The Coherent Neutrino-Nucleus Interaction Experiment (CONNIE) uses low-noise fully depleted charge-coupled devices (CCDs) with the goal of measuring low-energy recoils from coherent elastic scattering ($$\mathrm{CE}\mathcal{ν}\mathrm{NS}$$) of reactor antineutrinos with silicon nuclei and testing nonstandard neutrino interactions (NSI). We report here the first results of the detector array deployed in 2016, considering an active mass 47.6 g (eight CCDs), which is operating at a distance of 30 m from the core of the Angra 2 nuclear reactor, with a thermal power of 3.8 GW. A search for neutrino events is performed by comparing data collected with the reactor on (2.1 kg-day) and reactor off (1.6 kg-day). The results show no excess in the reactor-on data, reaching the world record sensitivity down to recoil energies of about 1 keV (0.1 keV electron equivalent). A 95% confidence level limit for new physics is established at an event rate of 40 times the one expected from the standard model at this energy scale. The results presented here provide a new window to low-energy neutrino physics, allowing one to explore for the first time the energies accessible through the low threshold of CCDs. Finally, they will lead to new constraints on NSI from the $$\mathrm{CE}\mathcal{ν}\mathrm{NS}$$ of antineutrinos from nuclear reactors.
@article{osti_1556979,
author = {Aguilar-Arevalo, Alexis and Bertou, Xavier and Bonifazi, Carla and Cancelo, Gustavo and Castañeda, Alejandro and Cervantes Vergara, Brenda and Chavez, Claudio and D’Olivo, Juan C. and dos Anjos, João C. and Estrada, Juan and others},
title = {Exploring low-energy neutrino physics with the Coherent Neutrino Nucleus Interaction Experiment},
annote = {The Coherent Neutrino-Nucleus Interaction Experiment (CONNIE) uses low-noise fully depleted charge-coupled devices (CCDs) with the goal of measuring low-energy recoils from coherent elastic scattering ($\mathrm{CE}\mathcal{ν}\mathrm{NS}$) of reactor antineutrinos with silicon nuclei and testing nonstandard neutrino interactions (NSI). We report here the first results of the detector array deployed in 2016, considering an active mass 47.6 g (eight CCDs), which is operating at a distance of 30 m from the core of the Angra 2 nuclear reactor, with a thermal power of 3.8 GW. A search for neutrino events is performed by comparing data collected with the reactor on (2.1 kg-day) and reactor off (1.6 kg-day). The results show no excess in the reactor-on data, reaching the world record sensitivity down to recoil energies of about 1 keV (0.1 keV electron equivalent). A 95% confidence level limit for new physics is established at an event rate of 40 times the one expected from the standard model at this energy scale. The results presented here provide a new window to low-energy neutrino physics, allowing one to explore for the first time the energies accessible through the low threshold of CCDs. Finally, they will lead to new constraints on NSI from the $\mathrm{CE}\mathcal{ν}\mathrm{NS}$ of antineutrinos from nuclear reactors.},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevD.100.092005},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1556979},
journal = {Physical Review D},
issn = {ISSN 2470-0010},
number = {9},
volume = {100},
place = {United States},
publisher = {American Physical Society (APS)},
year = {2019},
month = {11}}
Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 506, Issue 3https://doi.org/10.1016/S0168-9002(03)01368-8
Chatzidakis, S.; Chrysikopoulou, S.; Tsoukalas, L. H.
Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 804https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2015.09.033
Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, Vol. 853https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2017.02.024