Year: 2015
Type: preprint
Abstract: The COHERENT collaboration's primary objective is to measure coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) using the unique, high-quality source of tens-of-MeV neutrinos provided by the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). In spite of its large cross section, the CEvNS process has never been observed, due to tiny energies of the resulting nuclear recoils which are out of reach for standard neutrino detectors. The measurement of CEvNS has now become feasible, thanks to the development of ultra-sensitive technology for rare decay and weakly-interacting massive particle (dark matter) searches. The CEvNS cross section is cleanly predicted in the standard model; hence its measurement provides a standard model test. It is relevant for supernova physics and supernova-neutrino detection, and enables validation of dark-matter detector background and detector-response models. In the long term, precision measurement of CEvNS will address questions of nuclear structure. COHERENT will deploy multiple detector technologies in a phased approach: a 14-kg CsI[Na] scintillating crystal, 15 kg of p-type point-contact germanium detectors, and 100 kg of liquid xenon in a two-phase time projection chamber. Following an extensive background measurement campaign, a location in the SNS basement has proven to be neutron-quiet and suitable for deployment of the COHERENT detector suite. The simultaneous deployment of the three COHERENT detector subsystems will test the $N^2$ dependence of the cross section and ensure an unambiguous discovery of CEvNS. This document describes concisely the COHERENT physics motivations, sensitivity and plans for measurements at the SNS to be accomplished on a four-year timescale.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: COHERENT Collaboration, Akimov, D., An, P., Awe, C., Barbeau, P. S., Barton, P., Becker, B., Belov, V., Bolozdynya, A., Burenkov, A., Cabrera-Palmer, B., Collar, J. I., Cooper, R. J., Cooper, R. L., Cuesta, C., Dean, D., Detwiler, J., Dolgolenko, A. G., Efremenko, Y., Elliott, S. R., Etenko, A., Fields, N., Fox, W., Galindo-Uribarri, A., Green, M., Heath, M., Hedges, S., Hornback, D., Iverson, E. B., Kaufman, L., Klein, S. R., Khromov, A., Konovalov, A., Kovalenko, A., Kumpan, A., Leadbetter, C., Li, L., Lu, W., Melikyan, Y., Markoff, D., Miller, K., Middlebrook, M., Mueller, P., Naumov, P., Newby, J., Parno, D., Penttila, S., Perumpilly, G., Radford, D., Ray, H., Raybern, J., Reyna, D., Rich, G. C., Rimal, D., Rudik, D., Scholberg, K., Scholz, B., Snow, W. M., Sosnovtsev, A., Shakirov, A., Suchyta, S., Suh, B., Tayloe, R., Thornton, R. T., Tolstukhin, A., Vetter, K., Yu, C. H.
Institutions: Kurchatov Institute, Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics, National Research Nuclear University MEPhI, Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory, Duke University, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Sandia National Laboratories California, Sandia National Laboratories, University of Chicago, New Mexico State University, University of Washington, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana University, North Carolina State University, North Carolina Central University, University of Florida, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, University of California, Berkeley
Language: English
Topic: Neutrino Physics Research
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Energy, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, National Research Nuclear University MEPhI, Office of Science, Laboratory Directed Research and Development, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Awards: G6585976086, G829502903
OpenAlex ID: W4299538542