SUDBURY, Ontario The provincial government announced last week that it will invest $9.3 million in new facilities for the SUDBURY NEUTRINO LABORATORY (SNO). A new surface building will be erected to house assembly space, a workshop, support labs, and research offices. Additional space at Laurentian University will be built for tests requiring the use of radioactive sources. The funds will come from the Ontario Innovation Trust ($4.8 million) and the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corp. ($4.5 million).
The $70-million SNO lab lies 2,000 metres below the surface in INCO's Creighton No.9 mine. (See CMJ's 1999 Mining Sourcebook for the complete story.) Researchers are tracing the universe's tiniest bits to advance our knowledge of elementary particle physics. First, SNO confirmed the validity of existing theoretical solar models. Science Magazine called that breakthrough one of the top three scientific events in 2001. Last year, SNO results proved that solar neutrinos change type as they travel outward from the sun. This fall a number of neutral current detectors will be installed for the third phase of detector operation.
The main SNO web site is located at www.sno.phy.queensu.ca. The site also contains links to SNO sites of the Canadian and international project partners.
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