The Large Volume Detector (LVD) is a particle physics

Particle physics

Particle physics is a branch of physics that studies the existence and interactions of particles that are the constituents of what is usually referred to as matter or radiation. In current understanding, particles are excitations of quantum fields and interact following their dynamics...

 experiment situated in the Gran Sasso

Gran Sasso

Gran Sasso d'Italia is a mountain located in the Abruzzo region of central Italy. The Gran Sasso forms the centerpiece of the Gran Sasso e Monti della Laga National Park which was established in 1993 and holds the highest mountains in continental Italy south of the Alps and is part of the...

 laboratory in Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 and is operated by the Italian Institute of Nuclear Physics. It has been in operation since June 1992, and is a member of the Supernova Early Warning System

Supernova Early Warning System

The SuperNova Early Warning System is a network of neutrino detectors designed to give early warning to astronomers in the event of a supernova in the Milky Way galaxy or a nearby galaxy such as the Large Magellanic Cloud or the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy. Enormous numbers of neutrinos are produced...

. Among other work, the detector should be able to detect neutrinos

Neutrino

A neutrino is an electrically neutral, weakly interacting elementary subatomic particle with a half-integer spin, chirality and a disputed but small non-zero mass. It is able to pass through ordinary matter almost unaffected...

 from our galaxy

Milky Way

The Milky Way is the galaxy that contains the Solar System. This name derives from its appearance as a dim un-resolved "milky" glowing band arching across the night sky...

 and possibly nearby galaxies. The LVD uses 840 scintillator counters around a large tank of hydrocarbons. The detector can detect both charged current

Charged current

The Charged current interaction is one of the ways in which subatomic particles can interact by means of the weak force. It is mediated by the and bosons....

 and neutral current

Neutral current

Weak neutral current interactions are one of the ways in which subatomic particles can interact by means of the weak force. These interactions are mediated by the boson...

interactions.