The CENNS-10 experiment of the COHERENT collaboration has recently reported the first detection of coherent-elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) in liquid Argon with more than $3 σ$ significance. In this work, we exploit the new data in order to probe various interesting parameters which are of key importance to CEvNS within and beyond the Standard Model. A dedicated statistical analysis of these data shows that the current constraints are significantly improved in most cases. We derive a first measurement of the neutron rms charge radius of Argon, and also an improved determination of the weak mixing angle in the low energy regime. We also update the constraints on neutrino non-standard interactions, electromagnetic properties and light mediators with respect to those derived from the first COHERENT-CsI data.
We propose the use of isotopically highly enriched detectors for the precise study of coherent-elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS). CEvNS has been measured for the first time in CsI and recently confirmed with a liquid argon detector. It is expected that several new experimental setups will measure this process with increasing accuracy. Taking Ge detectors as a working example, we demonstrate that a combination of different isotopes is an excellent option to do precision neutrino physics with CEvNS, test Standard Model predictions, and probe new physics scenarios. Experiments based on …
We determine the sensitivities of short-baseline coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CE$ν$NS) experiments using a pion decay at rest neutrino source as a probe for nonunitarity in the lepton sector, as expected in low-scale type-I seesaw schemes. We also identify the best configuration for probing light sterile neutrinos at future ton-scale liquid argon CE$ν$NS experiments, estimating the projected sensitivities on the sterile neutrino parameters. Possible experimental setups at the Spallation Neutron Source, Lujan facility and the European Spallation Source are discussed. Provided t…
The potential for probing extra neutral gauge boson mediators ($Z^\prime$) from low-energy measurements is comprehensively explored. Our study mainly focuses on $Z^\prime$ mediators present in string-inspired $E_6$ models and left-right symmetry. We estimate the sensitivities of coherent-elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CE$ν$NS) and neutrino-electron scattering experiments. Our results indicate that such low-energy high-intensity measurements can provide a valuable probe, complementary to high-energy collider searches and electroweak precision measurements.
The COHERENT collaboration measured coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) for the first time at the Spallation Neutron Source at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, using a CsI[Na] detector. Here we discuss the nature of the CEvNS process, physics motivations, and experimental considerations for measuring CEvNS. We describe the CsI[Na] measurement, along with status and future of COHERENT.
The presence of new neutrino-quark interactions can enhance, deplete or distort the coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) event rate. The new interactions may involve CP violating phases that can potentially affect these features. Assuming light vector mediators, we study the effects of CP violation on the CEvNS process in the COHERENT sodium-iodine, liquid argon and germanium detectors. We identify a region in parameter space for which the event rate always involves a dip and another one for which this is never the case. We show that the presence of a dip in the event rate spec…
Several experimental proposals expect to confirm the recent measurement of the coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS). Motivated in particular by the next generation experiments of the COHERENT collaboration, we study their sensitivity to different tests of the Standard Model and beyond. We analyze the resolution that can be achieved by each future proposed detector in the measurement of the weak mixing angle; we also perform similar analysis in the context of Non-Standard Interaction (NSI) and in the case of an oscillation into a sterile neutrino state. We show that the future p…
New measurements of the coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) are expected to be achieved in the near future by using two neutrino production channels with different energy distributions: the very low energy electron antineutrinos from reactor sources and the muon and electron neutrinos from spallation neutron sources (SNS) with a relatively higher energy. Although precise measurements of this reaction would allow an improved knowledge of standard and beyond the Standard Model physics, it is important to distinguish the different new contributions to the process. We illustrate t…
Coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) can be used to determine the neutron part of nuclear form factors, unlocking intrinsic properties of nuclear structure. In contrast with other such methods, CEvNS is free from both strong interaction effects and Coulomb distortions. We propose precision measurements of CEvNS with an upcoming accelerator facility and determine the corresponding requirements for such a neutrino detector. We find that most significant backgrounds come from fast neutrons, induced by cosmogenic muons or from the pion decays at rest in the target station. With ton…
Neutrino oscillation experiments aim to measure the neutrino oscillation parameters with accuracy and achieve a complete understanding of neutrino physics. For determining the neutrino oscillation parameters, knowledge of neutrino energy is a prerequisite. But neutrino energy needs to be reconstructed, based on the particles in the final state that emerge out of the nucleus following a neutrino-nucleus interaction. Current and upcoming neutrino oscillation experiments use heavy nuclear targets (viz. Argon(Ar), Calcium(Ca), etc.) but the neutrino scattering with such targets becomes complicated…
The analysis of the recent charged-current neutrino-nucleus scattering cross sections measured by the ArgoNeuT Collaboration requires relativistic theoretical descriptions also accounting for the role of final-state interactions. In this work, we evaluate differential neutrino-nucleus cross sections with the relativistic Green's function model, where final-state interactions are described in the inclusive scattering consistently with the exclusive scattering using a complex optical potential. The sensitivity to the parameterization adopted for the phenomenological optical potential is discusse…
The sensitivity to New Physics of a low threshold scintillating argon bubble chamber measuring coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering in reactors is reported. Namely, light scalar mediators, sterile neutrino oscillations, unitarity violation, and non-standard interactions are studied. The results indicate that this detector could be able to set stronger constraints than current limits set by the recent COHERENT measurements. Considering the best scenario, a 100 kg detector located 30 m from a 2000 MW$_{th}$ reactor, a sterile neutrino search would cover most of the space parameter allowe…
The largest uncertainties in estimating neutrino-nucleus interaction cross sections lie in the incomplete understanding of nuclear effects. A powerful tool to study nuclear effects is Transverse Kinematic Imbalance. This paper presents the first detailed comparison of the predictions of multiple event generators for distributions associated with Transverse Kinematic Imbalance for neutrino interactions on argon. Predictions for muon neutrinos interacting with an argon target are obtained using four standard neutrino event generation tools (GENIE, NuWro, GiBUU and NEUT). Example opportunities fo…
The Dark Matter part of the universe presumably consists of WIMPs (Weakly Interacting Massive Particles). The ArDM project aims at measuring signals induced by WIMPs in a liquid argon detector. A 1-ton prototype is currently developed with the goal of demonstrating the feasibility of such a direct detection experiment with large target mass. The technical design of the detector aims at ind ependently measuring the scintillation light and the ionization charge originating from an interaction of a WIMP with an argon nucleus. The principle of the experiment and the conceptual design of the detect…
We present the results on the radius of the neutron distribution in $^{40}\text{Ar}$, on the low-energy value of the weak mixing angle, and on the electromagnetic properties of neutrinos obtained from the analysis of the coherent neutrino-nucleus elastic scattering data in argon recently published by the COHERENT collaboration, taking into account proper radiative corrections. We present also the results of the combined analysis of the COHERENT argon and cesium-iodide data for the determination of the low-energy value of the weak mixing angle and the electromagnetic properties of neutrinos. In…
The quasielastic charged-current (CC) tau neutrino (antineutrino)-nucleus scattering is considered. The dependence of tau polarization on nuclear-structure effects is discussed in detail. The description of the nucleus is based on the Mean-Field Theory (MFT). The ground state of nucleus is described using the Relativistic Fermi Gas model (FG). The effective mass is introduced as well as the ring Random Phase Approximation (RPA) effects are taken into account in the framework of relativistic meson-nucleon model. The Local Density Approximation (LDA) is used for the argon nucleus, having in mind…
The physics reach of a low threshold (100 eV) scintillating argon bubble chamber sensitive to Coherent Elastic neutrino-Nucleus Scattering (CE$ν$NS) from reactor neutrinos is studied. The sensitivity to the weak mixing angle, neutrino magnetic moment, and a light $Z'$ gauge boson mediator are analyzed. A Monte Carlo simulation of the backgrounds is performed to assess their contribution to the signal. The analysis shows that world-leading sensitivities are achieved with a one-year exposure for a 10 kg chamber at 3 m from a 1 MW$_{th}$ research reactor or a 100 kg chamber at 30 m from a 2000 MW…
We review standard and non-standard neutrino physics probes that are based on nuclear measurements. We pay special attention on the discussion of prospects to extract new physics at prominent rare event measurements looking for neutrino-nucleus scattering, such as the coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CE$ν$NS) that may involve lepton flavor violation (LFV) in neutral-currents (NC). For the latter processes several appreciably sensitive experiments are currently pursued or have been planed to operate in the near future, like the COHERENT, CONUS, CONNIE, MINER, TEXONO, RED100, vGEN, …
The ArDM experiment, a 1 ton liquid argon TPC/Calorimeter, is designed for the detection of dark matter particles which can scatter off the spinless argon nuclei. These events producing a recoiling nucleus will be discerned by their light to charge ratio, as well as the time structure of the scintillation light. The experiment is presently under construction and will be commissioned on surface at CERN. Here we describe the detector concept and give a short review on the main detector components.
In neutrino oscillation physics numerous exact degeneracies exist under the name LMA-Dark. These degeneracies make it impossible to determine the sign of $Δm^2_{31}$ known as the atmospheric mass ordering with oscillation experiments alone in the presence of new neutrino interactions. The combination of different measurements including multiple oscillation channels and neutrino scattering experiments lifts some aspects of these degeneracies. In fact, previous measurements of coherent elastic neutrino nucleus scattering (CEvNS) by COHERENT already ruled out the LMA-Dark solution for new physics…
We present new constraints on three different models, the so-called universal, $B-L$ and $L_μ-L_τ$ models, involving a yet to be observed light vector $Z'$ mediator, by exploiting the recent observation of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CE$ν$NS) in argon and cesium-iodide performed by the COHERENT Collaboration. We compare the results obtained from a combination of the above data sets with the limits derived from searches in fixed target, accelerator, solar neutrino and reactor CE$ν$NS experiments, and with the parameter region that could explain the anomalous magnetic moment of…
Neutral-current neutrino-nucleus scattering off I (127) and Cs (133): Coherent and incoherent contributions with electroweak refinements for odd-A nuclei
Air University（伊斯兰堡空军大学）；University of Caen Normandy（诺曼底卡昂大学）
The argon spectral function is constructed and applied to neutrino-argon cross section computations in the plane wave impulse approximation with the Pauli blocking final state interaction effect taken into account. The approximations of the construction method are critically analyzed using the example of oxygen for which more detailed computations are available. An effective description of nucleus based on the information contained in a spectral function is proposed. It is demonstrated that its predictions are close to those obtained from the complete spectral function. The effective descripti…
Experimental data of charged current inclusive neutrino cross sections on argon as a function of different variables have recently appeared. We have compared them to our theoretical approach. Overall we find an agreement in spite of a tendency of underestimation in some specific regions. A new aspect is the availability of data in terms of the energy transfer to the nucleus, which allows a better separation of the different reaction mechanisms. We explain the deterioration of agreement in specific kinematical conditions by the absence in our model of two-pion production and other inelastic cha…
Crystal damage events such as tracks and point defects have been used to record and detect radiation for a long time and recently they have been proposed as a means for dark matter detection. Color centers can be read out optically and we propose a scheme based on selective plane illumination microscopy for sub-micron imaging of large volumes corresponding to kilogram mass detectors. This class of detectors would be passive and would operate at room temperature. We apply these concepts to the detection of reactor neutrinos using coherent elastic neutrino nucleus scattering (CEvNS). Crystal dam…
University of South Dakota（南达科他大学）；Seoul National University（首尔大学）；Florida State University（佛罗里达州立大学）；Duke University（杜克大学）；Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory（三角大学核实验室）；National Research Nuclear University MEPhI (Moscow Engineering Physics Institute)（莫斯科工程物理国家研究大学）；National Research Center “Kurchatov Institute”（库尔恰托夫国家研究中心）；University of Tennessee, Knoxville（田纳西大学诺克斯维尔分校）；North Carolina State University（北卡罗来纳州立大学）；Sandia National Laboratories（桑迪亚国家实验室）；University of Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院大学）
This article summarizes the state of the art of $ν_μ$ and $\barν_μ$ CC0$π$ cross-section measurements on carbon and argon and discusses the relevant nuclear models, parametrizations and uncertainties in GENIE v3. The CC0$π$ event topology is common in experiments at a few-GeV energy range. Although its main contribution comes from quasi-elastic interactions, this topology is still not well understood. The GENIE global analysis framework is exploited to analyze CC0$π$ datasets from MiniBooNE, T2K and MINERvA. A partial tune for each experiment is performed, providing a common base for the discu…
The present status of the field theoretical model studies of the deep inelastic scattering induced by (anti)neutrino on the nuclear targets in a wide range of Bjorken variable $x$ and four momentum transfer square $Q^2$, has been reviewed~\cite{Haider:2011qs,Haider:2012nf,Haider:2016zrk,Zaidi:2019mfd,Zaidi:2019asc,Ansari:2020xne}. The effect of the nonperturbative corrections such as target mass correction and higher twist effects, perturbative evolution of the parton densities, nuclear medium modifications in the nucleon structure functions, nuclear isoscalarity corrections on the weak nuclea…
Motivated by the first observation of coherent-elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering at the COHERENT experiment, we confront the neutrino dipole portal giving rise to the transition of the standard model neutrinos to sterile neutrinos with the recently released CENNS 10 data from the liquid argon as well as the CsI data of the COHERENT experiment. Performing statistical analysis of those data, we show how the transition magnetic moment can be constrained for the range of the sterile neutrino mass between 10 keV and 40 MeV.
We examine the sensitivity of a large scale two-phase liquid argon detector to the directionality of the dark matter signal. This study was performed under the assumption that, above 50 keV of recoil energy, one can determine (with some resolution) the direction of the recoil nucleus without head-tail discrimination, as suggested by past studies that proposed to exploit the dependence of columnar recombination on the angle between the recoil nucleus direction and the electric field. In this paper we study the differential interaction recoil rate as a function of the recoil direction angle with…
The Short-Baseline Neutrino, or SBN, program consists of three liquid argon time projection chamber detectors located along the Booster Neutrino Beam at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. Its main goals include searches for new physics - particularly eV-scale sterile neutrinos, detailed studies of neutrino-nucleus interactions at the GeV energy scale, and the advancement of the liquid argon detector technology that will also be used in the DUNE/LBNF long-baseline neutrino experiment in the next decade. Here we review these science goals and the current experimental status of SBN.
We summarize some of the results presented in arXiv:1801.07975 [nucl-th]\cite{FSIpaper}(to be published in EPJC in 2018) on modeling electron and neutrino QE scattering on a variety of nuclei within the impulse approximation. We find that with three parameters we can describe the final state lepton energy for all of available electron QE data on Lithium, Carbon+Oxygen, Aluminum, Calcium+Argon, Iron and Lead+Gold. The first parameter, the removal energy $ε^{P,N}$ is extracted from exclusive ee$^{\prime}$p spectral function data. The second parameter $V_{eff}$, which accounts for the interaction…
We present a study of coherent pion production in neutrino-nucleus interactions using the formalism based on partially conserved axial current theorem which connects the neutrino-nucleus cross section to the pion-nucleus elastic scattering cross section. Pion-nucleus elastic scattering cross section is calculated using Glauber model which takes three inputs, nuclear densities, pion-nucleon cross section and $α_{πN}$ which is the ratio of real to imaginary part of $πN$ forward scattering amplitude, for which the parametrizations are obtained from measured data. We calculate the differential and…
The susperscaling model SuSAv2, already available for charged-current neutrino-nucleus cross sections in the quasielastic region, is extended to the full inelastic regime. In the model the resonance production and deep inelastic reactions are described through the extension to the neutrino sector of the SuSAv2 inelastic model developed for ($e,e'$) reactions, which combines phenomenological structure functions with a nuclear scaling function. This work also compares two different descriptions of the $Δ$ resonance region, one based on a global scaling function for the full inelastic spectrum an…
The search for dark matter weakly interacting massive particles with noble liquids has probed masses down and below a GeV/c^2. The ultimate limit is represented by the experimental threshold on the energy transfer to the nuclear recoil. Currently, the experimental sensitivity has reached a threshold equivalent to a few ionization electrons. In these conditions, the contribution of a Bremsstrahlung photon or a so-called Migdal electron due to the sudden acceleration of a nucleus after a collision might be sizable. In the present work, we use a Bayesian approach to study how these effects can be…
The standard model coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CE$ν$NS) cross section is subject to nuclear form factor uncertainties, mainly driven by the root-mean-square radius of the neutron density distribution. Motivated by COHERENT phases I-III and future multi-ton direct detection dark matter searches, we evaluate these uncertainties in cesium iodide, germanium, xenon and argon detectors. We find that the uncertainties become relevant for momentum transfers $q\gtrsim 20$ MeV and are essentially independent of the form factor parameterization. Consequently, form factor uncertainties a…
We discuss the implementation of the nuclear model based on realistic nuclear spectral functions in the GENIE neutrino interaction generator. Besides improving on the Fermi gas description of the nuclear ground state, our scheme involves a new prescription for $Q^2$ selection, meant to efficiently enforce energy momentum conservation. The results of our simulations, validated through comparison to electron scattering data, have been obtained for a variety of target nuclei, ranging from carbon to argon, and cover the kinematical region in which quasi elastic scattering is the dominant reaction …
Light sterile neutrinos have been introduced as an explanation for a number of oscillation signals at $Δm^2 \sim 1$ eV$^2$. Neutrino oscillations at relatively short baselines provide a probe of these possible new states. This paper describes an accelerator-based experiment using neutral current coherent neutrino-nucleus scattering to strictly search for active-to-sterile neutrino oscillations. This experiment could, thus, definitively establish the existence of sterile neutrinos and provide constraints on their mixing parameters. A cyclotron-based proton beam can be directed to multiple targe…
We investigate coherent-elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering ($CEνNS$) in 3-3-1 models for different values of $β$ in which $β$ is a parameter used to define the charge operator of the 331 models. We show that the number of events predicted by 331$β$ model is in agreement with the data given by COHERENT experiment. We evaluate the sensitivity of the mass of Z' boson with 90% confidence level (CL) and find that $m_{Z'}\geq 1.4 $TeV for $β=-\sqrt{3}$ with 90% CL. We perform $χ^2$ fit for liquid Argon, Germanium and NaI detector subsystems, we obtain $m_{Z'} \geq [2,3.1 ]$ TeV with 90\% CL. Our re…
We show that the quasielastic (QE) response calculated with the SuSAv2 (superscaling approach) model, that relies on the scaling phenomenon observed in the analysis of (e,e') data and on the relativistic mean-field theory, is very similar to that from a relativistic distorted wave impulse approximation model when only the real part of the optical potentials is employed. The coincidence between the results from these two completely independent approaches, which satisfactorily agree with the inclusive data, reinforces the reliability of the quasielastic predictions stemming from both models and …
The charged-current quasi-elastic scattering of muon neutrinos on calcium and argon targets is calculated for neutrino energy up to 2.8 GeV. The calculations are done within the framework of the relativistic distorted-wave impulse approximation, which was earlier successfully applied to describe electron-nucleus data. The model is first tested against experimental data for electron scattering off calcium and then it is applied to calculate (anti)neutrino cross sections on 40Ca and 40Ar. We show that reduced exclusive cross sections for neutrino and electron scattering are similar. A significan…
We present nuclear structure factors that describe the generalized spin-independent coupling of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) to nuclei. Our results are based on state-of-the-art nuclear structure calculations using the large-scale nuclear shell model. Starting from quark- and gluon-level operators, we consider all possible coherently enhanced couplings of spin-1/2 and spin-0 WIMPs to one and two nucleons up to third order in chiral effective field theory. This includes a comprehensive discussion of the structure factors corresponding to the leading two-nucleon currents covering…
