January 14, 2002 - Monday

Karsten M. Heeger, University of Washington

Measuring the Neutral-Current Interaction Rate of 8B Neutrinos with Deuterium in the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

With heavy water as its target medium the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) is designed to study solar neutrinos by measuring both the total flux of 8B neutrinos through the neutral-current interaction as well as the electron-type neutrino flux via charged-current dissociation of deuterium. By comparing the electron neutrino flux to the total solar neutrino flux, SNO can make a unique study of the solar neutrino deficit and a model independent test for neutrino oscillations. First results from SNO have provided direct evidence for the oscillation of solar neutrinos and resolved the long-standing solar neutrino problem. In this talk we discuss techniques for measuring the total flux of solar neutrinos and for characterizing the backgrounds in the SNO detector. Results from the pure D2O phase of SNO will be presented along with their implications for elementary particle physics, astrophysics, and cosmology.

4:00 pm, 472 Willamette Hall

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