Physics Potential and
Feasibility of UNO:
The UNO (Underground Nucleon
decay and Neutrino Observatory) detector is a next generation large water
Cherenkov detector proposed to be built for proton decay searches and for
various neutrino physics applications.
The detector has a total volume of 650 kilotons and a fiducial volume
for physics analysis of 440 kilotons, which is 20 times larger than that of the
Super-Kamiokande detector. Preliminary
studies show that such a detector can increase the proton decay search
sensitivity for various modes about ten times that of Super-Kamiokande, detect
neutrinos from a supernova explosion in the Andromeda galaxy increasing the
supernova neutrino detection rate to about once every 10 to 20 years, and
detect 140k neutrino events from a supernova explosion at 10kpc allowing us to
study the supernova mechanism in detail including core collapse modeling and
possible black hole formation. The
detector provides ample data for detailed study of atmospheric neutrino
oscillations including tau neutrino appearance and definite oscillatory
signature in L/E. The detector is also
a natural far detector for a superbeam experiment if the neutrino beam energy
is kept around or below 1 GeV.