HECTOR ready for experiments at CASPAR

Author: Janet Weikel

Hector

Last week a team from Notre Dame, Dan Robertson and Orlando Gomez, were at the Sanford Underground Research Facility working 4850 feet underground to install HECTOR, Notre Dame’s high-efficiency, gamma-ray summing detector. The combined setup, called CASTOR, is now ready and soon be measuring alpha-capture reactions relevant for a wide and varied range of stellar burning scenarios. With CASPAR’s low-energy, high-intensity beams and HECTOR’s high gamma-summing efficiency, the CASTOR team will push the limits of the cross section measurements. HECTOR will remain underground until August 2020 and will be utilized for several experimental campaigns lead by Notre Dame and strongly supported by collaborators from South Dakota School of Mines & Technology.