| Abstract: | SNO+ is a large liquid scintillator-based experiment located 2km underground
at SNOLAB, Sudbury, Canada. It reuses the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory
detector, consisting of a 12m diameter acrylic vessel which will be filled with
about 780 tonnes of ultra-pure liquid scintillator. Designed as a multi-purpose
neutrino experiment, the primary goal of SNO+ is a search for the neutrinoless
double-beta decay (0$
uetaeta$) of 130Te. In Phase I, the detector will be
loaded with 0.3% natural tellurium, corresponding to nearly 800 kg of 130Te,
with an expected effective Majorana neutrino mass sensitivity in the region of
55-133 meV, just above the inverted mass hierarchy. Recently, the possibility
to deploy up to ten times more natural tellurium has been investigated, which
would enable SNO+ to achieve sensitivity deep into the parameter space for the
inverted neutrino mass hierarchy in the future. Additionally, SNO+ aims to
measure reactor antineutrino oscillations, low-energy solar neutrinos,
geo-neutrinos, to be sensitive to supernova neutrinos, and to search for exotic
physics. A first phase with the detector filled with water will begin soon,
with the scintillator phase expected to start after a few months of water data
taking. The 0$
uetaeta$ Phase I is foreseen for 2017. |
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