Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) and Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) Conceptual Design Report, Volume 4 The DUNE Detectors at LBNF
A description of the proposed detector(s) for DUNE at LBNF
physics.ins-det↗
arXiv subjects
A. B. Balantekin
Publications and source records attributed to A. B. Balantekin.
The Detector System of The Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment
The Daya Bay experiment was the first to report simultaneous measurements of reactor antineutrinos at multiple baselines leading to the discovery of $\barν_e$ oscillations over km-baselines. Subsequent data has provided the world's most precise measurement of $\rm{sin}^22θ_{13}$ and the effective mass splitting $Δm_{ee}^2$. The experiment is located in Daya Bay, China where the cluster of six nuclear reactors is among the world's most prolific sources of electron antineutrinos. Multiple antineutrino detectors are deployed in three underground water pools at different distances from the reactor cores to search for deviations in the antineutrino rate and energy spectrum due to neutrino mixing. Instrumented with photomultiplier tubes (PMTs), the water pools serve as shielding against natural radioactivity from the surrounding rock and provide efficient muon tagging. Arrays of resistive plate chambers over the top of each pool provide additional muon detection. The antineutrino detectors were specifically designed for measurements of the antineutrino flux with minimal systematic uncertainty. Relative detector efficiencies between the near and far detectors are known to better than 0.2%. With the unblinding of the final two detectors' baselines and target masses, a complete description and comparison of the eight antineutrino detectors can now be presented. This paper describes the Daya Bay detector systems, consisting of eight antineutrino detectors in three instrumented water pools in three underground halls, and their operation through the first year of eight detector data-taking.
physics.ins-det↗
Majorana Neutrino Magnetic Moment and Neutrino Decoupling in Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
We examine the physics of the early universe when Majorana neutrinos (electron neutrino, muon neutrino, tau neutrino) possess transition magnetic moments. These extra couplings beyond the usual weak interaction couplings alter the way neutrinos decouple from the plasma of electrons/positrons and photons. We calculate how transition magnetic moment couplings modify neutrino decoupling temperatures, and then use a full weak, strong, and electromagnetic reaction network to compute corresponding changes in Big Bang Nucleosynthesis abundance yields. We find that light element abundances and other cosmological parameters are sensitive to magnetic couplings on the order of 10^{-10} Bohr magnetons. Given the recent analysis of sub-MeV Borexino data which constrains Majorana moments to the order of 10^{-11} Bohr magnetons or less, we find that changes in cosmological parameters from magnetic contributions to neutrino decoupling temperatures are below the level of upcoming precision observations.
astro-ph.CO↗
A new measurement of antineutrino oscillation with the full detector configuration at Daya Bay
We report a new measurement of electron antineutrino disappearance using the fully-constructed Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment. The final two of eight antineutrino detectors were installed in the summer of 2012. Including the 404 days of data collected from October 2012 to November 2013 resulted in a total exposure of 6.9$\times$10$^5$ GW$_{\rm th}$-ton-days, a 3.6 times increase over our previous results. Improvements in energy calibration limited variations between detectors to 0.2%. Removal of six $^{241}$Am-$^{13}$C radioactive calibration sources reduced the background by a factor of two for the detectors in the experimental hall furthest from the reactors. Direct prediction of the antineutrino signal in the far detectors based on the measurements in the near detectors explicitly minimized the dependence of the measurement on models of reactor antineutrino emission. The uncertainties in our estimates of $\sin^{2}2θ_{13}$ and $|Δm^2_{ee}|$ were halved as a result of these improvements. Analysis of the relative antineutrino rates and energy spectra between detectors gave $\sin^{2}2θ_{13} = 0.084\pm0.005$ and $|Δm^{2}_{ee}|= (2.42\pm0.11) \times 10^{-3}$ eV$^2$ in the three-neutrino framework.
hep-ex↗
Measurement of the Reactor Antineutrino Flux and Spectrum at Daya Bay
This Letter reports a measurement of the flux and energy spectrum of electron antineutrinos from six 2.9~GW$_{th}$ nuclear reactors with six detectors deployed in two near (effective baselines 512~m and 561~m) and one far (1,579~m) underground experimental halls in the Daya Bay experiment. Using 217 days of data, 296,721 and 41,589 inverse beta decay (IBD) candidates were detected in the near and far halls, respectively. The measured IBD yield is (1.55 $\pm$ 0.04) $\times$ 10$^{-18}$~cm$^2$/GW/day or (5.92 $\pm$ 0.14) $\times$ 10$^{-43}$~cm$^2$/fission. This flux measurement is consistent with previous short-baseline reactor antineutrino experiments and is $0.946\pm0.022$ ($0.991\pm0.023$) relative to the flux predicted with the Huber+Mueller (ILL+Vogel) fissile antineutrino model. The measured IBD positron energy spectrum deviates from both spectral predictions by more than 2$σ$ over the full energy range with a local significance of up to $\sim$4$σ$ between 4-6 MeV. A reactor antineutrino spectrum of IBD reactions is extracted from the measured positron energy spectrum for model-independent predictions.
hep-ex↗
PROSPECT - A Precision Reactor Oscillation and Spectrum Experiment at Short Baselines
Current models of antineutrino production in nuclear reactors predict detection rates and spectra at odds with the existing body of direct reactor antineutrino measurements. High-resolution antineutrino detectors operated close to compact research reactor cores can produce new precision measurements useful in testing explanations for these observed discrepancies involving underlying nuclear or new physics. Absolute measurement of the 235U-produced antineutrino spectrum can provide additional constraints for evaluating the accuracy of current and future reactor models, while relative measurements of spectral distortion between differing baselines can be used to search for oscillations arising from the existence of eV-scale sterile neutrinos. Such a measurement can be performed in the United States at several highly-enriched uranium fueled research reactors using near-surface segmented liquid scintillator detectors. We describe here the conceptual design and physics potential of the PROSPECT experiment, a U.S.-based, multi-phase experiment with reactor-detector baselines of 7-20 meters capable of addressing these and other physics and detector development goals. Current R&D status and future plans for PROSPECT detector deployment and data-taking at the High Flux Isotope Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory will be discussed.
physics.ins-det↗
Neutrinos, Rare Isotopes of Exotic Nuclei and Nuclear Astrophysics
The connection between neutrino physics, nucleosynthesis of elements in astrophysical sites, laboratory measurements with rare exotic nuclei and astronomical observations is discussed. The key role played by neutrinos is emphasized and the close connection between neutrino physics and nucleosynthesis is highlighted.
nucl-th↗
Search for a Light Sterile Neutrino at Daya Bay
A search for light sterile neutrino mixing was performed with the first 217 days of data from the Daya Bay Reactor Antineutrino Experiment. The experiment's unique configuration of multiple baselines from six 2.9~GW$_{\rm th}$ nuclear reactors to six antineutrino detectors deployed in two near (effective baselines 512~m and 561~m) and one far (1579~m) underground experimental halls makes it possible to test for oscillations to a fourth (sterile) neutrino in the $10^{\rm -3}~{\rm eV}^{2} < |Δm_{41}^{2}| < 0.3~{\rm eV}^{2}$ range. The relative spectral distortion due to electron antineutrino disappearance was found to be consistent with that of the three-flavor oscillation model. The derived limits on $\sin^22θ_{14}$ cover the $10^{-3}~{\rm eV}^{2} \lesssim |Δm^{2}_{41}| \lesssim 0.1~{\rm eV}^{2}$ region, which was largely unexplored.
hep-ex↗
Independent Measurement of Theta13 via Neutron Capture on Hydrogen at Daya Bay
A new measurement of the $θ_{13}$ mixing angle has been obtained at the Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment via the detection of inverse beta decays tagged by neutron capture on hydrogen. The antineutrino events for hydrogen capture are distinct from those for gadolinium capture with largely different systematic uncertainties, allowing a determination independent of the gadolinium-capture result and an improvement on the precision of $θ_{13}$ measurement. With a 217-day antineutrino data set obtained with six antineutrino detectors and from six 2.9 GW$_{th}$ reactors, the rate deficit observed at the far hall is interpreted as $\sin^22θ_{13}=0.083\pm0.018$ in the three-flavor oscillation model. When combined with the gadolinium-capture result from Daya Bay, we obtain $\sin^22θ_{13}=0.089\pm0.008$ as the final result for the six-antineutrino-detector configuration of the Daya Bay experiment.
hep-ex↗
Neutrino Magnetic Moment, CP Violation and Flavor Oscillations in Matter
We consider collective oscillations of neutrinos, which are emergent nonlinear flavor evolution phenomena instigated by neutrino-neutrino interactions in astrophysical environments with sufficiently high neutrino densities. We investigate the symmetries of the problem in the full three flavor mixing scheme and in the exact many-body formulation by including the effects of CP violation and neutrino magnetic moment. We show that, similar to the two flavor scheme, several dynamical symmetries exist for three flavors in the single-angle approximation if the net electron background in the environment and the effects of the neutrino magnetic moment are negligible. Moreover, we show that these dynamical symmetries are present even when the CP symmetry is violated in neutrino oscillations. We explicitly write down the constants of motion through which these dynamical symmetries manifest themselves in terms of the generators of the SU(3) flavor transformations. We also show that the effects due to the CP-violating Dirac phase factor out of the many-body evolution operator and evolve independently of nonlinear flavor transformations if neutrino electromagnetic interactions are ignored. In the presence of a strong magnetic field, CP-violating effects can still be considered independently provided that an effective definition for neutrino magnetic moment is used.
hep-ph↗
The Effect of Sterile States on the Magnetic Moments of Neutrinos
We briefly review recent work exploring the effect of light sterile neutrino states on the neutrino magnetic moment as explored by the reactor and solar neutrino experiments.
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Magnetic moments of active and sterile neutrinos
Since most of the neutrino parameters are well-measured, we illustrate precisely the prediction of the Standard Model, minimally extended to allow massive neutrinos, for the electron neutrino magnetic moment. We elaborate on the effects of light sterile neutrinos on the effective electron neutrino magnetic moment measured at the reactors. We explicitly show that the kinematical effects of the neutrino masses are negligible even for light sterile neutrinos.
hep-ph↗
Neutrino Mixing and Oscillations in Astrophysical Environments
A brief review of the current status of neutrino mixing and oscillations in astrophysical environments, with particular emphasis on the Sun and core-collapse supernovae, is given. Implications of the existence of sterile states which mix with the active neutrinos are discussed.
astro-ph.SR↗
Spectral measurement of electron antineutrino oscillation amplitude and frequency at Daya Bay
A measurement of the energy dependence of antineutrino disappearance at the Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment is reported. Electron antineutrinos ($\overlineν_{e}$) from six $2.9$ GW$_{\rm th}$ reactors were detected with six detectors deployed in two near (effective baselines 512 m and 561 m) and one far (1579 m) underground experimental halls. Using 217 days of data, 41589 (203809 and 92912) antineutrino candidates were detected in the far hall (near halls). An improved measurement of the oscillation amplitude $\sin^{2}2θ_{13} = 0.090^{+0.008}_{-0.009} $ and the first direct measurement of the $\overlineν_{e}$ mass-squared difference $|Δm^{2}_{ee}|= (2.59_{-0.20}^{+0.19}) \times 10^{-3}\ {\rm eV}^2 $ is obtained using the observed $\overlineν_{e}$ rates and energy spectra in a three-neutrino framework. This value of $|Δm^{2}_{ee}|$ is consistent with $|Δm^{2}_{μμ}|$ measured by muon neutrino disappearance, supporting the three-flavor oscillation model.
hep-ex↗
Exact Methods for Self Interacting Neutrinos
The effective many-body Hamiltonian which describes vacuum oscillations and self interactions of neutrinos in a two flavor mixing scheme under the single angle approximation has the same dynamical symmetries as the well known BCS pairing Hamiltonian. These dynamical symmetries manifest themselves in terms of a set of constants of motion and can be useful in formulating the collective oscillation modes in an intuitive way. In particular, we show that a neutrino spectral split can be simply viewed as an avoided level crossing between the eigenstates of a mean field Hamiltonian which includes a Lagrange multiplier in order to fix the value of an exact many-body constant of motion. We show that the same dynamical symmetries also exist in the three neutrino mixing scheme by explicitly writing down the corresponding constants of motion.
nucl-th↗
Neutrinos
This document represents the response of the Intensity Frontier Neutrino Working Group to the Snowmass charge. We summarize the current status of neutrino physics and identify many exciting future opportunities for studying the properties of neutrinos and for addressing important physics and astrophysics questions with neutrinos.
hep-ex↗
Neutrino mass hierarchy determination and other physics potential of medium-baseline reactor neutrino oscillation experiments
Medium-baseline reactor neutrino oscillation experiments (MBRO) have been proposed to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy (MH) and to make precise measurements of the neutrino oscillation parameters. With sufficient statistics, better than ~3%/\sqrt{E} energy resolution and well understood energy non-linearity, MH can be determined by analyzing oscillation signals driven by the atmospheric mass-squared difference in the survival spectrum of reactor antineutrinos. With such high performance MBRO detectors, oscillation parameters, such as \sin^22θ_{12}, Δm^2_{21}, and Δm^2_{32}, can be measured to sub-percent level, which enables a future test of the PMNS matrix unitarity to ~1% level and helps the forthcoming neutrinoless double beta decay experiments to constrain the allowed values. Combined with results from the next generation long-baseline beam neutrino and atmospheric neutrino oscillation experiments, the MH determination sensitivity can reach higher levels. In addition to the neutrino oscillation physics, MBRO detectors can also be utilized to study geoneutrinos, astrophysical neutrinos and proton decay. We propose to start a U.S. R&D program to identify, quantify and fulfill the key challenges essential for the success of MBRO experiments.
hep-ex↗
A Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis Limit on the Neutral Fermion Decays into Neutrinos
Using the primordial helium abundance, an upper limit to the magnetic moments for Dirac neutrinos had been provided by imposing restrictions on the number of the additional helicity states. Considering non-thermal photons produced in the decay of the heavy sterile mass eigenstates due to the neutrino magnetic moment, we explore the constraints imposed by the observed abundances of all the light elements produced during the Big Bang nucleosynthesis.
astro-ph.CO↗