Grant: Canada Excellence Research Chairs

The neutrino, a neutral subatomic particle, is produced in the cores of stars and extreme astrophysical events, in interactions in Earth’s atmosphere, and at nuclear reactors and particle accelerators. Neutrino telescopes reveal insights about the inner workings of the brightest and most intense places in the Universe. To elevate this emerging field of neutrino astronomy, more neutrinos must be observed, which requires more and better neutrino telescopes. Dr. Grant’s research focuses on measurements of neutrinos from solar, atmospheric, and astrophysical sources, as well as direct and indirect searches for the elusive dark matter. Their CERC will support three areas of innovation: data analyses of the IceCube Neutrino Observatory and the near future IceCube Upgrade detector currently under construction; development of next generation observatories, including IceCube-Gen2 and the international Pacific Ocean Neutrino Experiment (P-ONE), a high-energy neutrino observatory to be deployed and operated at the Ocean Networks Canada (ONC) Cascadia Basin experimental site; and realizing a unified global high-energy neutrino network to achieve significantly enhanced analysis sensitivity of full-sky multi messenger observations. Continued developments of novel detector technologies integrated into optical modules deployed within existing underwater infrastructures, including ONC’s Neptune Ocean Observatory off the coast of Vancouver Island, BC, will make it possible to explore: high-energy neutrino astrophysics and sources; fundamental neutrino properties and searches for physics beyond the Standard Model, and new searches for dark matter. The activities are naturally multidisciplinary, advancing the data collection from the deep ocean and polar (Antarctic) environments, and will build new collaborations and approaches in large data analysis. This CERC aims to develop world-class projects operating at a unique intersection of understanding the properties of these elusive particles, and harnessing those properties to open new windows with which to study the most extreme processes in the Universe. Their CERC will provide the catalyst to establish an international centre in BC, the Pacific Canada Centre for Astroparticle Physics (PCCAP), for high-energy neutrino astronomy and multimessenger astrophysics. The research outcomes will have substantial impact on the international astroparticle/particle physics arena, cementing Canada’s leadership in the rapidly advancing field of multimessenger neutrino astrophysics.