Observation of Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering with COHERENT

by Lisa Kaufman

Tuesday 7 Nov 2017, 12:30 → 13:30 US/Pacific

Madrone (SLAC)

Coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) has eluded detection for over 40 years despite having the largest interaction cross-section for low-energy neutrinos. A first CEvNS measurement is difficult because it requires sensitivity to low-energy nuclear recoils in a potentially high-background environment. Despite this difficulty, CEvNS provides a valuable tool to study nuclear structure, supernovae, and neutrino oscillations. The COHERENT experiment recently made a first observation of the CEvNS process at a 6.7-sigma confidence level by deploying a 14.6-kg CsI[Na] scintillating crystal at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Beyond a first measurement, COHERENT is deploying a suite of other low-energy-threshold detector technologies to study the CEvNS process in detail.  In this talk, I will discuss the first observation of CEvNS as well as describe the ongoing and future work by the COHERENT collaboration to study CEvNS at the SNS.