We investigate the possible effects of short-baseline antinu_e disappearance implied by the reactor antineutrino anomaly on the Double-Chooz determination of theta_{13} through the normalization of the initial antineutrino flux with the Bugey-4 measurement. We show that the effects are negligible and the value of theta_{13} obtained by the Double-Chooz collaboration is accurate only if Delta m^2_{41} is larger than about 3 eV^2. For smaller values of Delta m^2_{41} the short-baseline oscillations are not fully averaged at Bugey-4 and the uncertainties due to the reactor antineutrino anomaly can be of the same order of magnitude of the intrinsic Double-Chooz uncertainties.
This is a contribution paper from the Double Chooz experiment to the special issue of NPB on neutrino oscillations. The physics and a history of the reactor theta13 experiments, as well as Double Chooz experiment and its neutrino oscillation analyses are reviewed.
Short distance reactor antineutrino experiments measure an antineutrino spectrum a few percent lower than expected from theoretical predictions. In this work we study the potential of low energy threshold reactor experiments in the context of a light sterile neutrino signal. We discuss the perspectives of the recently detected coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering in future reactor antineutrino experiments. We find that the expectations to improve the current constraints on the mixing with sterile neutrinos are promising. We also analyse the measurements of antineutrino scattering off e…
SuperKamiokande (SK) doped with gadolinium has the capability to efficiently identify electron-antineutrinos through inverse beta-decay. Given the size of SK and the number of nuclear reactors in its vicinity, we argue that SK can observe the oscillations of reactor antineutrinos driven by the so-called solar mass-squared difference $Δm^2_{21}$. After only one year of data taking, we estimate that SK can measure $Δm^2_{21}$ with enough precision to help inform the current small tension between existing results from KamLAND and solar neutrino experiments.
Baksan Experiment on Sterile Neutrino (BEST) is presently at the stage of production of the artificial neutrino source Cr-51, the gallium exposure will start in July and proceed for three months. While aiming specifically at investigating the Gallium neutrino anomaly (SAGE and GALLEX experiments), BEST can do more and it is tempting to estimate its ability in testing sterile neutrino explanation of antineutrino (reactor) anomalies. We observe a moderate sensitivity to the region in model parameter space (sterile neutrino mass and mixing with active electron neutrino) outlined by the old reacto…
We investigate the possible origins of the norm and shape reactor antineutrino anomalies in the framework of a summation model (SM) where $β^{-}$ transitions are simulated by a phenomenological Gamow-Teller $β$-decay strength model. The general trends of the discrepancies to the Huber-Mueller model on the antineutrino side can be reproduced both in norm and shape. From the exact electron-antineutrino correspondence of the SM model, we predict similar distortions in the electron spectra, suggesting that biases on the reference fission-electron spectra could be at the origin of the anomalies.
We study the status of the reactor antineutrino anomaly in light of recent reactor flux models obtained with the conversion and summation methods. We present a new improved calculation of the IBD yields of the standard Huber-Mueller (HM) model and those of the new models. We show that the reactor rates and the fuel evolution data are consistent with the predictions of the Kurchatov Institute (KI) conversion model and with those of the Estienne-Fallot (EF) summation model, leading to a plausible robust demise of the reactor antineutrino anomaly. We show that the results of several goodness of f…
We present the bounds on 3+1 active-sterile neutrino mixing obtained from the first results of the KATRIN experiment. We show that the KATRIN data extend the Mainz and Troitsk bound to smaller values of $Δ{m}^2_{41}$ for large mixing and improves the exclusion of the large-$Δ{m}^2_{41}$ solution of the Huber-Muller reactor antineutrino anomaly. We also show that the combined bound of the Mainz, Troitsk, and KATRIN tritium experiments and the Bugey-3, NEOS, PROSPECT, and DANSS reactor spectral ratio measurements exclude most of the region in the ($\sin^2\!2\vartheta_{ee},Δ{m}^2_{41}$) plane all…
Model-independent reactor isotopic cross sections per fission are determined by global fits of the reactor antineutrino data from High-Enriched Uranium (HEU) reactor rates, Low-Enriched Uranium (LEU) reactor rates, and reactor fuel evolution data. Taking account of the implicit quasi-linear relationship between the fission fractions of $^{239}\rm{Pu}$ and $^{241}\rm{Pu}$ in the LEU reactor data, the Inverse-Beta-Decay (IBD) yields and their correlations of the fissionable isotopes $^{235}\rm{U}$, $^{238}\rm{U}$, and Pu's are obtained. The data-driven isotopic IBD yields provide an anomaly-free…
Hints for the existence of a sterile neutrino at nuclear reactors are reexamined using two updated predictions for the fluxes of antineutrinos produced in fissions. These new predictions diverge in their preference for the rate deficit anomaly, relative to previous analyses, but the anomaly in the ratios of measured antineutrino spectra persists. We comment on upcoming experiments and their ability to probe the preferred region of the sterile-neutrino parameter space in the electron neutrino disappearance channel.
We performed Monte Carlo calculations of the statistical distribution of the $χ^2$ test statistic used in the analysis of the data of the NEOS, DANSS, Bugey-3, and PROSPECT short-baseline reactor experiments. We show that the statistical significance of the NEOS and DANSS indications in favor of active-sterile neutrino oscillations is smaller than that obtained with the usual method based on the $χ^2$ distribution. In the combined analysis of the data of the four experiments we find that the statistical significance of active-sterile neutrino oscillations is reduced from $2.4σ$ to $1.8σ$.
We investigate the ability of an antineutrino detector to determine the fuel type of a reactor. A hypothetical 5t antineutrino detector is placed 25m from the core and measures the spectral shape and rate of antineutrinos emitted by fission fragments in the core for a number of 90 day periods. Our results indicate that four major fuel types can be differentiated from the variation of fission fractions over the irradiation time with a true positive probability of detection at 95%. In addition, we demonstrate that antineutrinos can identify the burn-up at which weapons-grade mixed-oxide (MOX) fu…
Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Sezione di Torino（意大利国家核物理研究所都灵分部）；Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院高能物理研究所）；School of Physical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学物理科学学院）
We consider the possibility that the reactor antineutrino anomaly is due to a miscalculation of one or more of the $^{235}\text{U}$, $^{238}\text{U}$, $^{239}\text{Pu}$, and $^{241}\text{Pu}$ reactor antineutrino fluxes. From the fit of the data we obtain the precise determination $σ_{f,235} = ( 6.33 \pm 0.08 ) \times 10^{-43} \, \text{cm}^2 / \text{fission}$ of the $^{235}\text{U}$ cross section per fission, which is more precise than the calculated value and differs from it by $2.2σ$. The cross sections per fission of the other fluxes have large uncertainties and in practice their values are…
The recent agreement to transfer nuclear submarine reactors and technology from two nuclear-weapon states to a non-nuclear-weapon state (AUKUS deal) highlights an unsolved problem in international safeguards: how to safeguard naval reactor fuel while it is on-board an operational nuclear submarine. Proposals to extend existing safeguards technologies and practices are complicated by the need for civilian international inspectors to gain access to the interior of the submarine and the reactor compartment, which raises national security concerns. In this paper we show that implementing safeguard…
New fissile isotopes antineutrino spectra ($^{235}$U, $^{238}$U, $^{239}$Pu and $^{241}$Pu) calculation is presented. On base of summation method the toy model was developed. It was shown that total antineutrino number is conserved in framework of given database on individual fragments yields. The analysis of antineutrino spectrum shape says that any presented antineutrino spectrum should satisfy to the total antineutrino number conservation.
After the neutrino mixing angle $θ_{13}$ has been precisely measured by the reactor antineutrino experiments, one of the most important open questions left in neutrino physics is the neutrino mass hierarchy. Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) is designed to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy (MH) without exploring the matter effect. The JUNO site location is optimized to have the best sensitivity for the mass hierarchy determination. JUNO will employ a 20 kton liquid scintillator detector located in a laboratory 700 meters underground. The excellent energy resolution and PMT c…
We present results from global fits to the available reactor antineutrino dataset, as of Fall 2019, to determine the global preference for a fourth, sterile neutrino. We have separately considered experiments that measure the integrated inverse-beta decay (IBD) rate from those that measure the energy spectrum of IBD events at one or more locations. The software used is the newly developed GLoBESfit tool set which is based on the publicly available GLoBES framework and will be released as open-source software.
We investigate which among the reactor antineutrino fluxes from the decays of the fission products of $^{235}\text{U}$, $^{238}\text{U}$, $^{239}\text{Pu}$, and $^{241}\text{Pu}$ may be responsible for the reactor antineutrino anomaly if the anomaly is due to a miscalculation of the antineutrino fluxes. We find that it is very likely that at least the calculation of the $^{235}\text{U}$ flux must be revised. From the fit of the data we obtain the precise determination $σ_{f,235} = ( 6.33 \pm 0.08 ) \times 10^{-43} \, \text{cm}^2 / \text{fission}$ of the $^{235}\text{U}$ cross section per fissi…
We have carefully examined, in both analytical and numerical ways, how small the terrestrial matter effects can be in a given medium-baseline reactor antineutrino oscillation experiment like JUNO or RENO-50. Taking the ongoing JUNO experiment for example, we show that the inclusion of terrestrial matter effects may reduce the sensitivity of the neutrino mass ordering measurement by Δχ^2_{\rm MO} \simeq 0.6, and a neglect of such effects may shift the best-fit values of the flavor mixing angle θ_{12} and the neutrino mass-squared difference Δ_{21} by about 1σto 2σin the future data analysis. In…
We investigate the recent Daya Bay results on the changes in the antineutrino flux and spectrum with the burnup of the reactor fuel. We find that the discrepancy between current model predictions and the Daya Bay results can be traced to the original measured $^{235}$U/$^{239}$Pu ratio of the fission beta spectra that were used as a base for the expected antineutrino fluxes. An analysis of the antineutrino spectra that is based on a summation over all fission fragment beta-decays, using nuclear database input, explains all of the features seen in the Daya Bay evolution data. However, this summ…
We present the results of a combined fit of the reactor antineutrino rates and the Daya Bay measurement of $σ_{f,235}$ and $σ_{f,239}$. The combined fit leads to a better determination of the two cross sections per fission: $σ_{f,235} = 6.29 \pm 0.08$ and $σ_{f,239} = 4.24 \pm 0.21 $ in units of $10^{-43} \, \text{cm}^2 / \text{fission}$, with respective uncertainties of about $1.2\%$ and $4.9\%$. Since the respective deviations from the theoretical cross sections per fission are $2.5σ$ and $0.7σ$, we conclude that, if the reactor antineutrino anomaly is not due to active-sterile neutrino osci…
In this contribution we describe the current understanding of reactor antineutrino fluxes and point out some recent developments. This is not intended to be a complete review of this vast topic but merely a selection of observations and remarks, which despite their incompleteness, will highlight the status and the challenges of this field.
We have examined the impact of new Daya Bay, Double Chooz, and RENO measurements on global fits of reactor antineutrino flux data to a variety of hypotheses regarding the origin of the reactor antineutrino anomaly. In comparing RENO and Daya Bay measurements of inverse beta decay (IBD) yield versus $^{239}$Pu fission fraction, we find differing levels of precision in measurements of time-integrated yield and yield slope, but similar central values, leading to modestly enhanced isotopic IBD yield measurements in a joint fit of the two datasets. In the absence of sterile neutrino oscillations, g…
