https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-019-7454-4
Regular Article - Experimental Physics
Exploring 
with NUCLEUS at the Chooz nuclear power plant
NUCLEUS Collaboration
1
Max-Planck-Institut für Physik, 80805, Munich, Germany
2
IRFU, CEA, Université Paris Saclay, 91191, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
3
APC, Astro Particule et Cosmologie, Université Paris Diderot, CNRS/IN2P3, CEA/Irfu, Observatoire de Paris, Sorbonne Paris Cité, 10, Rue Alice Domon et Leonie Duquet, 75205, Paris Cedex 13, France
4
CIUC, Departamento de Fisica, Universidade de Coimbra, 3004516, Coimbra, Portugal
5
Physik-Department, Technische Universität München, 85748, Garching, Germany
6
Institut für Hochenergiephysik der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1050, Wien, Austria
7
Atominstitut, Technische Universität Wien, 1020, Wien, Austria
8
Électricité de France, Centre Nucléaire de Production d’Électricité de Chooz, Service Automatismes-Essais, 08600, Givet, France
* e-mail: Victoria.Wagner@tum.de
Received:
28
May
2019
Accepted:
5
November
2019
Published online:
17
December
2019
Coherent elastic neutrino–nucleus scattering () offers a unique way to study neutrino properties and to search for new physics beyond the Standard Model. Nuclear reactors are promising sources to explore this process at low energies since they deliver large fluxes of anti-neutrinos with typical energies of a few MeV. In this paper, a new-generation experiment to study is described. The NUCLEUS experiment will use cryogenic detectors which feature an unprecedentedly low-energy threshold and a time response fast enough to be operated under above-ground conditions. Both sensitivity to low-energy nuclear recoils and a high event rate tolerance are stringent requirements to measuring of reactor anti-neutrinos. A new experimental site, the Very-Near-Site (VNS), at the Chooz nuclear power plant in France is described. The VNS is located between the two 4.25 
reactor cores and matches the requirements of NUCLEUS. First results of on-site measurements of neutron and muon backgrounds, the expected dominant background contributions, are given. In this paper a preliminary experimental set-up with dedicated active and passive background reduction techniques and first background estimations are presented. Furthermore, the feasibility to operate the detectors in coincidence with an active muon veto at shallow overburden is studied. The paper concludes with a sensitivity study pointing out the physics potential of NUCLEUS at the Chooz nuclear power plant.
© The Author(s), 2019
