The 14th cluster of the Baikal-GVD neutrino telescope is being installed on Lake Baikal, according to the Governor of the Irkutsk Region, Igor Kobzev. The work is being carried out as part of an annual expedition aimed at developing one of the three operating neutrino telescopes in the world.
Currently, the underwater structure of Baikal-GVD includes 13 clusters and 4100 optical modules. In the current expedition, specialists from the Dzhelepov Laboratory of Nuclear Problems are not only building a new cluster, but also modernizing existing ones. About 660 optical modules were assembled for this purpose.
The Baikal-GVD project started in 2010. Each cluster consists of 288 optical detectors that are submerged to the bottom of Lake Baikal. The lake's water plays a key role, allowing accurate tracking of Cherenkov radiation arising from charged particles. With each new cluster, the telescope receives more data.
Neutrinos, studied with the help of the telescope, can reveal the secrets of the origin and evolution of the Universe.
The Russian Baikal-GVD, along with IceCube and KM3NeT, is part of the Global Neutrino Network. The second telescope is located at the Amundsen-Scott Antarctic station, and the third is located on the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea.
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