Design of a pan-European underground infrastructure
for very Large Apparatus for Grand Unification and Neutrino Astrophysics
A new infrastructure in Europe ? Advances in low energy neutrino astronomy and direct investigation of Grand Unification require the construction of deep-underground very-large-volume observatories. There is currently no such infrastructure in Europe able to host underground instruments of this size, although many national underground laboratories with high technical expertise are currently operated with leading-edge smaller-scale underground experiments. A pan-European infrastructure able to host underground instruments with volumes up to 1’000’000 m3 will provide new and unique scientific opportunities in low energy neutrino astronomy and Grand Unification physics. This field of research is at the forefront of particle and astro-particle physics and is the subject of intense investigation also in North America and Asia. Such an infrastructure in Europe would attract scientists from all over the world and ensure that Europe will continue to play a leading and innovative role in the field.