Hello! I am a student at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, where I am currently working towards my PhD in subatomic physics. In particular, I am working on neutrino physics with the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) and SNO+ projects.
SNO is 1 kilotonne heavy
water neutrino detector located in a mine in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.
The measurements made by SNO were critical in solving the "solar
neutrino problem," the resolution of which required making changes to
the standard model of particle physics. You can read more about SNO
through the link that I gave earlier.
Currently, SNO is running with 3He proportional counters, which we call 'NCDs,' installed in the heavy water. The goal of the NCDs is to make a more accurate measurement of the number of neutrons released in our detector by the interactions of solar neutrinos with the deuterium nucleii in the heavy water. This will allow us to make a more accurate measurement of the total number of neutrinos produced by the sun.
My work on the NCD phase of SNO is centered around developing a method to distinguish the signals produced in the NCDs by neutrons from those produced by alpha particles released during the decay of the trace levels of radioisotopes in the counter walls. By learning which of the subtle features of the NCD signals can be used to discriminate neutrons from alphas, we will be able to obtain a more "pure" sampling of the neutrons in the detector, and hence acheive a more accurate measurement.
SNO+ is a proposed project that would see the equipment
built for the SNO experiment reused to create a large volume liquid
scintillator experiment once SNO is completed at the end
of 2006. SNO+ would be sensitive to solar neutrinos of
much lower energy than SNO, and it would also be able to detect
antineutrinos produced by nuclear reactors and by the decays of the
natural radioisotopes present in the earth. This would give SNO+ the
ability to make measurements that are important not only to neutrino
physics, but also to solar physics, geo-physics and
geo-chemistry. More information about SNO+ can be found in the Letter of Intent that we submitted to SNOLAB
(the underground laboratory that administers the SNO site) expressing
our desire to use the SNO site for SNO+.
My work with SNO+ has involved the creation of a monte carlo computer simulation of the experiment (based on an existing simulation that was created for SNO). This program, which produced the simulated phototube hit pattern that is shown here as a background, will allow us to predict what signals we will be able to see with SNO+, help us to determine the level of background radioisotopes that we can tolerate in the detector materials, and allow us to test different designs for the detector to decide which one works the best. I have also done some work testing the physical, chemical and optical properties of different materials that we are thinking of using in the construction of the experiment to see whether or not they are suitable to use.
Here are links to my private (collaboration members only: password required) SNO and SNO+ research pages.Here is a copy of Bryan Fulsom's old SNO CD policy.
