The Latin America - UK Neutrino Initiative, Small Proposal

The US-hosted DUNE experiment is a major international particle physics project and with over 1000 collaborators from 175 institutions in 32 countries is comparable in size to the experiments running at the LHC at CERN. It is designed to study oscillations of neutrinos emitted from Fermilab near Chicago to the SURF Laboratory in South Dakota 1300 km away. The 70 000 tonne liquid argon detectors allow addressing the the highest-level scientific goals and big questions in physics:
- Discovery and measurements of neutrino CP violation, a key ingredient in understanding the matter dominance in our Universe, as well as searches for physics beyond the standard paradigm;
- Observation of the electron neutrino burst from a galactic core-collapse supernova;
- Search for proton decay, expected in most models of new physics, but not yet observed.
These are questions at the forefront of particle physics research and require a major international project such as DUNE to resolve.

The aim of this proposal is to continue developing a research network between UK and Latin American institutions with the long-term goal of delivering economic benefit to Latin American countries by enhancing scientific and technological capabilities. Meaningful involvement of Latin American groups in the science, construction and operation of DUNE would boost the development of experimental particle physics in these countries, and allow them to benefit from knowledge exchange brought about through international collaboration. DUNE provides a remarkable and inspiring opportunity for nations around the globe to collaborate on the largest and most ambitious neutrino experiment to date.

This proposal is intended to maintain the UK-Latin American research network established with a previous one year proposal. The long term goal of this network is to develop a future large-scale GCRF proposal that can deliver sustainable development benefits within Latin America, with the aim of
enhancing the scientific and technical base In Latin America through engagement with a global scientific project. This aim can only be achieved within a longer-term project and a larger budget.

Using this short award we will organize a 5-day physics/software school in Latin America (likely location will be in Brazil ) in order to train Latin American students and researchers in the use of liquid argon neutrino software and setup projects that will enable a continued collaboration between UK and Latin American groups.
We will also organize a meeting with the Latin American PIs to discuss the future paths of this project, likely tied to a DUNE collaboration meeting to maximize participation.

These goals are intended to provide the pathway to establishing a much larger project to deliver the long-term development aims. Indeed, one of the main desired outcomes of establishing this network is a follow-on (much larger) GCRF proposal that would be of sufficient scale to address the development goals of the participating Latin American nations. The engagement of researchers in Latin America in the definition of this longer-term programme is essential for its ultimate success and to ensure that it is well-aligned with the (different) development goals of Latin American countries.