The Canadian Embassy in Japan recently hosted the Neutrino Science Symposium that showcased Canadian and Japanese neutrino research. Jean-Michel Poutissou, Associate Director of TRIUMF, travelled to Japan to represent TRIUMF as a key collaborator with Japanese physics research centres. This one day event, May 21 2008, celebrated the long-time working partnership between Canada and Japan on similar physics research experiments.
Directors from NSERC, Canada’s SNO laboratory, the Kamioka laboratory and the Japanese T2K (Tokai-to-Kamika) experiment were present to commemorate the achievements and progress in collaborative research and initiatives made by both countries. Jean-Michel spoke on TRIUMF’s Canadian-Japanese successful work completed thus far. In addition, Japanese Nobel Prize winner, Masatoshi Koshiba, gave a talk on solar neutrinos. Masatoshi Koshiba won the Nobel Prize in 2002 for discovering strong evidence that shows neutrinos change type during flight, thus resolving the “solar neutrino problem”.
Notably, TRIUMF and Japanese research institutions are currently working on the T2K experiment in neutrino oscillation. This experiment seeks to understand the properties of neutrino beams over a 300 kilometer distance. About 50 researchers from TRIUMF and Canadian universities are making major contributions to this experiment in the areas of construction of large time-projection chambers and fine-grained detectors. These study the initial neutrino beam as it leaves the production source site.
Working with international laboratories allows TRIUMF and other institutions to enhance their programs and expand their expert knowledge base. TRIUMF looks forward to building further partnerships with Japan in the future.
Banner photo caption:
From right to left: K.Nishikawa (Spokesperson T2K experiment, Head of J-PARC science division), Y.Suzuki (Director of the Kamioka underground laboratory), M.Koshiba (Nobel Laureate, Distinguished professor University of Tokyo), S. Fortier (President of the CRSNG), A. MacDonald (Director of SNO, Queen's University), Jean-Michel Poutissou (TRIUMF Associate Director).
By Nicole Dublanko
TRIUMF's Communications Assistant