The Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) was a 12m diameter heavy water Cherenkov experiment operated 2 km underground and designed to solve the long standing solar neutrino problem. In doing so, it discovered the oscillation of solar neutrinos and demonstrated that neutrinos have mass, or more precisely, different masses. The Enriched Xenon Observatory is searching for the neutrino-less double beta decay of 136-Xe. This process, if observed, would determine the absolute mass scale of neutrinos, establish that neutrinos are Majorana-type particles, and discover a lepton-number violating process. EXO-200 has operated a 200-kg prototype experiment and improved significantly the lower limit on the neutrino mass to 140-380 meV, and precisely measured the yet unobserved two-neutrino double-beta decay of 136-Xe. With a half-life of 2.2x10E21 years, it is the slowest process directly observed in nature. nEXO is currently designing a 5-tonne detector to be sited at SNOLAB. Its projected sensitivity will cover the range of neutrino mass of the inverted hierarchy.
The physics of massive neutrinos will be presented from the perspective of experimental approaches through oscillation and double-beta decay. The SNO experiment and results will be discussed, as well as the current efforts from the EXO-200 and nEXO collaborations to search for neutrino-less double-beta decay.
After graduating from ETH Zürich, Switzerland, prof. Jacques Farine turned to neutrino physics and obtained a PhD from Neuchâtel University. In 1997 he received a Young Researcher Grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation to move to Canada and work on the SNO project, then in construction. After a postdoctoral fellowship with Carleton University, Ottawa, he was appointed assistant professor at Laurentian University in 2001. This was a very exciting year with the first SNO results! His contributions to SNO focused on the monitoring of ultralow levels of radoactivity in the water systems. He also led SNO's Low Energy Backgrounds Analysis Group. He has since pushed the sensitivity of the radon detectors used for SNO to support new initiatives with more stringent background requirements.
In 2001 he joined a group to apply for funding from CFI for SNOLAB as an International Facility for Underground Science. He was actively involved in the design of the surface building at (now Vale's) Creighton mine.
He joined the Enriched Xenon Observatory Collaboration (EXO) in 2004. EXO is aiming at an absolute measurement of the neutrino mass scale with the discovery of neutrinoless double-beta decay of 136Xe -- if the transition exists. In June 2012 they published their first results and have since the best world limit on the effective neutrino mass. With this analysis, they have also essentially ruled out an earlier claim for discovery in 76Ge. This is also the slowest transition rate excluded by direct counting, corresponding to a half-life of 1.6E25 years. His contributions to EXO include the calibration system, radon mitigation and radon production assessments.
Since 2006 he contributes to the direct search for dark matter with PICASSO. His interests, like in SNO and EXO are with the understanding and improvement of backgrounds. Since 2007 he is also a collaborator of HALO, a SNOLAB based detector of supernova neutrinos. Since 2006 he contribute to the direct search for dark matter with PICASSO. His interests, like in SNO and EXO are with the understanding and improvement of backgrounds. Since 2007 he is also a collaborator of HALO, a SNOLAB based detector of supernova neutrinos.
An avid caver, he has published frequently in spelunking journals and coordinate the survey of the Motiers Cave near Neuchâtel, Switzerland -- now the longest in the canton.
