Double Chooz θ₁₃ measurement via total neutron capture detection

Journal Article · Mon Apr 20 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Nature Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-020-0831-y· OSTI ID:1807739

de Kerret, H.; Abrahao, T.; Almazan, H.; dos Anjos, J. C.; Appel, S.; Barriere, J. C.; Bekman, I.; Bezerra, T. J. C.; Bezrukov, L.; Blucher, E.; Brugiere, T.; Buck, C.; Busenitz, J.; Cabrera, A.; Cerrada, M.; Chauveau, E.; Chimenti, P.; Corpace, O.; Dawson, J. V.; Djurcic, Z. ; Etenko, A.; Furuta, H.; Gil-Botella, I.; Givaudan, A.; Gomez, H.; Gonzalez, L. F. G.; Goodman, M. C.; Hara, T.; Haser, J.; Hellwig, D.; Hourlier, A.; Ishitsuka, M.; Jochum, J.; Jollet, C.; Kale, K.; Kaneda, M.; Karakac, M.; Kawasaki, T.; Kemp, E.; Kryn, D.; Kuze, M.; Lachenmaier, T.; Lane, C. E.; Lasserre, T.; Lastoria, C.; Lhuillier, D.; Lima, H. P.; Lindner, M.; Lopez-Castano, J. M.; LoSecco, J. M.; Lubsandorzhiev, B.; Maeda, J.; Mariani, C.; Maricic, J.; Martino, J.; Matsubara, T.; Mention, G.; Meregaglia, A.; Miletic, T.; Milincic, R.; Minotti, A,; Navas-Nicolas, D.; Novella, P.; Oberauer, O.; Obolensky, M.; Onillon, A.; Oralbaev, A.; Palomares, C.; Pepe, I. M.; Pronost, G.; Reichenbacher, J.; Reinhold, B.; Schonert, S.; Schoppmann, S.; Scola, L.; Sharankova, R.; Sibille, V.; Sinev, V.; Skorokhvatov, M.; Soldin, P.; Stahl, A.; Stancu, I.; Stokes, L. F. F.; Suekane, F.; Sukhotin, S.; Sumiyoshi, T.; Sun, Y.; Veyssiere, C.; Viaud, B.; Vivier, M.; Wagner, S.; Wiebusch, C.; Yang, G.; Yermia, F.

Neutrinos were assumed to be massless particles until the discovery of the neutrino oscillation process. This phenomenon indicates that the neutrinos have non-zero masses and the mass eigenstates (ν₁, ν₂, ν₃) are mixtures of their flavour eigenstates (ν_e, ν_μ, ν_τ). The oscillations between different flavour eigenstates are described by three mixing angles (θ₁₂, θ₂₃, θ₁₃), two differences of the squared neutrino masses of the ν₂/ν₁ and ν₃/ν₁ pairs and a charge conjugation parity symmetry violating phase δ_CP. The Double Chooz experiment, located near the Chooz Electricité de France reactors, measures the oscillation parameter θ₁₃ using reactor neutrinos. In this work, the Double Chooz collaboration reports the measurement of the mixing angle θ₁₃ with the new total neutron capture detection technique from the full data set, yielding sin²(2θ₁₃) = 0.105 ± 0.014. This measurement exploits the multidetector configuration, the isoflux baseline and data recorded when the reactors were switched off. In addition to the neutrino mixing angle measurement, Double Chooz provides a precise measurement of the reactor neutrino flux, given by the mean cross-section per fission $$\langle$$σ_f$$\rangle$$ = (5.71 ± 0.06) × 10^–43 cm² per fission, and reports an empirical model of the distortion in the reactor neutrino spectrum.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Hawaii, Honolulu, HI (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
• Contributing Organization: The Double Chooz Collaboration
• Grant/Contract Number: SC0010504
• OSTI ID: 1807739
• Journal Information: Nature Physics, Vol. 16, Issue 5; ISSN 1745-2473
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group (NPG)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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