Why the US Needs a Deep Domestic Research Facility: Owning rather than Renting the Education Benefits, Technology Advances, and Scientific Leadership of Underground Physics

TL;DR

This paper advocates for establishing a dedicated deep underground research facility in the US, highlighting its benefits for scientific leadership, technological progress, and educational opportunities in underground physics.

Contribution

It provides an overview of the Sanford Underground Research Facility and argues for the strategic importance of a domestic underground physics laboratory for US scientific leadership.

Findings

Sanford Underground Research Facility enhances US scientific capabilities.

A domestic facility supports energy and intensity frontier experiments.

Owning a research site offers educational and technological benefits.

Abstract

I summarize the status of the Sanford Underground Research Facility in South Dakota and present connections to Energy and Intensity Frontier that benefit from the establishment of SURF and the staging of US-funded experiments in a domestic facility.