A neutrino's eye-view inside SNO
16 June 1999
A view inside the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) shows the geometric arrangement of the phototubes that detect light flashes emitted when the elusive particles called neutrinos interact in the detector. SNO, located in the Creighton mine in Sudbury, Ontario, has been designed to catch neutrinos from the Sun. In particular, it uses 1000 tonnes of heavy water in an attempt to solve the puzzle as to why previous experiments seem to detect too few neutrinos. This wide-angle image shows the view inside the 12-m diameter acrylic vessel built to hold the heavy water. Altogether,10,000 phototubes surround the vessel, to detect the flashes of light (Cherenkov radiation) emitted by electrically charged produced when neutrinos interact in the water. (The phototubes, and their light-concentrating "collars" can be seen more clearly in a closer image) .
Credit: Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
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