Characterisation of the Bedretto Underground Site for Fundamental Physics Experiments
Abstrak
Underground laboratories provide the ultra-low background and low-vibration environments essential for rare-event searches, gravitational-wave detection, and quantum-sensing technologies. We report a comprehensive environmental characterisation of the Bedretto tunnel in Ticino, Switzerland, a site offering horizontal access, excellent infrastructure, and the potential to be be Europe's second-deepest and quietest underground laboratory. At the prospective physics site, located beneath an overburden exceeding 1400 m, we measure the cosmic-muon, gamma-ray, and neutron fluxes, as well as the radon concentration, magnetic-field spectrum, and seismic backgrounds. The muon flux is suppressed by six orders of magnitude relative to the surface, consistent with an effective depth of about 4000 metre water equivalent, gamma-ray and neutron measurements reflect the local geology and guide shielding requirements for future particle and nuclear physics experiments. Magnetic and seismic noise levels are found to be exceptionally low, meeting or exceeding the criteria for next-generation atom-interferometric gravitational-wave detectors. These results establish the site as a highly competitive, accessible deep-underground location for fundamental-physics experiments.
Topik & Kata Kunci
Penulis (36)
Björn Penning
Nicolas Angelides
Laura Baudis
Harvey Birch
Abigail Flowers
Florian Jörg
Alexander Kavner
Marcelle Soares-Santos
Aravind Sreekala
Johannes Wüthrich
Guandi Zhao
Chiara Capelli
John Clinton
Jose Cuenca García
Paolo Crivelli
Domenico Giardini
Evangelos-Leonidas Gkougkousis
Yacine Haddad
Marian Hertrich
Rebecca Hochreutener
Luisa Hötzsch
Philippe Jetzer
Ben Kilminster
Boris Korzh
Frederick Massin
Knut Dundas Morå
Margherita Noia
Francesco Piastra
Christian Regenfus
Federico Sanchez
Steven Schramm
Francesco Riva
Serhan Tufanli
Michele Weber
Stefan Wiemer
Mathilde Wimez
Akses Cepat
- Tahun Terbit
- 2025
- Bahasa
- en
- Sumber Database
- arXiv
- Akses
- Open Access ✓