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KM3NeT united in Caen for its Collaboration meeting

30 June 2025 – Last week, KM3NeT met in Caen, in Normandy, France, for its summer Collaboration Meeting, hosted by LPC Caen and Caen University.

Following the announcement of KM3-230213A, engaging discussions and informative presentations highlighted the latest progress with the ARCA and ORCA detectors. Advancements in construction, simulation, calibration, and data analysis were discussed. The meeting also featured updates on recent scientific results, getting ready for the upcoming conferences.

The KM3NeT Collaboration is pleased to welcome the following new members: Princeton University, with a team coordinated by Christopher Tully, joined as a full member, while Technical University of Munich (team coordinated by Philipp Eller), Norwegian University of Science and Technology (team coordinated by Foteini Oikonomou) and Universidade Estadual Paulista in Brasil (team coordinated by Marcio Eduardo da Silva Alves) joined as observers.

A warm welcome to all: we look forward to sharing exciting scientific progress together.

Many thanks to the local organisers for their excellent work and hospitality.

The next KM3NeT meeting will be in October at CERN, for an intense Analysis Week!

2nd DOM integration workshop

27 May 2025 – Do you know how the optical modules of KM3NeT are built? This has been shown and practised in the second edition of the Digital Optical Module (DOM) integration workshop which took place last week.

In total 30 people participated in the workshop. They came from the eight KM3NeT integration labs, including the new lab in Salerno, Italy. Experts from the KM3NeT steering committee and the central and local quality management were also present.

The workshop was purely hands-on! Each step in mounting a DOM was scrutinised, while the participants shared their experience and the procedures were discussed.

The workshop took place in the CAPACITY laboratory in Caserta, Italy, taking advantage of the new facilities which were recently inaugurated.

The construction of the KM3NeT optical modules consists of many steps, comprising several delicate operations. The final product is a pressure-resistant glass sphere which contains 31 photomultipliers and various electronics devices for the power supply and acquisition and transmission of data.

In addition, the optical modules contain important calibration devices, such as a compass, a piezoacoustic sensor for positioning the modules and a fast LED pulser, the nanobeacon, for calibrating the photomultipliers. They are fundamental for pushing the performance of the KM3NeT neutrino detectors.

The two hemispheres which compose an optical module are assembled and tested separately. When everything is installed and all functional tests are passed, it is time to proceed to non-reversible steps of integration, such as pouring optical gel in the interface between the photomultipliers and the glass of the hemispheres. Finally, the optical module can be closed and sealed. After undergoing a last acceptance test, the module is ready for being integrated in a detection line.

All integration and test procedures strictly comply with the high quality standards of KM3NeT.

And what if a problem occurs in a completed and sealed optical module? Is it possible to open it? The answer is yes! But with a very very delicate procedure.

Below are some pictures taken during the workshop.

Inauguration of the new facilities of the CAPACITY Laboratory in Caserta

14 May 2025 – Today the new facilities of the CAPACITY laboratory in Caserta have been inaugurated.

The extension of the CAPACITY laboratory will allow for building, testing and integrating a large fraction of the KM3NeT digital optical modules, base modules and detection units, thus considerably speeding up the construction of the KM3NeT detectors. The laboratory is in fact equipped to facilitate all the integration steps which are necessary for building complete detection units and for preparing them in the packed configuration used for deployment.

In addition, the CAPACITY laboratory hosts sophisticated test facilities, including a state-of-the-art laboratory dedicated to the characterisation of optical sensors, a large tank for tests of digital optical modules in water, a large thermal chamber and more, allowing for extensive tests of different components to be carried out at the site. The CAPACITY laboratory also hosts the European Logistics Center of the Collaboration, where the components needed for detector construction are collected for distribution to the integration sites.

CAPACITY (Campania AstroPArtiCle InfrastrucTure facilitY) is a laboratory created in 2019 thanks to the joint action of the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) and the University of Campania “L. Vanvitelli”, within the Research Laboratories Centre (POLAR) of the Department of Mathematics and Physics of the University of Campania.

The new CAPACITY facilities have been made possible by the efforts of the institutions, the University of Campania “L. Vanvitelli” and the Italian National Institute of Nuclear Physics, in the framework of the NextGenerationEU Italian PNRR KM3NeT4RR project. With KM3NeT4RR, crucial actions towards the expansion of the KM3NeT Italian site off the coast of Capo Passero in Sicily have been funded. These include the extension of the submarine infrastructure and the strengthening of the detector integration laboratories and of its testing facilities.

Lucio Gialanella (left) and Pasquale Migliozzi (right), respectively the representative of University of Campania “L. Vanvitelli” and the CAPACITY director, at the inauguration time

Paul de Jong, KM3NeT Spokesperson

One of the new integration halls at CAPACITY (for DOM integration)

KM3NeT has met in Les Houches for its Third Town Hall Meeting

18 April 2025 – The third KM3NeT Town Hall Meeting took place in the School of Physics of Les Houches, close to Chamonix (France), in front of the Mont Blanc, from 13th to 18th April 2025.

The meeting brought together a vibrant community of scientists to exchange ideas, present recent progress, and build new external collaborations in the field of neutrino astronomy.

Held in person, the agenda featured plenary sessions in the mornings and interactive working groups in the afternoons, fostering deep discussions between experimentalists and theorists. This meeting structure proved highly effective in encouraging meaningful collaboration and idea-sharing across the astroparticle physics community.

Highlights of the meeting included updates on the status and performance of KM3NeT’s ORCA and ARCA detectors, as well as discussions on ultra-high-energy events (among which, of course, KM3-230213A), Galactic neutrino sources and neutrino follow-up strategies. Additionally, poster sessions showcased ongoing analyses and new research directions.

With its promising angular resolution, broad energy range and sky-coverage, KM3NeT is positioned at the forefront of the multi-messenger astronomy era. The Town Hall Meeting reinforced the groundwork for exciting future collaborations.

On a lighter note, the event also featured networking sessions on mountain trails, where participants enjoyed scenic trekking routes, and a surprising April snowfall, which added both charm and challenge to the experience.

A sincere thank you to all participants, speakers, and organizers for making this event a success. We look forward to continuing the momentum and welcoming you to future KM3NeT events!

Observation of an ultra-high-energy cosmic neutrino with KM3NeT

On February 12, 2025, The KM3NeT Collaboration has announced the detection from the abyss of the Mediterranean Sea of a cosmic neutrino with a record-breaking energy of about 220 PeV.

More information can be found in the:

Additionally, 4 companion papers have been published on arXiv:

A fruitful Collaboration Meeting in Louvain-la-Neuve!

4 February 2025 – Last week, KM3NeT has met, both in person and online, for its winter Collaboration Meeting , in Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, hosted by UCLouvain.

Various discussions and presentations highlighted progresses and activities related to the ARCA and ORCA detectors, including updates on construction, simulation, calibration and data analysis efforts. The meeting also featured talks on the latest scientific results, including…plans for very exciting results to be announced soon!

Beyond the scientific sessions, the event fostered community engagement through social activities and networking opportunities.

It was also the occasion to welcome our new Management Team: Paul De Jong (Nikhef and University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands) serves as Spokesperson, Damien Dornic (CPPM/CNRS, France) as Deputy Spokesperson, Rosa Coniglione (INFN-LNS, Italy) as the Physics and Software Manager, and Antonio D’Amico (Nikhef, The Netherlands) holds the position of Technical Project Manager. The entire Collaboration extends its congratulations to the outgoing Management Team and wishes the best of luck to its newly elected members.

The KM3Net Collaboration is pleased to welcome a new team, from INFN and University of Florence, Italy, coordinated by Nicola Mori: we are happy to have you as part of our Collaboration and look forward to your valuable contributions.

Thanks a lot to the whole local team for the wonderful organization.

The next Collaboration Meeting is scheduled for the coming summer, in France, at Caen.