Exploring coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering using reactor electron antineutrinos in the NEON experiment

J. J. Choi; E. J. Jeon; J. Y. Kim; K. W. Kim; S. H. Kim; S. K. Kim; Y. D. Kim; Y. J. Ko; B. C. Koh; C. Ha; B. J. Park; S. H. Lee; I. S. Lee; H. Lee; H. S. Lee; J. Lee; Y. M. Oh

doi:10.1140/epjc/s10052-023-11352-x

2023 Impact factor 4.2

Particles and Fields

Open Access

Eur. Phys. J. C (2023) 83: 226
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-023-11352-x

Regular Article - Experimental Physics

Exploring coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering using reactor electron antineutrinos in the NEON experiment

J. J. Choi¹^,2, E. J. Jeon²^,3, J. Y. Kim⁴, K. W. Kim², S. H. Kim², S. K. Kim¹, Y. D. Kim²^,3^,5, Y. J. Ko², B. C. Koh⁶, C. Ha⁶, B. J. Park²^,3, S. H. Lee²^,3, I. S. Lee², H. Lee²^,3, H. S. Lee²^,3^r, J. Lee², Y. M. Oh² and NEON Collaboration

¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University, 08826, Seoul, Republic of Korea
² Center for Underground Physics, Institute for Basic Science (IBS), 34126, Daejeon, Republic of Korea
³ IBS School, University of Science and Technology (UST), 34113, Daejeon, Republic of Korea
⁴ Hanaro Utilization Division, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI), 34057, Deajeon, Republic of Korea
⁵ Department of Physics, Sejong University, 05006, Seoul, Republic of Korea
⁶ Department of Physics, Chung-Ang University, 06973, Seoul, Republic of Korea

^r hyunsulee@ibs.re.kr

Received: 12 April 2022
Accepted: 24 February 2023
Published online: 17 March 2023

Abstract

Neutrino elastic scattering observation with NaI (NEON) is an experiment designed to detect neutrino-nucleus coherent scattering using reactor electron antineutrinos. NEON is based on an array of six NaI(Tl) crystals with a total mass of 13.3 kg, located at the tendon gallery that is 23.7 m away from a reactor core with a thermal power of 2.8 GW in the Hanbit nuclear power complex. The installation of the NEON detector was completed in December 2020, and since May 2021, the detector has acquired data at full reactor power. Based on the observed light yields of the NaI crystals of approximately 22, number of photoelectrons per unit keV electron-equivalent energy (keVee), and 6 counts/kg/keV/day background level at 2–6 keVee energy, coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CE $ν$ $\nu$ NS) observation sensitivity is evaluated as more than 3 $σ$ $\sigma$ assuming 1-year reactor-on and 100 days reactor-off data, 0.2 keVee energy threshold, and 7 counts/keV/kg/day background in the signal region of 0.2 $-$ $$-$$ 0.5 keVee. This paper describes the design of the NEON detector, including the shielding arrangement, configuration of NaI(Tl) crystals, and associated operating systems. The initial performance and associated sensitivity of the experiment are also presented.

© The Author(s) 2023

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