Current Status and Future Prospects of the SNO+ Experiment

TL;DR

SNO+ is a versatile underground neutrino experiment utilizing liquid scintillator to search for neutrinoless double-beta decay, measure neutrino oscillations, and explore exotic physics, with future upgrades promising enhanced sensitivity.

Contribution

This paper reviews the current status and future prospects of the SNO+ experiment, highlighting its multipurpose goals and potential for increased sensitivity through tellurium loading.

Findings

Initial phase with water will start soon.

Scintillator phase expected after a few months.

Neutrinoless double-beta decay sensitivity aims for 55-133 meV.

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 multipurpose neutrino experiment, the primary goal of SNO+ is a search for the neutrinoless double-beta decay (0$\nu\beta\beta$) 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 of deploying 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, and geoneutrinos, 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$\nu\beta\beta$ Phase I is foreseen for 2017.