The PROSPECT physics program

J. Ashenfelter, A. B. Balantekin, H. R. Band, G. Barclay, C. D. Bass, D. Berish, L. Bignell, N. S. Bowden, A. Bowes, J. P. Brodsky, C. D. Bryan, J. J. Cherwinka, R. Chu, T. Classen, K. Commeford, A. J. Conant, D. Davee, D. Dean, G. Deichert, M. V. DiwanM. J. Dolinski, J. Dolph, M. Duvernois, A. S. Erickson, M. T. Febbraro, J. K. Gaison, A. Galindo-Uribarri, K. Gilje, A. Glenn, B. W. Goddard, M. Green, B. T. Hackett, K. Han, S. Hans, K. M. Heeger, B. Heffron, J. Insler, D. E. Jaffe, D. Jones, T. J. Langford, B. R. Littlejohn, D. A.Martinez Caicedo, J. T. Matta, R. D. McKeown, M. P. Mendenhall, P. E. Mueller, H. P. Mumm, J. Napolitano, R. Neilson, J. A. Nikkel, D. Norcini, D. Pushin, X. Qian, E. Romero, R. Rosero, B. S. Seilhan, R. Sharma, S. Sheets, P. T. Surukuchi, C. Trinh, R. L. Varner, B. Viren, W. Wang, B. White, C. White, J. Wilhelmi, C. Williams, T. Wise, H. Yao, M. Yeh, Y. R. Yen, G. Z. Zangakis, C. Zhang, X. Zhang

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

72 Scopus citations

Abstract

The precision reactor oscillation and spectrum experiment, PROSPECT, is designed to make a precise measurement of the antineutrino spectrum from a highly-enriched uranium reactor and probe eV-scale sterile neutrinos by searching for neutrino oscillations over a distance of several meters. PROSPECT is conceived as a 2-phase experiment utilizing segmented 6Li-doped liquid scintillator detectors for both efficient detection of reactor antineutrinos through the inverse beta decay reaction and excellent background discrimination. PROSPECT Phase I consists of a movable 3 ton antineutrino detector at distances of 7-12 m from the reactor core. It will probe the best-fit point of the disappearance experiments at 4σ in 1 year and the favored region of the sterile neutrino parameter space at in 3 years. With a second antineutrino detector at 15-19 m from the reactor, Phase II of PROSPECT can probe the entire allowed parameter space below 10 eV2 at 5σ in 3 additional years. The measurement of the reactor antineutrino spectrum and the search for short-baseline oscillations with PROSPECT will test the origin of the spectral deviations observed in recent experiments, search for sterile neutrinos, and conclusively address the hypothesis of sterile neutrinos as an explanation of the reactor anomaly.

Original languageEnglish
Article number113001
JournalJournal of Physics G: Nuclear and Particle Physics
Volume43
Issue number11
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 17 2016

Funding

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. Additional support for this work is provided by Yale University, the Illinois Institute of Technology, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory LDRD program.

Keywords

  • neutrino oscillation
  • reactor neutrino experiments
  • research reactors
  • scintillator detectors

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