Borex source experiment

Abstract

The unmatched radio-purity of its liquid scintillator and the large detector size make Borexino an ideal apparatus for the study of neutrino oscillations at very short distance and, particularly, for the search of sterile neutrinos of mass scale of the order of 1 eV. We present here three possible experiments with neutrino and anti-neutrino artificial sources located close to or inside the Borexino detector and discuss their sensitivity to sterile neutrinos. Expected sensitivities on electron neutrino magnetic moment, electroweak mixing angle, and couplings to axial and vector currents are shown as well.

Neutrino 2012: Outlook – theory

“…By itself this is not very significant, however, no one other experiment has detected the upturn. Furthermore, SNO [21], BOREXINO [22], and Kam-LAND (solar) [23] indicate that spectrum turns down below 6 MeV. Also indirectly, the Homestake low rate supports this.…”

SOX: Neutrino Oscillometry in Borexino

“…One powerful method to probe the neutrino anomalies is to place an intense ν e orν e source near or inside a large low background detector like Borexino [2,3].…”

“…The main purpose of the experiment is the real-time detection of solar neutrinos [5]. As part of an R&D effort, Borexino has reached an unprecedented radio-purity and the concentration of 238 U and 232 Th is now as low as 10 −19 g/g [2]. The vertex resolution is about 15 cm at 1 MeV and the energy resolution is 6%/ √ E [2] which makes Borexino an ideal candidate to search for sterile neutrinos in the mostly unexplored low L/E region.…”