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

这笔赠款是为了支持女王大学的基础天体粒子物理研究，该研究是与我们在艾伯塔大学、卡尔顿大学、劳伦斯大学、蒙特利尔大学和多伦多大学的合作者以及TRIUMF和SNOLAB国家实验室的同事一起进行的。这项研究的目标是设计、建造和操作新的最先进的探测器，这些探测器将安装在位于安大略省萨德伯里的新的国际地下科学设施SNOLAB。探测器将提供关于暗物质的性质、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有价值的信息。SNO和其他机构的重大发现导致人们认识到，中微子具有质量和不同寻常的量子属性。通过更深层次地了解中微子，我们将了解这种基本粒子的基本性质，这种基本粒子是宇宙中最多产的粒子。这将导致更好地理解它们在宇宙内部结构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。中微子也是研究超新星恒星坍塌内部工作原理的探测器，可能被用来研究地核的热产生。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来推断的，但它还没有被直接探测到。我们几乎不知道它是什么形式的物质。这笔资金将为皇后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上的复杂探测器。所有这些探测器的一个主要设计要素是需要超低水平的放射性，该奖项还将支持一个能够测量各种材料中低水平放射性的设施的运行。这些资源可供所有致力于SNOLAB应用的合作机构使用，并将根据优先排序委员会的建议分配，该委员会的成员来自加拿大各地的机构。

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.