The SNOLAB Science Programme: cutting-edge science from a deep hole in the ground.

by Nigel Smith (SNOlab)

Tuesday 30 Jan 2018, 13:30 → 14:30 US/Eastern

Universe

SNOLAB is a deep underground research facility, hosted 2km beneath the surface of the Earth in a working mine at Creighton, near Sudbury, Ontario. Initially the site of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, which unambiguously demonstrated flavour-change in neutrinos created in the fusion process of the Sun, SNOLAB now hosts a multi-disciplinary programme. Why do we need to go to such great depths to probe the Universe? This work, and several of the major questions studied in contemporary astro-particle and sub-atomic physics, such as the search for the Galactic dark matter, and studies of neutrinos from supernova, require the ultra-quiet radiation environment afforded by deep underground facilities like SNOLAB. In these facilities, the cosmic-radiation induced backgrounds in the detection systems are reduced to a manageable level, with additional shielding from natural ambient radioactivity and low background construction of detector systems. This talk will provide a review of the science programme at SNOLAB outlining the main science objectives, will review the detectors used for these studies, and outline future plans for the facility.