The KM3NeT project: status and future perspectives

The KM3NeT Collaboration is constructing a multi-site research infrastructure in the Mediterranean Sea, hosting a next generation underwater neutrino observatory. The infrastructure will host two neutrino detectors: ORCA, offshore Toulon (France) at a depth of 2500 m, and ARCA, offshore Capo Passero (Italy) at a depth of 3500 m. ORCA will be a Mton scale detector, optimised to detect neutrinos of tens of GeV. It will be dedicated to study neutrino oscillations aiming in particular at determining the mass hierarchy. ARCA will be the km3-scale neutrino telescope in the Northern hemisphere, dedicated to the search for astrophysical neutrino sources in the TeV-PeV range. Its location will allow surveying a large part of the sky, including most of the Galactic Plane and the Galactic Centre. The first detection units were deployed and the data analysis is ongoing to validate performances of both the detectors. In this paper we will give a general overview of the project, reporting its present status as of September 2019 and the future perspectives.