Queen's University Infrastructure support for the development of SNOLAB experiments

这项资助是为了支持皇后大学的基础天体粒子物理研究，由我们在阿尔伯塔大学、卡尔顿大学、劳伦森大学、蒙特利尔大学和多伦多大学的合作者以及国家实验室TRIUMF和SNOLAB的同事共同承担。这项研究的目标是设计、建造和操作新的最先进的探测器，这些探测器将位于安大略省萨德伯里的新的国际地下科学设施SNOLAB。这些探测器将提供有关暗物质的性质、难以捉摸的中微子的性质、地球的热含量以及超新星爆炸机制的宝贵信息。SNO和其他人的重大发现使人们认识到中微子具有质量和不寻常的量子特性。通过更深入地了解中微子，我们将了解这种宇宙中最丰富的基本粒子的基本特性。这将使我们更好地理解它们在宇宙结构的形成和演化中的作用。有了正确的性质，中微子可以解释为什么我们生活在一个由物质而不是反物质主导的宇宙中。中微子也是探索超新星坍缩内部运作的探测器，也可以用来研究地球核心的热量产生。众所周知，宇宙由大约25%的暗物质组成。它的存在是通过它对星系和宇宙中其他结构的引力效应推断出来的，但它还没有被直接探测到。我们不知道它是什么形式的物质。这笔资金将为女王大学的工程和技术人员提供支持。他们将帮助开发安装在SNOLAB的复杂探测器。所有这些探测器的主要设计要素是需要超低放射性水平，该奖项还将支持能够测量各种材料的低放射性水平的设施的运行。这些资源可供所有致力于SNOLAB应用程序的合作使用，并将根据由加拿大各地机构组成的优先委员会的建议进行分配。

This grant is in support of fundamental astroparticle physics research at Queen’s University, undertaken with our collaborators at the Universities of Alberta, Carleton, Laurentian, Montreal and Toronto, as well as with colleagues at the national labs TRIUMF and SNOLAB. The goals of this research are to design, build and operate new state-of-the-art detectors which will be sited in SNOLAB, the new International Facility for Underground Science in Sudbury, Ontario. The detectors will provide valuable information on the nature of dark matter, the properties of the elusive neutrino, the thermal heat content of the earth, and the mechanisms of supernovae explosions. The major discoveries by the SNO and others led to the realization that neutrinos have mass and unusual quantum properties. By understanding neutrinos at a deeper level we will learn about basic properties of this fundamental particle, the most prolific in the Universe. This will lead to a better understanding of their role in the formation and evolution of structures within the Universe. With the right properties, neutrinos could explain why we live in a universe dominated by matter, rather than anti-matter. Neutrinos are also a probe into the inner workings of supernovae star collapse, and may be used to study the production of heat in the core of the earth. The Universe is known to be comprised of about 25% dark matter. Its existence is inferred through the gravitational effects it has on galaxies and other structures in the Universe, yet it has not been detected directly. We have little idea what form of matter it is. This funding will provide support for engineering and technical staff located at Queen’s University. They will help develop complex detectors for installation in SNOLAB. A major design element for all these detectors is the need for ultra-low levels of radioactivity and this award will also support the operation of a facility capable of measuring low levels of radioactivity in a wide variety of materials. These resources are available to all collaborations working on SNOLAB applications, and will be allocated in accordance with the recommendations of a Prioritization Board with membership from institutions across Canada.