Leila Haegel (IP2I), "Exploring the low-energy neutrino frontier with coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering"

Monday 24 Nov 2025, 12:45 → 13:55 US/Eastern

D-122 (SBU Physics building)

Ciro Riccio (Stony Brook University (US)), Hannah Arnold (Stony Brook University)

12:45 → 13:30 Exploring the low-energy neutrino frontier with coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering

Abstract: Coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEνΝS) is a process where neutrinos scatter off nuclei with low energy transfer, therefore only inducing the recoil of the target nucleus. This process has been postulated in 1974 but, due to the challenging nature of detecting the very faint signal, was only observed experimentally in 2017 with spalliation neutrinos. The measurement of the CEvNS is of prime importance to explore particle physics in the low energy regime, from the measurement of the weak mixing angle to the presence of non-standard interactions, new mediating particles, or an anomalous charge radius or magnetic moment.
The Ricochet experiment aims at lowering the threshold of CEνΝS detection, using the antineutrinos emitted by the nuclear research reactor of the Institute Laue-Langevin (France). The setup consists of a array of cryogenic germanium crystals operated at 10 mK in a dilution cryostat, with the unique feature of a dual readout of the ionisation and heat signal for particle interaction identification. During the R&D phase, the experiment has reached a 30 eV resolution the ionisation channel and 40 eV resolution on the heat channel, while the commissioning phase has demonstrated a very good background rejection. Ricochet has now entered its science phase in Summer 2025, this seminar will review the current status of the experiment, as well as the prospects towards Standard Model tests.

Speaker: Leila Haegel

20251124_stonybrooke_seminar_haegel.pdf