Spectral Structure of Electron Antineutrinos from Nuclear Reactors

Abstract

Recent measurements of the positron energy spectrum obtained from inverse beta decay interactions of reactor electron antineutrinos show an excess in the 4 to 6 MeV region relative to current predictions. First-principle calculations of fission and beta decay processes within a typical pressurized water reactor core identify prominent fission daughter isotopes as a possible origin for this excess. These calculations also predict percent-level substructure in the antineutrino spectrum due to Coulomb effects in beta decay. Precise measurement of this substructure can constrain nuclear reactor physics. The substructure can be a systematic uncertainty for measurements utilizing the detailed spectral shape.

5 pages, 3 figures. Figure format updated for better cross-platform display

References in corpus (4)

• Observation of electron-antineutrino disappearance at Daya Bay
• The Reactor Antineutrino Anomaly
• Improved measurements of the neutrino mixing angle ${\theta }_{13}$ with the Double Chooz detector
• Determination of Neutrino Mass Hierarchy and Theta_13 with a Remote Detector of Reactor Antineutrinos

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• PINGU and the neutrino mass hierarchy: Statistical and systematic aspects
• Mapping reactor neutrino spectra from TAO to JUNO
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• Improving the Energy Resolution of the Reactor Antineutrino Energy Reconstruction with Positron Direction
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