The Queen's Particle Astrophysics group is a world leader in the
field, and pursues questions that are found at the intersection of
astrophysics and particle physics. Questions such as "What is the
nature of dark matter and dark energy?", "How have the properties of
particles, like the neutrino, shaped the evolution of the universe?",
"What are cosmic rays and what accelerates them?", "Are protons
stable?" and "Are there additional space-time dimensions?".
The group has ten faculty
members, eight experimentalists involved in several large projects based at
SNOLAB, and two theorists. SNOLAB is the world's deepest underground laboratory for physics, built
as an extension of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, a solar neutrino detector.
The SNO experiment has been a major success in physics and astrophysics. SNO
discovered that solar neutrinos change flavour or "oscillate" as they propagate
from their place of origin in the Sun to the Earth and SNO confirmed our
understanding of the energy generation mechanism inside stars. Knowing that
neutrinos oscillate implies that they have a finite mass, with implications for
cosmology.
Exciting new experiments are planned that aim to detect dark matter
particles, probe the fundamental properties of neutrinos, and detect
geoneutrinos, the antineutrinos emitted by radioactivity in the Earth. Click on
the Projects link to read more about the
experiments or theory being developed here at Queen's:
| SNOLAB
| - | Deep underground laboratory for Particle Astrophysics |
| SNO
| - | Measurement of solar neutrinos with Heavy Water |
| PICO
| - | Dark matter search with Superheated Droplets |
| SNO+
| - | Low energy neutrinos (e.g. solar, geo, supernova) with Liquid
Scintillator; Double Beta Decay (Neodymium) |
| DEAP
| - | Dark Matter search with Liquid Argon |
| SuperCDMS
| - | Dark matter search with Cryogenic Detectors |
| NEWS-G
| - | New Experiments With Spheres |
| CUTE
| - | Cryogenic detector test facility |
| QHEAT
| - | Queen's High Energy and Astroparticle Theory Group |
Many of our members also belong to the
Arthur B. McDonald Canadian Astroparticle Research Institute.
EXCITING NEWS:
POSITIONS AVAILABLE:
If you have questions or comments about the content of this website, please contact
qusno@sno.phy.queensu.ca.