and atmospheric neutrinos.
These experimental studies would become windows to see physics at the grand unification
scale of $\sim10^{16}$ GeV which is far beyond the energy scale of accelerator based
particle physics. The detector also serves as an astrophysical neutrino observatory
aiming to study the explosion mechanism of core-collapse supernova, the history of star
formation and heavy element synthesis in the universe, WIMP dark matters trapped in the
Sun, Earth, and Galaxy, and other astrophysical neutrino sources.
Physics potential of the Hyper-Kamiokande is estimated based on the well proven water
Cherenkov technology and its detector performance. Feasibility of the one megaton size
detector has been shown by its baseline design, and the detector design is being
optimized at present. By taking into account the production rate of photo-sensors
and estimated construction period, the Hyper-Kamiokande is expected to start its
operation in 2023.
