Symposium and Celebration to Commemorate the 20th anniversary of Super-Kamiokande
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On June 17th, 2016 a symposium to mark the 20th anniversary of Super-Kamiokande was held in Toyama. The symposium was followed by a celebration and both events were hosted by the Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, University of Tokyo. Around 250 guests composed of both collaborators and people who have supported the continuous observations of Super-Kamiokande attended.
The symposium opened with an address from Prof. Takaaki Kajita, the director of ICRR and was followed by congratulatory speeches from Ms. Yayoi Komatsu, director-general of Research Promotion Bureau, MEXT and Prof. James Stone on behalf of Dr. Alan Stone, High Energy Physics Budget and Planning, the US DOE. Super-Kamiokande collaborators then proceeded to present not only the results of Super-Kamiokande’s research over the last 20 years, but also explained planned upgrades of the experiment and introduced the next generation project, Hyper-Kamiokande.
During the celebration following the symposium, Prof. Makoto Gonokami, president of University of Tokyo, delivered a speech of congratulations which was followed by congratulatory addresses from Mr. Tsuzuku, the Mayor of Hida City, and Prof. Yasuhiro Okada, the director of KEK. Throughout the evening guests and collaborators shared their memories of the early days of Super-Kamiokande and offered their congratulations.
Speaking on this occasion, Masayuki Nakahata, Spokesperson of Super-Kamiokande and Director of Kamioka Observatory, ICRR, University of Tokyo, noted that, “Over the last 20 years Super-Kamiokande’s numerous neutrino oscillation discoveries have contributed greatly to elementary particle physics. In addition to further contributions that will be made with more data from T2K, Super-Kamiokande can be expected to contribute to astrophysics as well, with observations of supernova neutrinos.” Henry Sobel, Co-Spokesperson of Super-Kamiokande and Professor of Physics at the University of California, Irvine, followed by stating, “Besides having world-leading results and prize-winning discoveries, Super-Kamiokande has led to the awarding of over 70 Ph.D. degrees to students who have gone on to become leaders in new generations of experiments.”
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►Twenty years after the start of Super-Kamiokande
Super-Kamiokande 20th Anniversary Symposium
June 17th, 2016 15:00-17:00 Wohlfahrt Toyama (Toyama, Japan)
| Opening addresses | ||
|---|---|---|
| Takaaki Kajita | Director of Institute for Cosmic Ray Research, the University of Tokyo | |
| Yayoi Komatsu | Director-General of Research Promotion Bureau, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology | |
| James Stone on behalf of Alan Stone | High Energy Physics Budget and Planning, United States Department of Energy | |
| Scientific presentations | ||
| Introduction | Masayuki Nakahata (Spokesperson, Kamioka Observatory) | |
| Discovery of atmospheric neutrino oscillation and recent progress | Edward Kearns (Boston University) | |
| Discovery of solar neutrino oscillation and recent progress | Yoichiro Suzuki (Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe) | |
| K2K and T2K experiments | Tsuyoshi Nakaya (Kyoto University) | |
| Success of the international collaboration | Christopher Walter (Duke University) | |
| Theoretical importance of the Super-Kamiokande results | Alexei Smirnov (Max Planck Institute) | |
| Hyper-Kamiokande | Masato Shiozawa (Kamioka Observatory, ICRR, University of Tokyo) | |
| Future of Super-Kamiokande | Masayuki Nakahata (Spokesperson, Kamioka Observatory) | |
Chronology
1991.12 Start of excavation of the cavity
1994.6 Completion of excavation of the cavity and start of detector construction
1996.1 Filling the SK detector with pure water
1996.4 The first operation of Super-Kamiokande detector at 0:00AM, which was started by the first spokesperson, Prof. Yoji Totsuka.
1998.6 Discovery of atmospheric neutrino oscillation
1999.1 Asahi Prize to Super-K collaborators
1999.6 Start of the K2K experiment
2001.6 Discovery of solar neutrino oscillation
2001.7 Work to replace malfunctioning PMTs
2001.11 An accident damages half of the Super-K PMTs. Prof. Totsuka: “We will rebuild the detector. There is no question.”
2002.4 Restoration work from the accident
2002.10 Restart with a half density of PMTs
2002.12 The 2002 Nobel Prize in Physics awarded to Prof. Masatoshi Koshiba
2004.6 Confirmation of atmospheric neutrino oscillation by the K2K experiment using beam neutrinos
2004.7 Direct observation of an oscillatory signature in the atmospheric neutrino samples
2005.10 Reconstruction work for full recovery of the PMT density
2006.7 Completion of full reconstruction and the start of SK-III
2008.9 Replacement of front-end electronics and data acquisition system (DAQ)
2009.4 Start of the T2K (Tokai to Kamioka) experiment, the first off-axis neutrino oscillation experiment
2010.6 Launching a test facility for the SK-Gd project
2011.6 Discovery of electron neutrino appearance in the T2K experiment
2012.7 Proton decay p→e+π0 lifetime limit published by SK exceeds 1034years.
2013.7 Measurement of electron neutrino appearance in the T2K experiment
2015.11 2016 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics awarded to Prof. Yoichiro Suzuki, Prof. Takaaki Kajita and SK Collaborators, and Prof. Koichiro Nishikawa and K2K/T2K Collaborators
2015.12 The 2015 Nobe Prize in Physics awarded to Prof. Takaaki Kajita