The Baikal deep underwater neutrino telescope (or Baikal-GVD – Gigaton Volume Detector)

is an international project in the field of astroparticle physics and neutrino astronomy. The construction of Baikal-GVD is motivated by its discovery potential in astrophysics, cosmology and particle physics. Its primary goal is the detailed study the flux of high-energy cosmic neutrinos and the search for their sources. Baikal-GVD will also search for dark matter candidates, for neutrinos from the decay of superheavy particles, for magnetic monopoles and other exotic particles. It will also be a platform for environmental studies in Lake Baikal.

Baikal-GVD will study the most violent processes in the Universe, which accelerate charged particles to highest energies, far beyond the reach of laboratory experiments on Earth. These processes must be accompanied by the emission of neutrinos. The large detection volume, combined with very good angular and energy resolution and the moderate light background in fresh water of Lake Baikal allows for an efficient study of the diffuse neutrino flux and of neutrinos from individual astrophysical objects, be they steady or transient. Multi-messenger methods will be used to relate our findings to those of classical astronomers and with X-ray or gamma-ray observations.

The telescope is one of the three largest neutrino detectors in the world along with IceCube at the South Pole and ANTARES in the Mediterranean Sea.