Generals

From 11 to 13 November, the LSC will host a workshop dedicated to R&D&I on radon at its facilities. The main objective is to bring together the different groups that have developed and are developing research projects on this topic in Spain, together with some national and European experts. The aim is to encourage scientific exchange and promote future projects that generate new knowledge and offer solutions that benefit society as a whole. Registration is now open and all the information available at https://indico.cern.ch/event/1410741/

During the week of July 15, the first round of the PB-08-23: "DNA damage in yeast in low background radiation" was carried out. The aim of this experiment is to study the effects of low background radiation (LRB) on the stability of the mitochondrial DNA of S. cerevisiae (yeast) and on the enzymatic reactions involved in cellular respiration. In the upcoming rounds, the number of generations exposed to the LBR will be increased.

IDM2024 Conference: Preliminary 6-year exposure ANAIS-112 results on dark matter annual modulation. Iván Coarasa (University of Zaragoza) presented the preliminary results of 6 years of ANAIS-112 data on dark matter annual modulation at the IDM2024 conference in L’Aquila, Italy.

Alfa, la revista de seguridad nuclear y protección radiológica del Consejo de Seguridad Nuclear (CSN), dedica su portada al Laboratorio Subterráneo de Canfranc, manteniéndose fiel a su espíritu de promover el conocimiento científico y tecnológico de forma accesible y sencilla. Enlace: https://www.csn.es/noticias-csn/2024/-/asset_publisher/zfXTQAgA3izm/content/la-revista-alfa-se-cuela-en-el-interior-del-laboratorio-subterraneo-de-canfranc

Carlos Peña Garay, director of the Canfranc Underground Laboratory, has been elected new Chair of the APPEC General Assembly. His presidency will begin on 1 January 2025 and he will succeed Andreas Haungs. The Astroparticle Physics European Consortium (APPEC) represents the astroparticle physics community views in Europe’s decision-making process for the long-term future of the field. The General Assembly, formed by directors of major astroparticle physics...

Florian Jörg, a researcher at the Max Planck Institute in Heidelberg and part of the XENON collaboration, has presented a novel technique to reduce radon emanation in materials used in rare event experiments. By using copper electrodeposition, they managed to reduce emanation rates in steel by over 1000 times with just a few microns of coating. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apradiso.2023.110666

Since last week, the LSC has a new cutting edge setup for reading scientific charge-coupled devices (CCDs) with an extraordinary capability: they can count electrons! This breakthrough brings us closer to the ambitious and fascinating goal of building a radio-purity service capable of detecting very low-energy radiation and the weakest signals. It is currently in the commissioning phase, where the equipment is being tested, but environmental background measurements are expected soon.

The 34th meeting of the LSC Scientific Advisory Committee took place on 21-22 May. The Committee heard presentations from the experiments: ANAIS, CROSS, NEXT and DAMIC and assessed the written reports of the rest of the experiments.

At the LSC we organise monthly seminars related to the different scientific and technical areas in which we work. Susana Cebrián, researcher of the CAPA group at the University of Zaragoza and expert in cosmogenic activation of materials, presented the results of her latest research. In this talk, she explained the importance of quantifying and controlling the radioactivity induced in materials by cosmic radiation, fundamental aspect for reducing the radioactive background in rare event experiments, such as those we host at the LSC .