The world’s largest magnet, weighing 50,000 tonnes, is being designed at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) at Trombay. It will be several times bigger than the one in the Compact Muan Solenoid detector at CERN in Geneva. The magnet will be used in the Neutrino Observatory which will be housed in a giant cave near Madurai, Tamil Nadu.
The primary aim of the project is to find out more about the behaviour of subatomic particles known as atmospheric neutrinos. The neutrinos will interact with the 50,000 tonnes of magnetized iron resulting in charged particles that will be affected by the magnetic field. Tens of thousands of detectors will be installed in the observatory to monitor the behaviour of these particles.
The Neutrino Observatory would be a major facility relating to the area of basic sciences and would help scientists and students in fields like particle physics, astrophysics and space sciences.
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