Jacques FARINE
Biography
After graduating from ETH Zürich, Switzerland with minors in geo– and astrophysics, I turned to neutrino physics and obtained a PhD from Neuchâtel University. In 1997 I received a Young Researcher Grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation to move to Canada and work on the SNO project, then in construction. After a postdoctoral fellowship with Carleton University, Ottawa, I was appointed assistant professor at Laurentian University in 2001. This was a very exciting year with the first SNO results! My contributions to SNO focused on the monitoring of ultralow levels of radoactivity in the water systems. I also led SNO's Low Energy Backgrounds Analysis Group. I have since pushed the sensitivity of the radon detectors used for SNO to support new initiatives with more stringent background requirements.
In 2002 I participated to the CFI proposal and helped establish SNOLAB; my main contribution was the design of the surface building.
I joined the Enriched Xenon Observatory Collaboration (EXO) in 2004. EXO is aiming at an absolute measurement of the neutrino mass scale with the discovery of neutrinoless double-beta decay of 136Xe -- if the transition exists. In June 2012 we published our first results from EXO–200 and had then the best world limit on the effective neutrino mass. With this analysis, we have also essentially ruled out an earlier claim for discovery in 76Ge. My contributions to EXO include the calibration system, radon mitigation and radon production assessments. The collaboration is very active now preparing for nEXO.
Since 2006 I contribute to the direct search for dark matter with PICASSO, then PICO. My interests, like in SNO and EXO are with the understanding and improvement of backgrounds. Since 2007 I am also a collaborator of HALO, a SNOLAB based detector of supernova neutrinos.
An avid caver, I have published frequently in spelunking journals and coordinate the survey of the Motiers Cave near Neuchâtel, Switzerland -- the second longest in the Canton.
Education
- Dipl. Exp. Phys. (ETHZ) 1990
- Ph.D. Exp. Phys. (Neuchâtel) 1996
On The Web
Research
My research interests are in neutrino physics and the search for dark matter with a focus on low background techniques. I am very excited about the potential for discovery of neutrinoless double beta decay by nEXO; the direct observation of dark matter using superheated liquids with PICO; and the live detection of supernova neutrinos with the HALO detectors.
Current research activities:
- radon emanation at the level of <5 atoms/day (material screening; 222Rn, 220Rn, 219Rn)
- development of higher sensitivity radon counters
- radon mitigation in xenon (radon removal, emanation suppression)
- development of external calibration sources for nEXO
- gamma spectroscopy with 400cc Germanium detector (material screening)
2012– EXO-200 Collaboration Board Chair
2019– Co-Spokesperson, EXO Canada
Awards
- 2016 Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. Co-recipient with SNO, KamLAND, Daya Bay, Super-Kamiokande, and K2K/T2K teams
- Inaugural NSERC John C. Polanyi Award 2006. Co-recipient with SNO team
- ORION Discovery Award 2006. Co-recipient with SNO team
- Thomas Bitterli Award 2005. Co-recipient with 4 other. Scientific Commission of the Swiss Speleological Society. Distinguishes remarkable articles of a scientific nature in spelunking
Teaching
PHYS-1006F Introduction à la Physique I
PHYS-1007F Introduction à la Physique II
PHYS-1206F Concepts de la Physique I
PHYS-1206F Physique des Sciences de la Vie I
MATH-1036F Calcul I
MATH-1037F Calcul II
PHYS-2017E Introduction to Electromagnetism
PHYS-2406E Mechanics I (F2019)
PHYS-2407E Mechanics II (W2020)
PHYS-3416E Introduction to Quantum Mechanics (F2019)
PHYS-4137E Advanced Modern Optics
PHYS-4457E Introduction to Nuclear and Particle Physics (W2020)
PHYS-4707E Advanced Laboratory Project
PHYS-5227E Special Topics
PHYS-5706F Non-Accelerator Particle Physics
Publications
Selected presentations
- Latest results from EXO-200 and status of nEXO. CAP Congress, Burnaby BBC, Canada (2019)
- Establishing and measuring the mass of neutrinos with SNO and EXO. Invited Seminar, Polytechnique Montréal, Montréal, Canada (2016)
- La quête du sens. Perspectives d'un physicien des particules. Série "Recherche du Sens", Université de Sudbury / Société Philosophique de Sudbury, Sudbury, Canada (2015)
- High sensitivity radon measurements for low background experiments. Seminar, Department of Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, United States (2015)
- Search for neutrinoless double-beta decay of 136Xe with nEXO. Neutrinos and Dark Matter in Nuclear Physics 2015, Jyväskylä, Finland (2015)
- Laurentian University Led Research. SNO Project and Beyond – The Makings of a Nobel Prize in Physics. Presented by Laurentian University's Department of Physics, Sudbury, Canada (2015)
- Search of neutrinoless double beta decay in 136Xe with EXO. Seminar, Centre de Physique des Particules de Marseille, Université Aix-Marseille, Marseille, France (2013)
- Assay of 224Ra and 226Ra in ultra-pure water at the level of 0.1 atom/tonne using manganese oxide (MnOx) and hydrous titanium oxide (HTiO) at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory. Radiochemistry Session, 96th Canadian Chemistry Conference and Exhibition, Annual Congress of the Canadian Society of Chemists, Québec, Canada (2013)
- First EXO–200 0vbb Results, Neutrino 2012 Kyoto, Japan
Journal Articles
C. Chambers et al. (nEXO Collaboration). (2019). Imaging individual barium atoms in solid xenon for barium tagging in nEXO. Nature. 559: 203-207.
G. Anton et al. (EXO-200 Collaboration). (2019). Measurement of the scintillation and ionization response of liquid xenon at MeV energies in the EXO-200 experiment. Phys. Rev. C. (Accepted)
C Amole et al. (PICO Collaboration). (2019). Dark matter search results from the complete exposure of the PICO-60 C3F8 bubble chamber. Phys. Rev. D. (Accepted)
B. Aharmim et al. (SNO Collaboration). (2019). Cosmogenic Neutron Production at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory. Phys. Rev. D.
Z. Li et al. (nEXO Collaboration). (2019). Simulation of charge readout with segmented tiles in nEXO. Journal of Instrumentation.
G. Gallina et al. (nEXO Collaboration). (2019). Characterization of the Hamamatsu VUV4 MPPCs for nEXO. Nucl. Instrum. Methods A. 940: 371-379.
G. Anton et al. (EXO-200 Collaboration). (2019). Search for Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay with the Complete EXO-200 Dataset. Phys. Rev. Lett.
C. Amole et al. (PICO Collaboration). (2019). Data-Driven Modeling of Electron Recoil Nucleation in PICO C3F8 Bubble Chambers. Phys. Rev. D.
B. Aharmim et al. (SNO Collaboration). (2019). Measurement of neutron production in atmospheric neutrino interactions at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory. Phys. Rev. D. 99: 112007.
C. Amole et al. (PICO Collaboration). (2019). Data-Driven Modeling of Electron Recoil Nucleation in PICO C3F8 Bubble Chambers. Phys. Rev. D.
B. Aharmim et al. (SNO Collaboration). (2019). Constraints on Neutrino Lifetime from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory. Phys. Rev. D. 99: 032013.
X.L. Sun, T. Tolba et al. (nEXO Collaboration). (2018). Study of Silicon Photomultiplier Performance in External Electric Fields. Journal of Instrumentation. 13: 2018_JINST_13_T09006.
J. B. Albert et.al (the EXO-200 Collaboration). (2018). Search for nucleon decays with EXO-200. Phs. Rev. D.
J. Albert et.al (the nEXO Collaboration). (2018). Sensitivity and Discovery Potential of nEXO to Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay. Phys. Rev. C.
S. Al Kharusi et al. (nEXO Collaboration). (2018). nEXO Pre-Conceptual Design Report. arxiv.org/abs/1805.11142v2.
S. Delaquis et.al. (EXO-200 Collaboration). (2018). Deep Neural Networks for Energy and Position Reconstruction in EXO-200. Journal of Instrumentation. 13: 2018_JINST_13_P08023.
A. Jamil et al. (nEXO Collaboration). (2018). VUV-sensitive Silicon Photomultipliers for Xenon Scintillation Light Detection in nEXO. IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science. 65(11)
B. Aharmim et al. (SNO Collaboration). (2018). Tests of Lorentz invariance at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory. Phys. Rev. D. 98: 112013.
M. Jewell et al. (nEXO Collaboration). (2018). Characterization of an Ionization Readout Tile for nEXO. JINST.
D. Leonard et.al. (EXO-200 Collaboration). (2017). Traceradioactive impurities in final construction materials for EXO-200. Nucl. Instrum. Meth. A. 862
B. Aharmim et al. (SNO Collaboration). (2017). The search for neutron-antineutron oscillations at the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory. Phys. Rev. D.
J. B. Albert et al. (EXO-200 Collaboration). (2017). Searches for double beta decay of 134Xe with EXO-200. Phys. Rev. D.
J. B. Albert et al. (EXO-200 Collaboration). (2017). Search for neutrinoless double-beta decay with the upgraded EXO-200 detector. Phys. Rev. Lett.
C. Amole et al. (PICO Collaboration). (2017). Dark Matter Search Results from the PICO-60 C3F8 Bubble Chamber. Phys. Rev. Lett.118: 251301.
C. Amole et al. (PICO Collaboration). (2017). Dark matter search results from the PICO-60 C3F8 bubble chamber. Phys. Rev. Lett.118: 251301.
J. B. Albert et.al. (EXO-200 Collaboration). (2017). Measurement of the Drift Velocity and Transverse Diffusion of Electrons in Liquid Xenon with the EXO-200Detector. Phys. Rev. C. 95: 022502.
J. B. Albert et.al. (2016). Search for 2vbb decay of 136Xe to the 0_1+ excited state of 136Ba with EXO-200. Phys. Rev. C. 93: 035501.
C. Amole et.al. (2016). Dark Matter Search Results from the PICO-60 CF3I Bubble Chamber. Phys. Rev. D. 93: 052014.
C. Amole et.al. (2016). Improved Dark Matter Search Results from PICO-2L Run-2. Phys. Rev. D. 92: 061101-1 to 5.
J. B. Albert et.al. (2016). Cosmogenic backgrounds to 0vbb in EXO-200. J. of Cosmol. and Astropart. Phys.2016
J. B. Albert et.al. (2016). First Search for Lorentz and CPT Violation in Double Beta Decay with EXO-200. Phys. Rev. D. 93: 072001.
C.G. Davis et.al. (2016). An Optimal Energy Estimator to Reduce Correlated Noise for the EXO-200 Light Readout. JINST. 2016_JINST_11_P07015
T. Brunner et.al. (2015). An RF-only ion-funnel for extraction from high-pressure gases. Intern. J. of Mass Spectrom.379: 110-120.
C. Amole et.al. (2015). Dark Matter Search Results from the PICO-2L C3F8 Bubble Chamber. Phys. Rev. Lett.114: 231302.
J. Albert et.al. (2015). Investigation of radioactivity-induced backgrounds in EXO-200. Phys. Rev. C. 92: 015503.
J. Albert et.al. (2015). Measurements of the ion fraction and mobility of alpha and beta decay products in liquid xenon using EXO-200. Phys. Rev. X.
J. Albert et.al. (2014). Search for Majorana neutrinos with the first two years of EXO-200 data. Nature. 510: 229–234.
J. Albert et.al. (2014). Search for Majoron-emitting modes of double-beta decay of Xe136 with EXO-200. Phys. Rev. D. 90: 092004.
B. Aharmim et.al. (SNO Collaboration). (2013). Measurement of the nu_e and Total 8B Solar Neutrino Fluxes with the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory Phase-III Data Set. Phys. Rev. C. 87: 015502.
J. Albert et.al. (2013). An improved measurement of the 2nbb half-life of Xe-136 with EXO-200. Phys. Rev. C. 89: 015502.
Search for Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay in 136Xe with EXO-200
The EXO-200 detector, part I: Detector design and construction
Observation of Two-Neutrino Double-Beta Decay in 136Xe with EXO-200
Constraints on Low-Mass WIMP Interactions on 19F from PICASSO
New Insights into Particle Detection with Superheated Liquids