Constraints on millicharged neutrinos via analysis of data from atomic ionizations with germanium detectors at sub-keV sensitivities

Abstract

With the advent of detectors with sub-keV sensitivities, atomic ionization has been identified as a promising avenue to probe possible neutrino electromagnetic properties. The interaction cross-sections induced by millicharged neutrinos are evaluated with the ab-initio multi-configuration relativistic random-phase approximation. There is significant enhancement at atomic binding energies compared to that when the electrons are taken as free particles. Positive signals would distinctly manifest as peaks at specific energies with known intensity ratios. Selected reactor neutrino data with germanium detectors at analysis threshold as low as 300 eV are studied. No such signatures are observed, and a combined limit on the neutrino charge fraction of | \numq | < 1.0 X 10^{-12} at 90% confidence level is derived.

5 pages, 4 figures, 1 table ; Published Version as V2

References in corpus (4)

• Search of Neutrino Magnetic Moments with a High-Purity Germanium Detector at the Kuo-Sheng Nuclear Power Station
• Search for millicharged particles in reactor neutrino experiments: a probe of the PVLAS anomaly
• Neutrino scattering on atomic electrons in searches for neutrino magnetic moment
• Neutrino-impact ionization of atoms in searches for neutrino magnetic moment

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