September 2003
Setting for Hugo-winning novel, SNO connects to ORION
While this year’s Hugo Award winning novel – Hominids – is clearly a work of science fiction, there is no fiction involved at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO), where the best-selling novel by Canadian writer Robert J. Sawyer is set.
Hominids, about a portal between Earth and another world, tells the story of an alternate Earth where a Neanderthal quantum physicist is accidentally transferred to our universe, arriving at the real-life Sudbury Neutrino Observatory in Northern Ontario.
SNO may well be at the centre of attention in the world of science fiction, but the project is firmly grounded in reality, and just connecting to ORION, to facilitate collaborative research and data transmission with colleagues around the world.
While we've all heard about protons, which help to form atoms which in turn help to create everything we see, touch, smell, hear and taste in our day-to-day lives, we know very little about neutrinos, estimated to be 30 million times as abundant as protons.
Located in a unique but remote site near Sudbury, SNO collects crucial data for the international community of scientists who study neutrinos.
Operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, SNO compiles almost a terabyte of raw data every year. Simulations to calibrate and create the optimum performance of the observatory, as well as analysis of data increases the amount of stored data by a factor of three. In all, SNO is the central repository of almost nine terabytes of data, the equivalent of approximately 180,000 four-drawer filing cabinets of information.
"We're very fortunate to have this ideal location in an old Inco nickel mine to set up this observatory," said Clarence Virtue, a professor of physics at Sudbury's Laurentian University. "Scientists have always gone wherever they have to go to collect the observations they need to do their work, no matter how remote the location; for the study of neutrinos, Sudbury is that location.
"But until ORION came along there were unavoidable obstacles to accessing and sharing the information involved in studying neutrinos," added Virtue. "It has been a nightmare without good bandwidth to communicate with other research institutions throughout Ontario, the United States and around the world."
Data collected on site or sent to the site is currently copied on tapes and sent through the mail. Virtue recalls that, in order to receive half-a-terabyte of data recently, four hard drives had to be purchased for the purposes of copying the data that was then transported by mail.
With ORION, scientists will be able to access and manipulate the data they need independent of where in Ontario or around the world their base of operations is located.
Last year, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation announced funding for a major expansion of the facilities at SNO to enable at least three other experiments, in addition to the neutrino observatory, geared toward better understanding the composition of our universe.
"Without ORION, the prestige of this project would have been diminished," says Virtue. "Instead, this will look very good for all of Northern Ontario to not only have a world class facility but to be plugged in to the rest of the world via ORION."
Among the other Ontario institutions currently participating in the project are Laurentian University in Sudbury, Queen’s University in Kingston, Carleton University in Ottawa and the University of Guelph.
Find out more about the project at the SNO home page at Queen’s University.
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