Topic of the Week: Coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering with COHERENT

US/Central
Sunrise - WH11NE (Fermilab)

Sunrise - WH11NE

Fermilab

Si Xie (California Institute of Technology (US)), Zoltan Gecse (Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (US))
Description

Coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) is a process in
which a neutrino scatters off an entire nucleus at low momentum
transfer, and for which the observable signature is a low-energy
nuclear recoil.  It represents a background for direct dark matter
detection experiments, as well as a possible signal for astrophysical
neutrinos.  Furthermore, because the process is cleanly predicted in
the Standard Model, a measurement is sensitive to
beyond-the-Standard-Model physics, such as non-standard interactions
of neutrinos.  The process was first predicted in 1973.  It was
measured for the first time by the COHERENT collaboration using the
high-quality source of pion-decay-at-rest neutrinos from the
Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and a
CsI[Na] scintillator detector.  This talk will describe COHERENT's
recent measurement of CEvNS, the status and plans of
COHERENT's suite of detectors at the SNS, and future physics reach.
I will also cover prospects for supernova neutrino detection if time permits.