A method for measuring coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering at a far off-axis high-energy neutrino beam target

Brice, S. J.; Cooper, R. L.; DeJongh, F.; Empl, A.; Garrison, L.; Hime, A.; Hungerford, E.; Kobilarcik, T.; Loer, B.; Mariani, C.; Mocko, M.; Muhrer, G.; Pattie, R. W.; Pavlović, Ž.; Ramberg, E.; Scholberg, K.; Tayloe, R.; Thornton, R. T.; Yoo, J.; Young, A. R.

doi:10.1103/physrevd.89.072004

Cited by 50 publications

(55 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…At the same time, the sensitivity to NSI parameters and new physics searches was also noted [49,157]. Different experimental set-ups have already been considered, either using a reactor anti-neutrino flux [156], and spallation source [158][159][160]166], beta beams [161,162], or pion decay [163][164][165]. These experiments could have an excellent sensitivity to the NSI.…”

Section: Perspectives For Nsi In Detectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Non standard neutrino interactions: current status and future prospects

2015

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Neutrino oscillations have become well-known phenomena; the measurements of neutrino mixing angles and mass squared differences are continuously improving. Future oscillation experiments will eventually determine the remaining unknown neutrino parameters, namely, the mass ordering, normal or inverted, and the CP-violating phase. On the other hand, the absolute mass scale of neutrinos could be probed by cosmological observations, single beta decay as well as by neutrinoless double beta decay experiments. Furthermore, the last one may shed light on the nature of neutrinos, Dirac or Majorana, by measuring the effective Majorana mass of neutrinos. However, the neutrino mass generation mechanism remains unknown. A well-motivated phenomenological approach to search for new physics, in the neutrino sector, is that of non-standard interactions. In this short review, the current constraints in this picture, as well as the perspectives from future experiments, are discussed.

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Section: Perspectives For Nsi In Detectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Non standard neutrino interactions: current status and future prospects

2015

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“…Figure 4 shows an example of CEnNS applications: improved constraints on nonstandard interactions between neutrinos and quarks, caused by new physics beyond the Standard Model (9-11). These are extracted from the maximum deviation from Standard Model CEnNS predictions allowed by the present dataset (34), using the parametrization in (30,33).…”

Section: Fig 2 Coherent Detectors Populating the "Neutrino Alley" Amentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Direct searches for Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), presently favored dark matter candidates, rely on the same untested coherent enhancement to the WIMP-nucleus scattering cross-section, and will soon be limited by an irreducible CEnNS background from solar and atmospheric neutrinos (19). The importance of this process has generated a broad array of proposals for potential CEnNS detectors: superconducting devices (3), cryogenic detectors (20)(21)(22), modified semiconductors (23)(24)(25), noble liquids (26)(27)(28)(29)(30), and inorganic scintillators (31), among others.…”

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confidence: 99%

Observation of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering

Akimov

Albert

et al. 2017

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Abstract:The coherent elastic scattering of neutrinos off nuclei has eluded detection for four decades, even though its predicted cross-section is the largest by far of all low-energy neutrino couplings. This mode of interaction provides new opportunities to study neutrino properties, and leads to a miniaturization of detector size, with potential technological applications. We observe this process at a 6.7-sigma confidence level, using a low-background, 14.6-kg CsI [Na] scintillator exposed to the neutrino emissions from the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Characteristic signatures in energy and time, predicted by the Standard Model for this process, are observed in high signal-to-background conditions. Improved constraints on non-standard neutrino interactions with quarks are derived from this initial dataset.The characteristic most often associated with neutrinos is a very small probability of interaction with other forms of matter, allowing them to traverse astronomical objects while undergoing no energy loss. As a result, large targets (tons to tens of kilotons) are used for their detection. The discovery of a weak neutral current in neutrino interactions (1) implied that neutrinos were capable of coupling to quarks through the exchange of neutral Z bosons. Soon thereafter it was suggested that this mechanism should also lead to coherent interactions between neutrinos and all nucleons present in an atomic nucleus (2). This possibility would exist only as long as the momentum exchanged remained significantly smaller than the inverse of the nuclear size ( Fig. 1A), effectively restricting the process to neutrino energies below a few tens of MeV.The enhancement to the probability of interaction (scattering cross-section) would however be very large when compared to interactions with isolated nucleons, approximately scaling with the square of the number of neutrons in the nucleus (2, 3). For heavy nuclei and sufficiently intense neutrino sources, this can lead to a dramatic reduction in detector mass, down to a few kilograms.Coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEnNS) has evaded experimental demonstration for forty-three years following its first theoretical description. This is somewhat surprising, in view of the magnitude of its expected cross-section relative to other tried-andtested neutrino couplings (Fig. 1B), and of the availability of suitable neutrino sources: solar, atmospheric and terrestrial, supernova bursts, nuclear reactors, spallation facilities, and certain radioisotopes (3). This delay stems from the difficulty in detecting the low-energy (few keV) nuclear recoil produced as the single outcome of the interaction. Compared to a minimum ionizing particle of the same energy, a recoiling nucleus has a diminished ability to generate measurable scintillation or ionization in common radiation detector materials. This is exacerbated by a trade-off between the enhancement to the CEnNS cross-section brought about by a large nuclear mass, and the smaller maxi...

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“…Another initiative is CENNS at the Booster Neutrino Beam, where the flux at a far off-axis angle is dominated by stopped-pion neutrinos [30]. The CENNS collaboration proposes a single-phase liquid argon detector.…”

Section: Cennsmentioning

confidence: 99%