Results from the Neutral Current Detector Phase of the Sudbury
by
Ryan Martin(Queens University, Canada)
→
Europe/Stockholm
FA31
FA31
Description
Results from the Neutral Current Detector Phase of the Sudbury
Neutrino Observatory
In this talk, I will present the latest published results from the
Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO). This Heavy-Water (D20) Cerenkov
detector was designed to resolve the solar neutrino problem; since Ray
Davis' experiment in the 1960s, there had been a discrepancy between
the measured solar neutrino flux and that predicted by the solar
model. The SNO experiment conclusively showed in 2001 that solar
neutrinos, produced in the electron flavour, transform into muon and
tau flavours on their way to earth. The detector was able to measure
the electron flavour flux through a charged-current reaction, whereas
the total flux of neutrinos was measured independently through a
neutral-current reaction that produced a neutron. The SNO experiment
was performed in three phases defined by different ways of detecting
the neutron. In the first phase, the neutrons were detected by capture
on deuterium, in the second phase two tons of salt (NaCl) were added
to exploit the high cross-section for neutron capture on 35-Cl, and
finally, in the third phase, 40 proportional counters (filled with
3-He) were deployed.
My talk will start with an introduction to solar neutrino physics
before introducing the SNO experiment and the result from the salt
phase. I will then talk about the analysis of the proportional counter
data and the results from that phase. The level of the talk will
be suitable for graduate students.
