Neutrinoless double beta decay search with SNO+

IKTP, TU Dresden, Zellescher Weg 19, 01069 Dresden, Germany

^a e-mail: valentina.lozza@tu-dresden.de

Published online: 10 January 2014

Abstract

The SNO+ experiment is the follow up of SNO. The detector is located 2 km underground in the Vale Canada Ltd.’s Creighton Mine near Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. The active volume of the detector consists of 780 tonnes of Linear Alkyl Benzene (LAB) in an acrylic vessel of 12 m diameter, surrounded by about 9500 PMTs. The main goal of the SNO+ experiment is the search for neutrinoless double beta decay of ¹³⁰Te. With an initial loading of 0.3% of natural tellurium (nearly 800 kg of ¹³⁰Te), it is expected to reach a sensitivity on the effective Majorana neutrino mass of about 100 meV after several years of data taking. Designed as a general purpose neutrino experiment, other exciting physical goals can be explored, like the measurement of reactor neutrino oscillations and geo-neutrinos in a geologically-interesting location, watch of supernova neutrinos and studies of solar neutrinos. A first commissioning phase with water filled detector will start at the end of 2013, while the double beta decay phase will start in 2015.