• Super-Kamiokande is a 15-story underground lab in Japan designed to detect neutrinos, offering insights into supernovae and the fundamental nature of matter.
• The detector uses 50,000 tonnes of ultra-pure water and 11,000 light detectors (PMTs) to capture Cherenkov radiation produced by neutrinos traveling faster than light in water.
• Super-Kamiokande contributes to the T2K experiment, which studies neutrino oscillations and provides evidence for differences in the behavior of matter and anti-matter.

Super-Kamiokande is a large underground neutrino detector located beneath Mount Ikeno in Japan. Its primary function is to detect neutrinos, elusive subatomic particles that travel through space and matter with minimal interaction. By detecting neutrinos, Super-Kamiokande can provide early warnings about supernovae and shed light on fundamental questions about the universe, such as the imbalance between matter and anti-matter. The detector utilizes a massive tank of ultra-pure water and sensitive light detectors to capture the faint signals produced by neutrino interactions.

• What: Super-Kamiokande is a neutrino detector that uses 50,000 tonnes of ultra-pure water and 11,000 PMTs to detect Cherenkov radiation produced by neutrinos. It is involved in the T2K experiment, studying neutrino oscillations and matter-antimatter asymmetry.
• Who: Key individuals mentioned include Dr. Yoshi Uchida (Imperial College London), Dr. Morgan Wascko (Imperial College London), Dr. Matthew Malek (University of Sheffield), and Neil deGrasse Tyson. Organizations involved include UC Santa Cruz, Imperial College London, University of Sheffield and the Nobel Prize committee.
• When: The article was published on May 1, 2025. The Nobel Prize's tweet was made on March 9, 2025.
• Where: The Super-Kamiokande detector is located 1,000 meters underground beneath Mount Ikeno in Japan.

Super-Kamiokande represents a significant investment in fundamental physics research. Its ability to detect neutrinos provides a unique window into high-energy astrophysical phenomena like supernovae, as well as fundamental properties of matter. The challenges of detecting neutrinos, addressed by the scale and design of Super-Kamiokande, highlight the ingenuity required to probe the universe's most elusive particles. The T2K experiment, utilizing Super-Kamiokande, furthers understanding of neutrino oscillations and the matter-antimatter imbalance.

Matter poses no obstacle to a neutrino. A neutrino could pass through a hundred light-years of steel without even slowing down.

If there’s a supernova, a star that collapses into itself and turns into a black hole… if that happens in our galaxy, something like Super-K is one of the very few objects that can see the neutrinos from it.

Pure water is very, very nasty stuff. It has the features of an acid and an alkaline.

Super-Kamiokande is at the forefront of neutrino research, providing invaluable data on supernovae, neutrino oscillations, and the universe's matter-antimatter asymmetry. Its ongoing operation and involvement in experiments like T2K promise to further unravel the mysteries of these elusive particles and their role in the cosmos. The detector's unique design and capabilities position it as a key instrument for future discoveries in particle physics and astrophysics.