Title: COHERENT Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering at the SNS

Abstract:

Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering (CEvNS) is a low-energy neutrino scattering process predicted as a consequence of the weak neutral current in 1974.

Despite the theoretically-understood, relatively large cross-section, until recently the process remained undetected due to the daunting technical challenges involved (low-threshold nuclear recoil detection, intense neutrino sources / large target masses, and low backgrounds). The COHERENT Collaboration formed with the aim to measure CEvNS and to use it as a tool to search for physics beyond the standard model by employing state-of-the-art detector technology at Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s (ORNL) Spallation Neutron Source (SNS). In August 2017 COHERENT reported the first-ever observation of CEvNS in a CSI[Na] scintillation detector; this measurement has been followed by subsequent measurements in a liquid argon scintillation detector and in an array of germanium semiconductor detectors. Matthew Green has led COHERENT’s efforts to measure CEvNS in high-purity germanium (HPGe) detectors. This talk will give an overview of the CEvNS process, the physics capabilities of CEvNS searches, and an update on COHERENT’s CEvNS measurement efforts.