Bulletin of the American Physical Society
2019 Fall Meeting of the APS Division of Nuclear Physics
Volume 64, Number 12
Monday–Thursday, October 14–17, 2019; Crystal City, Virginia
Session FB: Mini-Symposium: Neutrino Properties and Interactions: Results, Challenges, and Implications II |
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Chair: Vincente Guissepe, Oak Ridge National Laboratory Room: Salon 2 |
Tuesday, October 15, 2019 10:30AM - 11:06AM |
FB.00001: The Neutrino Landscape: Neutrinos and the Nucleus Invited Speaker: Phil Barbeau Over the last 40 years, only the neutrino has challenged the firmness of the Standard Model. Ongoing and planned searches for new physics in the neutrino sector will require dramatically increased sensitivity that stretch current capabilities—often made possible with a judicious choice of an atomic nucleus to interact with the neutrinos. I will summarize a range of neutrino-nucleus interaction experiments of interest to the nuclear physics community. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, October 15, 2019 11:06AM - 11:18AM |
FB.00002: Results from the PROSPECT Neutrino Experiment at HFIR Jim Napolitano The Precision Oscillation and Spectrum (PROSPECT) experiment measures $\bar\nu_e$ emitted by the highly enriched $^{235}$U core of the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at Oak Ridge National Lab. The two-ton detector has 154 independent liquid scintillator modules, doped with $^6$Li for detection of the delayed neutron from the inverse beta decay reaction $\bar\nu_ep\to e^+n$. PROSPECT sits at the Earth's surface and close to the reactor, yet achieves better than a 1:1 signal-to-background ratio. We have measured the shape of the $\bar\nu_e$ spectrum, and have analyzed it both for sterile neutrino oscillations and for comparison to predictions of the cumulative fission $\beta$ spectrum. Results based on more than six month's running, including reactor on and off comparisons, will be presented. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, October 15, 2019 11:18AM - 11:30AM |
FB.00003: Characterization of Aboveground Backgrounds for Reactor Antineutrino Detection with the PROSPECT Experiment Nathaniel Bowden PROSPECT is a reactor antineutrino experiment whose primary goals are to search for short-baseline neutrino oscillations and perform a precise measurement of the U-235 reactor antineutrino energy spectrum using a 4 ton antineutrino detector at the 85MW High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Operating in this environment with limited overburden to attenuate cosmic ray backgrounds is a significant technical challenge. The PROSPECT detector uses optical segmentation and a Li-6 doped liquid scintillator to achieve excellent background rejection in a compact, space efficient system. Initial results have demonstrated the ability to detect 100s of antineutrino events per day with good signal-to-background. Here we discuss how the particle identification and event localization capabilities of PROSPECT enable these results and provide the opportunity to characterize background generation mechanisms in environments with little-to-no overburden. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, October 15, 2019 11:30AM - 11:42AM |
FB.00004: Results of a CEvNS Search with the CENNS-10 Liquid Argon Detector Jacob Zettlemoyer The first observation of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) was made by the COHERENT collaboration at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) in August 2017 with a 14.6 kg CsI(Na) detector. One of the physics goals of the COHERENT experiment is to test the N$^2$ dependence of the CEvNS cross section predicted in the Standard Model by observing CEvNS in multiple low-threshold detectors. To that end, the $\sim$24 kg CENNS-10 liquid argon detector was deployed at the low-background Neutrino Alley at the SNS. An observation of CEvNS with CENNS-10 would provide a low N measurement to begin to map out the CEvNS cross section. CENNS-10 was deployed in December 2016 for an initial Engineering Run ending in May 2017 and subsequently upgraded for a Production Run beginning in July 2017. In this talk, I will present the latest results from a CEvNS search with the CENNS-10 liquid argon detector. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, October 15, 2019 11:42AM - 11:54AM |
FB.00005: A tonne-scale liquid argon scintillation detector for precision CEvNS studies Daniel Salvat Large-scale, low-threshold detectors offer the possibility to measure coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) cross-sections with high statistical precision. These measurements permit a broad collection of physics studies, such as placing improved constraints upon non-standard neutrino interactions and probing neutron distributions within nuclei. Further, a large-scale detector at a spallation target provides a highly sensitive probe of accelerator-produced dark-matter. The COHERENT collaboration has designed a $\sim$750~kg liquid argon (LAr) scintillation detector to be deployed at the spallation neutron source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory with a $\sim$610~kg fiducial volume viewed by an array of 3-inch photo-multiplier tubes. The detector is designed to achieve the required $\sim$20 keVnr threshold needed for efficient and robust detection of nuclear recoils. In this talk, we will discuss the physics sensitivity of the detector, present the experimental design, and outline ongoing R\&D to further improve scintillation light collection for future CEvNS studies with LAr. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, October 15, 2019 11:54AM - 12:06PM |
FB.00006: NuDot: Double-Beta Decay with Direction Reconstruction in Liquid Scintillator Julieta Gruszko As neutrinoless double-beta decay searches seek to reach into and beyond the inverted hierarchy regime, new strategies are needed to reject background events in kiloton-scale detectors. In monolithic liquid-scintillator-based detectors, otherwise-irreducible backgrounds like $^8$B solar neutrino scattering could be identified by their event topology using Cherenkov light signals. NuDot is a 1-ton prototype that aims to demonstrate this technique with 1 to 2 MeV beta particles. Following a successful demonstration of the separation technique in the FlatDot test-stand, the NuDot detector was built at MIT. Preliminary results from the commissioning phase of the experiment will be shown. In the coming months, we will conduct surface measurements demonstrating direction reconstruction of calibration source beta events, followed by an underground measurement of two-neutrino double-beta decay with direction reconstruction. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, October 15, 2019 12:06PM - 12:18PM |
FB.00007: Active Structural Materials for Low Background Experiments Brennan Hackett, Michael Febbraro, David Radford, Daniel Muenstermann, Bela Majorovits, Oliver Schulz, Michelle Kidder, Brent Dial, Alfredo Galindo-Uribarri Progress in the field of neutrino physics, including searches for neutrinoless double beta decay ($0\nu\beta\beta$) and neutrino oscillation measurements, places extreme demands for ultra-low background sensitivities. These improvements can be achieved by replacing inactive structural components with transparent, radio-pure plastic scintillators. These structural scintillating components surround the detector with a low background material and serve as an active veto, discriminating internal events of interest from external background events. Poly(ethylene-2,6-naphthalate) (PEN) has been identified as an ideal material for structural scintillator components as it has a significant yield strength and scintillates in the 400 nm region. A synthesis method has been developed to optimize optical properties and limit exposure to radio-impurities. This presentation will provide an update on the synthesis and characterization of PEN and PEN derivatives, as well as provide examples of applications for future ton-scale 0$\nu\beta\beta$ experiments. [Preview Abstract] |
Tuesday, October 15, 2019 12:18PM - 12:30PM |
FB.00008: Differential measurement of coherent-elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering using isotopically enriched Ge detectors Alfredo Galindo-Uribarri The Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) and the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) of ORNL are two very powerful neutrino sources. Coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) was first predicted in 1974 and recently observed by the COHERENT collaboration taking advantage of the extremely high-quality stopped-pion neutrino source available at the SNS. CEvNS is a process in which a neutrino scatters off an entire nucleus. The precise measurement of CEvNS has the potential to probe physics beyond the Standard Model and can also provide information about the nuclear form factors. We present a novel neutrino experiment which allows for precision measurements with a miniaturized detector size. It will demonstrate the N$^{\mathrm{2}}$ dependence of the cross section and significantly improve constraints on non-standard interactions of neutrinos with nuclei. The proposed project utilizes highly enriched $^{\mathrm{70-76}}$Ge isotopes and has a straightforward scalability to a large-scale experiment. The process of isotopically enriching germanium is a well-known technology used to fabricate $^{\mathrm{76}}$Ge search for neutrinoless double beta decay. By making a simultaneous differential CEvNS measurement with Ge detectors of different Ge composition many systematic errors would cancel. We will present the experimental strategy for this proposal and an estimate of the sensitivity of the detection system to changes in the form factor. [Preview Abstract] |
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