Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory

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Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory
Established2022
Research typeResearch laboratory
Field of research
Physics, dark matter
LocationStawell, Victoria, Australia
37°04′S 142°49′E / 37.07°S 142.81°E / -37.07; 142.81 (Stawell Gold Mine)
AffiliationsUniversity of Melbourne
the Centre of Excellence for Particle Physics
the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation
University of Adelaide
Italian National Institute of Nuclear and Particle Physics.
Websitehttps://www.supl.org.au/

The Stawell Underground Physics Laboratory (SUPL) is a laboratory 1 km deep in the Stawell Gold Mine, located in Stawell, Shire of Northern Grampians, Victoria, Australia. Together with the planned Agua Negra Deep Experiment Site (ANDES) at the Agua Negra Pass, it is one of just two underground particle physics laboratories in the Southern Hemisphere and shall conduct research into dark matter.[1]

The project is a collaboration between six international partners. It will be led by the University of Melbourne with the Swinburne University of Technology, the University of Adelaide, the Australian National University, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) and the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Physics.[2]

It is expected that the project will collaborate closely with the Gran Sasso Laboratory in Italy.[3]

Construction commenced in 2019,[4] and though it was expected to be complete by the end of 2021[5] due to delays from corporate mergers it opened in August 2022.[6]

  1. ^ "Government Digs Deep With Plan For Stawell's Future" (Press release). Premier of Victoria. 13 February 2015.
  2. ^ "Swinburne goes underground in search for dark matter". Swinburne University of Technology. 29 July 2019. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  3. ^ Coughlan, Matt (24 September 2014). "Stawell particle physics laboratory - scientists to speak on Tuesday". Wimmera Mail-Times.
  4. ^ Staff (24 September 2019). "Progress on dark matter lab". www.ansto.gov.au. ANSTO. Retrieved 13 May 2020.
  5. ^ "'Waiting for a ghost': the search for dark matter 1km under an Australian town". the Guardian. 9 October 2021.
  6. ^ "Laboratory to study dark matter opens 1km under Australian town – with no bananas allowed". the Guardian. 18 August 2022. Retrieved 19 August 2022.