Speaker: Gabriel Orebi Gann
Institution: UC Berkeley
Title: SNO+: The Precision Era of Neutrino Physics
Host: Bob Svoboda
Room:
Abstract: Neutrinos are one of the most fascinating particles that occur in nature: hundreds of millions of times smaller than the proton, the neutrino was once thought to be massless and to travel at the speed of light. Huge strides have been made in our understanding of neutrinos in past decades, with the resolution of the solar neutrino problem providing clear evidence of neutrino oscillation and, thus, a non-zero neutrino mass. This has allowed us to move beyond the basic questions to a precision era, in which we can study further properties of these fundamental particles. This talk will introduce the SNO+ experiment: a multi-purpose neutrino experiment with a broad experimental program and wide physics reach. SNO+ will search for the answer to the very nature of the neutrino: is it unique among fermions as being its own antiparticle? Can we place limits on the absolute mass scale? SNO+ will also follow on from the extremely successful SNO experiment with an extensive solar neutrino program, in which we can use the Sun to study neutrinos more closely, and neutrinos to study the Sun.
