L. Zhan

Unambiguous determination of the neutrino mass hierarchy using reactor neutrinos

Determination of the neutrino mass hierarchy in a reactor neutrino experiment at the medium baseline is discussed. Observation of the interference effects between the Delta m(31)(2) and Delta m(32)(2) oscillations enables a relative measurement independent of the knowledge of the absolute mass-squared difference. With a 20 kton liquid scintillator detector of the 3%/root E (MeV) energy resolution, the Daya Bay II experiment at a baseline of similar to 50 km from reactors of total thermal power 36 GW can determine the mass hierarchy at a confidence level of Delta chi(2)(MH) similar to (10 divided by 12) (3 divided by 3.5 sigma) in six years after taking into account the real spatial distribution of reactor cores. We show that the unknown residual energy nonlinearity of the liquid scintillator detector has limited impact on the sensitivity due to the self-calibration of small oscillation peaks. Furthermore, an extra increase of Delta chi(2)(MH) similar or equal to 4(9) can be obtained, by including the precise measurement of the effective mass-squared difference Delta m(mu mu)(2) of expected relative error 1.5% (1%) from ongoing long-baseline muon neutrino disappearance experiments. The sensitivities from the interference and from absolute measurements can be cross-checked. When combining these two, the mass hierarchy can be determined at a confidence level of Delta chi(2)(MH) similar to (15 divided by 20) (4 sigma) in six years.

Determination of the neutrino mass hierarchy at an intermediate baseline

It is generally believed that neutrino mass hierarchy can be determined at a long baseline experiment, often using accelerator neutrino beams. Reactor neutrino experiments at an intermediate baseline have the capability to distinguish normal or inverted hierarchy. Recently, it has been demonstrated that the mass hierarchy could possibly be identified using Fourier transform to the L/E spectrum if the mixing angle sin(2)(2 theta(13)) > 0.02. In this study, a more sensitive Fourier analysis is introduced. We found that an ideal detector at an intermediate baseline (similar to 60 km) could identify the mass hierarchy for a mixing angle sin(2)(2 theta(13)) > 0.005, without requirements on accurate information of reactor neutrino spectra and the value of Delta m(32)(2).

Experimental Requirements to Determine the Neutrino Mass Hierarchy Using Reactor Neutrinos

This paper presents experimental requirements to determine the neutrino mass hierarchy using reactor neutrinos. The detector shall be located at a baseline around 58 km from the reactor(s) to measure the energy spectrum of electron antineutrinos ((nu)over bar(e)) precisely. By applying Fourier cosine and sine transforms to the L/E spectrum, features of the neutrino mass hierarchy can be extracted from the vertical bar Delta m(31)(2)vertical bar and vertical bar Delta m(32)(2)vertical bar oscillations. To determine the neutrino mass hierarchy above 90% probability, requirements to the baseline, the energy resolution, the energy scale uncertainty, the detector mass, and the event statistics are studied at different values of sin(2)(2 theta(13)).

Fast light of CsI(Na) crystals

The responds of different common alkali halide crystals to alpha-rays and gamma-rays are tested in our research. It is found that only CsI(Na) crystals have significantly different waveforms between alpha and gamma scintillations, while others have not this phenomena. It is suggested that the fast light of CsI(Na) crystals arises from the recombination of free electrons with self-trapped holes of the host crystal CsI. Self-absorption limits the emission of fast light of CsI(Tl) and NaI(Tl) crystals.

Potential of geo-neutrino measurements at JUNO

The flux of geoneutrinos at any point on the Earth is a function of the abundance and distribution of radioactive elements within our planet. This flux has been successfully detected by the 1-kt KamLAND and 0.3-kt Borexino detectors with these measurements being limited by their low statistics. The planned 20-kt JUNO detector will provide an exciting opportunity to obtain a high statistics measurement, which will provide data to address several questions of geological importance. This paper presents the JUNO detector design concept, the expected geo-neutrino signal and corresponding backgrounds. The precision level of geo-neutrino measurements at JUNO is obtained with the standard least-squares method. The potential of the Th/U ratio and mantle measurements is also discussed.