Analysis of Salt Distribution in SNO
Abstract
newcommand^252_92Cf newcommandhwD_2O The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) was created to help solve the Solar Neutrino Problem (the number of neutrinos coming from the sun is 1/3 to 1/2 of the number predicted by the Standard Solar Model (SSM)). The prefered solution is that neutrinos oscillate between flavors (electron, mu and tau) in transit from the sun, and previously only one type of neutrino could be seen in a given detector. Recent results from SNO used three different interactions (neutral current, charged current, and elastic scattering) to differentiate between neutrino flavors, and thus showed the ratio of electron to total neutrinos and compared the total number to the number predicted in the SSM. In May 2001, two tons of salt were added to the kiloton of heavy water (hw) in order to raise capture efficiency (of the neutrons displaced in the neutral current reaction or from a calibration source) and to increase the energy of each neutron capture. Data from calibration runs (using a neutron source), dating July 2001 to January 2002 were analyzed in order to study the salt distribution. A non-uniform distribution would alter how data runs (for neutrinos or backgroud analysis) are evaluated. This analysis was performed at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, summer 2002.
- Publication:
-
APS Division of Nuclear Physics Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- October 2002
- Bibcode:
- 2002APS..DNP5P1048Y