Searches for CE ν NS and physics beyond the standard model using Skipper-CCDs at CONNIE
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: The Coherent Neutrino-Nucleus Interaction Experiment (CONNIE) aims to detect the coherent scattering ( CE ν NS ) of reactor antineutrinos off silicon nuclei using thick fully depleted high-resistivity silicon CCDs. Two Skipper-CCD sensors with subelectron readout noise capability were installed at the experiment next to the Angra-2 reactor in 2021, making CONNIE the first experiment to employ Skipper-CCDs for reactor neutrino detection. We report on the performance of the Skipper-CCDs, the new data processing, data quality, and event selection for CE ν NS interactions, which enable CONNIE to reach a record low detection threshold of 15 eV. The data were collected over 300 days in 2021–2022 and correspond to exposures of 14.9 g-days with the reactor-on and 3.5 g-days with the reactor-off. The difference between the reactor-on and off event rates shows no excess and yields upper limits for the neutrino interaction rates, comparable with previous CONNIE limits from standard CCDs and higher exposures. Searches for new neutrino interactions beyond the Standard Model improve the previous CONNIE limit on a simplified model with light vector mediators. A first dark matter (DM) search by diurnal modulation by CONNIE obtains the best limits on the DM-electron scattering cross section by a surface-level experiment. These promising results, obtained using a very small-mass sensor, illustrate the potential of Skipper-CCDs to probe rare neutrino interactions and motivate the plans to increase the detector mass in the near future.
DOI: 10.1103/l1pf-cpcv
Authors: Alexis A. Aguilar-Arevalo, Juan Carlos D’Olivo, Y. Sarkis, Nicolas Avalos, Xavier Bertou, Carla Bonifazi, Gustavo Cancelo, Juan Estrada, Richard Ford, Kevin Kuk, Andrew Lathrop, Javier Tiffenberg, Sho Uemura, Brenda A. Cervantes-Vergara, Claudio Chavez, Fernando Chierchie, Gustavo Coelho Corrêa, João dos Anjos, Herman P. Lima, Guillermo Fernandez Moroni, Aldo R. Fernandes Neto, Ben Kilminster, Patrick Lemos, Katherine Maslova, Irina Nasteva, Ana Carolina Oliveira, Pedro Ventura, Martin Makler, Franciole Marinho, Jorge Molina, Diego Stalder, Laura Paulucci, Dario Rodrigues, Miguel Sofo Haro
Institutions: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Bariloche Atomic Centre, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, Balseiro Institute, Instituto de Tecnologías en Detección y Astropartículas, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, International Center for Advanced Studies, Federal Center for Technological Education Celso Suckow da Fonseca, Universidad Nacional del Sur, Universidad Nacional de Asunción, University of Zurich, Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas, Instituto Tecnológico de Aeronáutica, Universidade Federal do ABC, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Instituto de Física de Buenos Aires, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica
Language: English
Topic: Neutrino Physics Research
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Funders: U.S. Department of Energy, Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas, Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología, Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Inovação, Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, Fundação Carlos Chagas Filho de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Financiadora de Estudos e Projetos, Eletrobras, Agencia Nacional de Promoción de la Investigación, el Desarrollo Tecnológico y la Innovación, Office of Science, Dirección General de Asuntos del Personal Académico, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Division of Chemistry, High Energy Physics, Fermilab
Awards: G1004156989, G1158349551, G1286236842, G154696372, G1840770272, G2019082030, G216474331, G228631196, G2311368543, G247810146, G2857261228, G3083819904, G3111898410, G3220020839, G3608235273, G3946610965, G419881185, G42916606, G4348917909, G4404904460, G4501827968, G498139845, G5094606986, G585908603, G604649932, G716412294, G759921648, G8010944608, G8571493254, G86560745, G8956271741, G969889393
OpenAlex ID: W4404407569