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Title: Deployment and performance of a Low-Energy-Threshold Skipper-CCD inside a nuclear reactor

Journal Article · · Journal of High Energy Physics (Online)
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [4];  [5]; ORCiD logo [6]; ORCiD logo [7]; ORCiD logo [8];  [5];  [5];  [9];  [5]
  1. Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica (CNEA), Buenos Aires (Argentina); Univ. of Buenos Aires (Argentina)
  2. Univ. of Buenos Aires (Argentina); Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires (Argentina)
  3. Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica (CNEA), Rio Negro (Argentina). Centro Atomico Bariloche (CAB)
  4. Comision Nacional de Energia Atomica (CNEA), Buenos Aires (Argentina)
  5. Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
  6. Nucleoeléctrica Argentina Sociedad Anónima (NA-SA), Zárate (Argentina)
  7. Univ. of Buenos Aires (Argentina); Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires (Argentina); Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
  8. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Bahía Blanca (Argentina); Universidad Nacional del Sur (UNS), Bahía Blanca (Argentina)
  9. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires (Argentina); Univ. of Buenos Aires (Argentina); Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Charge Coupled Devices (CCD) are being used for reactor neutrino experiments and have already demonstrated their potential in constraining new physics models. The prospect of a Skipper-CCD experiment looking for standard and beyond standard model (BSM) physics in a nuclear reactor has been evaluated for different benchmark scenarios. Here, we report the first installation of a 2-g Skipper-CCD inside the containment building of a 2 GWth nuclear power plant and analyze its performance throughout its first 18 months of operation. The sensor was successfully deployed at Atucha II, in Argentina, 12 meters away from the center of the reactor core. We discuss the challenges involved in the commissioning of the detector and present data acquired during reactor ON and reactor OFF periods, with the sensor functioning with a sub-electron readout noise of 0.17 e-. Based on an exposure of 56.8 g day reactor ON and two reactor OFF data sets with a total exposure of 118.1 g day we characterize the system and evaluate the sensitivity to CEvNS. We achieved a background rate of 33 kdru and a low threshold of 45 eVee. The ongoing efforts to improve sensitivities to CEvNS and BSM interaction are also discussed.

Research Organization:
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-07CH11359
OSTI ID:
2311120
Report Number(s):
FERMILAB-PUB--24-0016-PPD; arXiv:2401.07885; oai:inspirehep.net:2747170
Journal Information:
Journal of High Energy Physics (Online), Journal Name: Journal of High Energy Physics (Online) Journal Issue: 10 Vol. 2024; ISSN 1029-8479
Publisher:
Springer NatureCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (28)

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journal September 2021
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conference March 2024

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