Grant: Subatomic Physics Envelope - Project

This proposal (SNO Project Grant B) is a request for three years of support for the Canadian part of the on-site research costs for the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory experiment (SNO), a large international project to study fundamental particles called neutrinos. International project participants also pay their portion of on-site research costs. Neutrinos are able to penetrate out from the thermonuclear furnaces powering the Sun and are detected in the SNO detector, situated 2 km underground near Sudbury, Ontario. Observation of these neutrinos gives specific information about the energy generation processes in the Sun, basic properties of neutrinos themselves and information about the influence of neutrinos on the evolution of the Universe. The experimental program for the present phase of SNO with neutron detectors in the heavy water will continue to provide unique information on solar neutrinos, while also studying neutrinos produced in the Earth's atmosphere, in supernovae and in other astrophysical sources. Properties of solar neutrinos will be studied through more accurate measurements of flavour change, including day-night flux comparisons to search for regeneration in the Earth and measurements of possible periodic variations in neutrino fluxes. These studies can define the allowed range of masses and coupling parameters for electron neutrinos much more strongly than at present. A protocol has been developed for providing early information to the astronomical community in the event of a supernova in our Galaxy.