The Gran Sasso Laboratory and Physics Programme
E. Bellotti · Europhysics news · 1990
An Associate Member of EPS In the 1970's, after the success of the electroweak theory, several Grand Unification Models for the strong and electroweak interactions were propo sed.They predicted proton decay with a half-life of 1030 years or less, and many other phenomena forbidden by the Standard Model of elementary particles.Experiments on proton decay started in Europe, USA, Japan and India and seve ral substantial detectors were installed in mines or road tunnels.However, the need for a new, large, well equipped underground laboratory was clear.A. Zichichi, who was at the time President of I.N.F.N., the Italian national agency for basic nuclear and subnuclear research, proposed to the Italian government the construction of the Laboratorio Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS).The project was approved and two laws, in February 1982 and June 1984, allocated some 80000 million lire.The Laboratory is now in operation and the first results on a variety of sub jects have been obtained.FACILITIES The Gran Sasso Massif, the highest mountain in the Apennines, is pierced by a pair of 10.4 km long tunnels on the highway from Rome to Teramo by the Adriatic Sea.At 6.4 km from the west entrance, close to the village of Assergi (L'Aquila), a by-pass leads into the Laboratory.The Laboratory consists of three large halls -designated A, B and C -service and transit areas, safety tunnels and, to the north, three small tunnels dedicated to geophy sics.The total excavated volume is = 180000 m3 and the total surface area is = 15000 m2.A few buildings not far from the west entrance host small laboratories, a me chanical workshop, and offices for phy sicists and administrative personnel.