Guelph Physicists Part of Research Group Behind 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics

On October 6, 2015 the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics to Takaaki Kajita, Super-Kamiokande Collaboration University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Japan and Arthur B. McDonald, Sudbury Neutrino Observatory Collaboration, Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada. They were awarded “for the discovery of neutrino oscillations, which shows that neutrinos have mass”.

On the Canadian side Arthur B. McDonald led a research group at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) that “could demonstrate that the neutrinos from the Sun were not disappearing on their way to Earth. Instead they were captured with a different identity when arriving to the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory.” (View the Nobel Prize in Physics Press Release).

Part of the research group led by Arthur McDonald included physicists from the University of Guelph.  The Guelph Group Members were:

• Faculty members: Jimmy Law, Bernhard Nickel, Robin Ollerhead, and John Simpson
• Graduate students: Thomas Andersen, Marc Bergevin, Myung Chol Chon, Hendrick Labranche, and Nathaniel Tagg
• Postdoctoral fellow: Ian Lawson, Diane Reitzner
• Research Associates: Pillalamarr Jagam and Jian-Xiong Wang
• Guelph Coop Students: Rob Hanson and Jeff Karn

The 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics Information:

• 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics Press Release
• U of G Research Played Role in Nobel Prize in Physics - University of Guelph Press Release

Physical Review Letters have made the winning research papers available for free online:

• Direct Evidence for Neutrino Flavor Transformation from Neutral-Current Interactions in the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory(External Link)
• Measurement of the Rate of νe+d→p+p+e− Interactions Produced by B8 Solar Neutrinos at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory(External Link)

Further reading from the past:

• From the Archives: Fall/Winter 1999 Guelph Alumnus – “From Big Bang to Big Crunch(PDF document)?” – Article on SNO Research from 1999.
• 'Sno' Researchers Win Inaugural NSERC Polanyi Award(External Link) – 2006 UoG News Release