EAGER: The CHANDLER Reactor Neutrino Detector

EAGER：钱德勒反应堆中微子探测器

• 批准号: 1740247
• 负责人: Jonathan Link
• 金额: $ 4.5万
• 依托单位: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-06-01 至 2018-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1740247&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; CHANDLER; Reactor; Neutrino; Detector

Neutrinos from nuclear reactors have played a central role in our understanding of the properties of these elusive, hard-to-observe fundamental particles. Three different types of neutrino are known to exist, having been detected through their interaction via one of the known forces of nature. A fourth type of neutrino has been postulated, a so-called light sterile neutrino, that is presumed to only interact via gravity. Persistent, unproven hints of such a neutrino have been around since the late 1990's, when some accelerator data were shown to be incompatible with the 3-neutrino framework of the Standard Model of Particle Physics. More recent results and re-analyses of older data continue to suggest the existence of this type of new physics, but no experiment has been able to definitively demonstrate or rule out their existence. Going forward, reactor neutrinos offer a promising means to resolve the cluster of anomalies commonly attributed to a light sterile neutrino. One hint of particular relevance is the so-called reactor neutrino anomaly whereby all reactor experiments find a deficit in the neutrino interaction probability when compared to calculations of the reactor neutrino flux. Technologies for reactor neutrino detection may have applications beyond basic science. It has been pointed out that a high-efficiency detector with good energy resolution could determine the plutonium content of a reactor in situ. Such a capability could be used to evaluate new reactor designs, or as a part of a verification scheme for nuclear non-proliferation. A real-world application to non-proliferation safeguards will require a detector technology which can operate at the surface, in close proximity to a reactor, with minimal shielding and without hazardous liquids. The CHANDLER technology was conceived with these requirements in mind. The CHANDLER project will continue to be an excellent training ground for young scientists. This project also involves two high school teachers through the QuarkNET program.The discovery of a light sterile neutrino would be truly transformative to the field of particle physics, while a thorough debunking of the ~1 eV sterile neutrino hypothesis would simplify interpretations of future long-baseline experiments. This EAGER award provides funding to perform a full systems test of a new reactor neutrino detector technology, known as CHANDLER, by deploying the 80 channel, 80 kg MiniCHANDLER prototype, at the North Anna Nuclear Power Plant. The goal of this deployment is to evaluate the detector's performance. In particular, it will determine whether MiniCHANDLER can adequately isolate reactor neutrino events from the background, and whether this technology is capable of the high precision spectral measurement required to definitively discover or rule out the sterile neutrino hypothesis. A successful demonstration will prove the suitability of this technology for a full-scale short-baseline neutrino oscillation search.

来自核反应堆的中微子在我们理解这些难以捉摸、难以观察的基本粒子的性质方面发挥了核心作用。已知存在三种不同类型的中微子，它们通过一种已知的自然力相互作用而被发现。 第四种类型的中微子已经被假设，所谓的轻无菌中微子，被认为只通过引力相互作用。 自20世纪90年代末以来，这种中微子的持续，未经证实的暗示一直存在，当时一些加速器数据被证明与粒子物理学标准模型的3-中微子框架不兼容。最近的结果和对旧数据的重新分析继续表明这种类型的新物理学的存在，但没有实验能够明确证明或排除它们的存在。展望未来，反应堆中微子提供了一种有希望的手段来解决通常归因于轻无菌中微子的异常集群。一个特别相关的暗示是所谓的反应堆中微子异常，即所有反应堆实验发现的中微子相互作用的概率相比，反应堆中微子通量的计算赤字。反应堆中微子探测技术的应用可能超越基础科学。已经指出，具有良好能量分辨率的高效率探测器可以现场确定反应堆中的钚含量。这种能力可用于评估新的反应堆设计，或作为核不扩散核查计划的一部分。在不扩散保障监督方面的实际应用将需要一种探测器技术，这种技术可以在表面上、在反应堆附近、在屏蔽最小的情况下、在没有危险液体的情况下工作。钱德勒技术的构思考虑到了这些要求。钱德勒项目将继续成为青年科学家的一个极好的培训基地。该项目还涉及两名高中教师通过QuarkNET程序。轻无菌中微子的发现将是粒子物理学领域的真正变革，而彻底揭穿~1 eV无菌中微子假设将简化未来长基线实验的解释。该EAGER奖提供资金，通过在北安娜核电站部署80通道、80公斤MiniCHANDLER原型，对新的反应堆中微子探测器技术（称为钱德勒）进行全系统测试。此部署的目的是评估检测器的性能。特别是，它将确定MiniCHANDLER是否能够充分地将反应堆中微子事件与背景隔离开来，以及这项技术是否能够进行明确发现或排除无菌中微子假设所需的高精度光谱测量。一个成功的演示将证明这种技术适用于全面的短基线中微子振荡搜索。

项目成果

Observation of Reactor Antineutrinos with a Rapidly Deployable Surface-Level Detector

使用快速部署的表面探测器观测反应堆反中微子

• DOI: 10.1103/physrevapplied.13.034028
• 发表时间: 2020
• 期刊: Physical Review Applied
• 影响因子: 4.6
• 作者: Haghighat, Alireza;Huber, Patrick;Li, Shengchao;Link, Jonathan M.;Mariani, Camillo;Park, Jaewon;Subedi, Tulasi
• 通讯作者: Subedi, Tulasi