SOX: search for short baseline neutrino oscillations with Borexino

[摘要] The Borexino detector has convincingly shown its outstanding performances in the low energy regime through its accomplishments in the observation and study of the solar and geo neutrinos. It is then an ideal tool to perform a state of the art source-based experiment for testing the longstanding hypothesis of a fourth sterile neutrino with ∼ eV2mass, as suggested by several anomalies accumulated over the past three decades in source, reactor, and accelerator-based experiments. The SOX project aims at successively deploying two intense radioactive sources, made of Cerium (antineutrino) and Chromium (neutrino), respectively, in a dedicated pit located beneath the detector. The existence of such an ∼ eV2sterile neutrino would then show up as an unambiguous spatial and energy distortion in the count rate of neutrinos interacting within the active detector volume. This article reports on the latest developments about the first phase of the SOX experiment, namely CeSOX, and gives a realistic projection of CeSOX sensitivity to light sterile neutrinos in a simple (3+1) model.

[发布机构] AstroParticule et Cosmologie, Université Paris Diderot, CNRS/IN2P3, CEA/IRFU, Observatoire de Paris, Sorbonne Paris Cité, Paris Cedex 13; 75205, France^1;Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna; 141980, Russia^2;Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi e INFN, Genova; 16146, Italy^3;Commissariat À l'Énergie Atomique et Aux Énergies Alternatives, Centre de Saclay, IRFU, Gif-sur-Yvette; 91191, France^4;Institut für Experimentalphysik, Universität, Hamburg; 22761, Germany^5;Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg; 69117, Germany^6;Commissariat À l'Énergie Atomique et Aux Énergies Alternatives, Centre de Saclay, DEN/DM2S/SEMT/BCCR, Gif-sur-Yvette; 91191, France^7;M. Smoluchowski Institute of Physics, Jagiellonian University, Krakow; 30059, Poland^8;Kiev Institute for Nuclear Research, Kiev; 06380, Ukraine; (10) Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics, Moscow; 117218, Russia; (11) Kepler Center for Astro and Particle Physics, Universität Tübingen, Tübingen; 72076, Germany; (12) NRC Kurchatov Institute, Moscow; 123182, Russia; (13) National Research Nuclear University, MEPhI (Moscow Engineering Physics Institute), Kashirskoe highway 31, Moscow; 115409, Russia; (14) INFN Laboratori Nazionali Del Gran Sasso, Assergi (AQ); 67010, Italy; (15) Dipartimento di Fisica, Università degli Studi e INFN, Milano; 20133, Italy; (16) Dipartimento di Chimica, Università e INFN, Perugia; 06123, Italy; (17) St. Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute, NRC Kurchatov Institute, Gatchina; 188350, Russia; (18) Physics Department, Princeton University, Princeton; NJ; 08544, United States; (19) Chemical Engineering Department, Princeton University, Princeton; NJ; 08544, United States; (20) Physics Department, Queen's University, Kingston; ON; K7L 3N6, Canada; (21) Amherst Center for Fundamental Interactions, Physics Department, University of Massachusetts, Amherst; MA; 01003, United States; (22) Physics Department, Virginia Polytechnic Institute, State University, Blacksburg; VA; 24061, United States; (23) Dipartimento di Fisica e Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi di Ferrara e INFN, Via Saragat 1, Ferrara; 44122, Italy; (24) Physik-Department and Excellence Cluster Universe, Technische Universität München, Garching; 85748, Germany; (25) Lomonosov Moscow State University, Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics, Moscow; 119234, Russia; (26) Gran Sasso Science Institute (INFN), L'aquila; 67100, Italy; (27) Department of Physics, University of Houston, Houston; TX; 77204, United States; (28) Department of Physics, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden; 01062, Germany; (29) Physics and Astronomy Department, University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles; CA; 90095, United States; (30) Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Hawaii, Honolulu; HI; 96822, United States; (31) Institute of Physics and Excellence Cluster PRISMA, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Mainz; 55099, Germany^9

[效力级别] 天文学 [学科分类] 天文学(综合)

[关键词] Active detector;Borexino detectors;Latest development;Neutrino oscillations;Radioactive sources;Short base lines;State of the art;Sterile neutrinos