Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS April Meeting 2015
Volume 60, Number 4
Saturday–Tuesday, April 11–14, 2015; Baltimore, Maryland
Session R4: Neutrinos - Low Energy I |
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Sponsoring Units: DNP DPF Chair: Alan Poon, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Room: Holiday 3 |
Monday, April 13, 2015 10:45AM - 10:57AM |
R4.00001: COHERENT at the Spallation Neutron Source Justin Raybern, Kate Scholberg The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee, provides an intense isotropic flux of neutrinos in the few tens-of-MeV range, with a sharply-pulsed timing structure which is beneficial for background rejection. This talk will describe how the SNS source can be used for a measurement of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS), the physics reach of such a measurement, and the status of COHERENT, the planned experimental program. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, April 13, 2015 10:57AM - 11:09AM |
R4.00002: Coherent Elastic Neutrino Nucleus Scattering (CENNS) Experiment at the Fermilab Booster Neutrino Beam Rex Tayloe The coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CENNS) process is important to understand supernovae, nuclear form factors, and low-energy behavior of the Standard Model. It will also become more important as a background in direct-detection dark matter experiments. The process has yet to be observed because of the low-energy detection thresholds and neutron background reduction required. Recent advances in cryogenic detector technology now make it possible. The CENNS collaboration proposes to deploy a 1-ton-scale, single-phase, liquid argon scintillation detector near the Fermilab Booster Neutrino Beam (BNB) for a first measurement. A detector near the neutrino production target at 90 degrees off-axis will observe a low-energy flux of 10-50~MeV stopped-pion neutrinos for CENNS. The details of this effort including prototype detectors and neutron background measurements will be presented. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, April 13, 2015 11:09AM - 11:21AM |
R4.00003: Status of the KATRIN Neutrino Mass Experiment Diana Parno The Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino experiment (KATRIN), presently under construction in Germany, will probe the absolute mass scale of the neutrino through the kinematics of tritium beta decay, a nearly model-independent approach. To achieve the projected sensitivity of 0.2 eV at the 90\% confidence level, KATRIN will use a windowless, gaseous tritium source and a large magnetic adiabatic collimation-electrostatic filter. The collaboration has now completed a second commissioning phase of the spectrometer and detector section, and construction of the tritium sections is proceeding well. We will report on the current status of the experiment and the outlook for data-taking with tritium. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, April 13, 2015 11:21AM - 11:33AM |
R4.00004: Results from CUORE-0, status of CUORE and summary of R\&D with bolometers for neutrino physics Raul Hennings-Yeomans Searching for neutrino-less double beta decay ($0\nu\beta\beta$) may allow us to understand the Dirac or Majorana nature of the neutrino, constrain its mass and provide insight into the origin of the matter-antimatter asymmetry in the Universe, a long standing mystery at the heart of particle physics today. CUORE-0 is a 52 bolometer array searching for $0\nu\beta\beta$ decay from $^{130}$Te currently taking data deep underground at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS). We will present the latest results from CUORE-0 as well as the current status of CUORE, a new 19 times larger bolometer array that plans to begin taking data by end of this year. In addition, we will summarize R\&D with bolometers for future generation double-beta decay experiments. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, April 13, 2015 11:33AM - 11:45AM |
R4.00005: Status Update of the {\sc Majorana Demonstrator} Neutrinoless Double-Beta Decay Experiment Kristopher Vorren The \textsc{Majorana} collaboration has made significant progress over the past year on the \textsc{Majorana} \textsc{Demonstrator}. The goal of the \textsc{Demonstrator} is to demonstrate backgrounds low enough to justify building a tonne-scale experiment, establish the feasibility to construct and field modular arrays of Ge detectors, and perform searches for additional physics beyond the standard model. The \textsc{Demonstrator} is currently being built at the 4850 ft level of the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, SD. The first of three custom cryostats, the prototype module, is currently taking data, while assembly and commissioning of the second cryostat, module 1, is ongoing. Hardware fabrication for the third cryostat, module 2, is nearing completion. Combined, module 1 and module 2 will contain 40 kg of Ge detectors with 30 kg enriched to 87$\%$ $^{76}$Ge, the double-beta decaying isotope. An active simulation and analysis campaign is underway for the prototype and module 1 cryostats. This talk will provide an overview and status update on the \textsc{Demonstrator}. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, April 13, 2015 11:45AM - 11:57AM |
R4.00006: nEXO: the next generation neutrinoless double beta decay search Yi-Hsuan Lin The nEXO experiment will search for neutrinoless double beta decay (0$\nu\beta\beta$), a rare nuclear process that only occurs if neutrinos are Majorana particles, using 5 tonnes of isotopically enriched liquid $^{136}$Xe. nEXO will expand upon the experience of the successful EXO-200 experiment, including a scaled up version of an ultra-low background single-phase time projection chamber with scintillation and ionization readouts. Current projected half-life sensitivity of nEXO is $>$ 5$\times$10$^{27}$ years with 5 years of data, which probes the inverted neutrino mass hierarchy. The current R\&D progress and the physics potential of nEXO will be discussed in this talk. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, April 13, 2015 11:57AM - 12:09PM |
R4.00007: Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay Sensitivity in Water-based Liquid Scintillator Detectors Andrew Mastbaum The recent development of Water-based Liquid Scintillators (WbLS) and high-resolution photosensors opens up new possibilities for large-scale detectors with sensitivity to a broad range of interesting physics. In particular, by optimizing the concentration of scintillator in a WbLS, it may be possible to achieve Water Cherenkov-like direction reconstruction with dramatically improved energy resolution. Studies by the ASDC interest group suggest that a single, large WbLS detector in a long-baseline beam could simultaneously achieve good sensitivity to the mass hierarchy; CP violation; several proton decay modes; solar, geo- and supernova neutrinos; and neutrino-less double-beta decay ($0\nu\beta\beta$). We present here a preliminary study of the $0\nu\beta\beta$ sensitivity of such WbLS detectors. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, April 13, 2015 12:09PM - 12:21PM |
R4.00008: Commissioning and calibrating the CUORE neutrinoless double beta decay experiment Jeremy S. Cushman The Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE) is a ton-scale cryogenic experiment designed to search for neutrinoless double beta decay ($0\nu\beta\beta$) of $^{130}$Te. The experiment consists of 988 ultracold TeO$_2$ bolometric crystals, which act as both the source and detector of this decay. We have completed the CUORE detector construction, and commissioning of the CUORE cryostat is ongoing, with the cryostat having reached a stable base temperature below 10 mK. Due to the large number of crystals and extensive shielding around the detector, calibration sources will need to be placed inside the CUORE cryostat during calibration periods to uniformly irradiate the detectors. We have verified that we can deploy room-temperature calibration sources into the cryostat, cool them to this base temperature, and extract them, all with minimal effects on the cryostat. I will present the status of the cryostat commissioning and the commissioning of the CUORE Detector Calibration System, including the results of the first calibration string deployment to 10 mK. [Preview Abstract] |
Monday, April 13, 2015 12:21PM - 12:33PM |
R4.00009: Neutron capture cross section of $^{136}$Xe Sean Daugherty, Joshua Albert, Tessa Johnson, Thomasina O'Conner, Lisa Kaufman $^{136}$Xe is an important 0$\nu\beta\beta$ candidate, studied in experiments such as EXO-200 and, in the future, nEXO. These experiments require a precise study of neutron capture for their background models. The neutron capture cross section of $^{136}$Xe has been measured at the Detector for Advanced Capture Experiments (DANCE) at the Los Alamos Neutron Science Center. A neutron beam ranging from thermal energy to 100 keV was incident on a gas cell filled with isotopically pure $^{136}$Xe . We will discuss the measurement of partial neutron capture cross sections at thermal and first neutron resonance energies along with corresponding capture gamma cascades. [Preview Abstract] |
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