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Science 21 December 2001:
Vol. 294. no. 5551, p. 2453
DOI: 10.1126/science.294.5551.2453c
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ScienceScope

Japanese researchers hope to recreate the events that led to last month's accident that destroyed nearly 6800 of the 11,000-plus photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) at the Super-Kamiokande neutrino detector (Science, 23 November, p. 1630). Leading theories involve the effects of water pressure, the energy released by the collapse of the 60-cm- diameter vacuum tubes, and the impact of debris from the first broken tube. "We are going to try to reproduce the disaster," says Yoji Totsuka, a professor at the University of Tokyo's Institute for Cosmic Ray Research and head of the observatory, which in 1998 recorded the first convincing evidence that neutrinos have mass.

The first test will shatter one PMT at the tank's bottom and watch its impact on others nearby. A second experiment will test the ability of prototype plastic cocoons to protect the tubes from shock waves and debris. Totsuka hopes to complete the experiments in time to present the results to an investigative committee early next month.

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)