First Measurement of Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering on Argon

• Published in: arXiv.org
• Main Authors: Collaboration, COHERENT, Akimov, D, Albert, J B, P An, Awe, C, Barbeau, P S, Becker, B, Belov, V, Blackston, M A, Blokland, L, Bolozdynya, A, Cabrera-Palmer, B, Chen, N, Chernyak, D, Conley, E, Cooper, R L, Daughhetee, J, M del Valle Coello, Detwiler, J A, Durand, M R, Efremenko, Y, Elliott, S R, Fabris, L, Febbraro, M, Fox, W, Galindo-Uribarri, A, Green, M P, Hansen, K S, Heath, M R, Hedges, S, Hughes, M, Johnson, T, Kaemingk, M, Kaufman, L J, Khromov, A, Konovalov, A, Kozlova, E, Kumpan, A, L Li, Librande, J T, Link, J M, Liu, J, Mann, K, Markoff, D M, McGoldrick, O, Moreno, H, Mueller, P E, Newby, J, Parno, D S, Penttila, S, Pershey, D, Radford, D, Rapp, R, Ray, H, Raybern, J, Razuvaeva, O, Reyna, D, Rich, G C, Rudik, D, Runge, J, Salvat, D J, Scholberg, K, Shakirov, A, Simakov, G, Sinev, G, Snow, W M, Sosnovtsev, V, Suh, B, Tayloe, R, Tellez-Giron-Flores, K, Thornton, R T, Tolstukhin, I, Vanderwerp, J, Varner, R L, Virtue, C J, Visser, G, Wiseman, C, Wongjirad, T, Yang, J, Y -R Yen, Yoo, J, C -H Yu, Zettlemoyer, J
• Format: Paper Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Ithaca Cornell University Library, arXiv.org 15.02.2021
• Subjects: Argon; Coherent scattering; Cross-sections; Elastic scattering; Neutrinos; Neutron flux; Neutrons; Physics - High Energy Physics - Experiment; Physics - Nuclear Experiment; Research facilities; Spallation
• ISSN: 2331-8422
• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2003.10630

We report the first measurement of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (\cevns) on argon using a liquid argon detector at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Spallation Neutron Source. Two independent analyses prefer \cevns over the background-only null hypothesis with greater than \(3\sigma\) significance. The measured cross section, averaged over the incident neutrino flux, is (2.2 \(\pm\) 0.7) \(\times\)10\(^{-39}\) cm\(^2\) -- consistent with the standard model prediction. The neutron-number dependence of this result, together with that from our previous measurement on CsI, confirms the existence of the \cevns process and provides improved constraints on non-standard neutrino interactions.