Design of the Pacific Ocean Neutrino Experiment‘s First Detector Line

The Pacific Ocean Neutrino Experiment (P-ONE) is a planned multi-cubic-kilometer neutrino telescope in the depths of the Northeast Pacific Ocean, offshore of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Its primary scientific objective is the detection of high-energy neutrinos, which as cosmic messengers, are crucial to complement our understanding of the origin and acceleration mechanisms of cosmic rays. P-ONE will be connected to an existing deep-sea infrastructure, the NEPTUNE observatory, hosted by Ocean Networks Canada (ONC). Following the successful deployment of two pathfinder missions, aiming for the characterization of the proposed deployment location, the P-ONE collaboration with its partners at ONC is working towards the realization of the first detector line of P-ONE. The challenging deepsea environment, ocean dynamics, background variations induced by bioluminescence and ⁴⁰K decay, as well as the aim for modularity and scalability, require novel approaches to the detector design. The P-ONE-1 line strives to overcome these challenges and ultimately serve as a blueprint for the following installations. P-ONE-1 will comprise 20 optical and calibration modules, enclosed in glass hemispheres and integrated with a novel hybrid cable architecture with a combined length of just over 1000 m.