Directional Antineutrino Detection

Abstract

We propose the first truly directional antineutrino detector for antineutrinos above the hydrogen inverse beta decay (IBD) threshold, with potential applications including monitoring for nuclear nonproliferation, spatially mapping geo-neutrinos, characterizing the diffuse supernova neutrino background, and searching for new physics in the neutrino sector. The detector consists of adjacent and separated target and capture scintillator planes. IBD events take place in the target layers, which are thin enough to allow the neutrons to escape without scattering elastically. The neutrons are detected in the thicker, boron-loaded capture layers. The location of the IBD event and the momentum of the positron are determined by tracking the positron's trajectory through the detector. Our design is a straightforward modification of existing antineutrino detectors; a prototype could be built with existing technology.

4+3 pages, 2+2 figures

References in corpus (6)

• The Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background
• Geo-neutrinos and Earth's interior
• Experimental Results from an Antineutrino Detector for Cooperative Monitoring of Nuclear Reactors
• Antineutrino monitoring for the Iranian heavy water reactor
• A mobile antineutrino detector with plastic scintillators
• Organic Liquid TPCs for Neutrino Physics