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February 09, 2012
Navis oneraria magna
The National Laboratories of Gran Sasso recently received 120 Roman lead bricks, recovered undersea twenty years ago. The material's very low original radioactivity, and two thousand years to decay, makes it handy for shielding the sensitive physics involved in the CUORE experiment (Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events).
Recent developments in fundamental physics have stressed the importance of experiments carried out without accelerators on rare events, like the interactions of neutrinos or other slightly interacting particles or rare nuclear decays. One of the challenges of these experiments is the reduction of the natural background coming from interactions of cosmic rays with the consequent need to install the detectors in an underground laboratory. In addition one has to reduce the background produced by natural radioactivity present in the environment or even in the detector itself.
Posted by Ghost of a flea at February 9, 2012 08:58 AM