The PROSPECT Physics Program

Abstract

The Precision Reactor Oscillation and Spectrum Experiment, PROSPECT, is designed to make a precise measurement of the antineutrino spectrum from a highly-enriched uranium reactor and probe eV-scale sterile neutrinos by searching for neutrino oscillations over meter-long distances. PROSPECT is conceived as a 2-phase experiment utilizing segmented ${}^6$Li-doped liquid scintillator detectors for both efficient detection of reactor antineutrinos through the inverse beta decay reaction and excellent background discrimination. PROSPECT Phase I consists of a movable 3-ton antineutrino detector at distances of 7 - 12 m from the reactor core. It will probe the best-fit point of the ${\nu }_e$ disappearance experiments at 4$\sigma$ in 1 year and the favored region of the sterile neutrino parameter space at $>$3$\sigma$ in 3 years. With a second antineutrino detector at 15 - 19 m from the reactor, Phase II of PROSPECT can probe the entire allowed parameter space below 10 eV${}^2$ at 5$\sigma$ in 3 additional years. The measurement of the reactor antineutrino spectrum and the search for short-baseline oscillations with PROSPECT will test the origin of the spectral deviations observed in recent ${\theta }_{13}$ experiments, search for sterile neutrinos, and conclusively address the hypothesis of sterile neutrinos as an explanation of the reactor anomaly.

arXiv comment21 pages, 21 figures

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Cited by in corpus (37)

• Updated Global 3+1 Analysis of Short-BaseLine Neutrino Oscillations
• Evolution of the Reactor Antineutrino Flux and Spectrum at Daya Bay
• Sterile Neutrinos
• First search for short-baseline neutrino oscillations at HFIR with PROSPECT
• Neutrino Detectors as Tools for Nuclear Security
• Model-Independent ${\bar{\nu }}_e$ Short-Baseline Oscillations from Reactor Spectral Ratios
• Neutrino oscillations: the rise of the PMNS paradigm
• Searching for eV-scale sterile neutrinos with eight years of atmospheric neutrinos at the IceCube neutrino telescope
• The PROSPECT Reactor Antineutrino Experiment
• Limits on Sub-GeV Dark Matter from the PROSPECT Reactor Antineutrino Experiment
• Reactor Fuel Fraction Information on the Antineutrino Anomaly
• The reactor antineutrino anomaly and low energy threshold neutrino experiments
• Performance of a full scale prototype detector at the BR2 reactor for the SoLid experiment
• Precise Determination of the U-235 Reactor Antineutrino Cross Section per Fission
• A plastic scintillator array for reactor based anti-neutrino studies
• Reevaluating Reactor Antineutrino Anomalies with Updated Flux Predictions
• Revealing Fine Structure in the Antineutrino Spectra From a Nuclear Reactor
• Interaction position, time, and energy resolution in organic scintillator bars with dual-ended readout
• Physics with Reactor Neutrinos
• High intensity cyclotrons for neutrino physics
• Performance of a segmented ${}^6$Li-loaded liquid scintillator detector for the PROSPECT experiment
• Prospects for Improved Understanding of Isotopic Reactor Antineutrino Fluxes
• Lithium-loaded Liquid Scintillator Production for the PROSPECT experiment
• Impact of Fission Neutron Energies on Reactor Antineutrino Spectra
• Particle physics origin of the 5 MeV bump in the reactor antineutrino spectrum?
• Improved Determination of the ${}^{235}\text{U}$ and ${}^{239}\text{Pu}$ Reactor Antineutrino Cross Sections per Fission
• PROSPECT-II Physics Opportunities
• Determining reactor fuel type from continuous antineutrino monitoring
• A Low Mass Optical Grid for the PROSPECT Reactor Antineutrino Detector
• Synthesis and processing of lithium-loaded plastic scintillators on the kilogram scale
• Low Energy Neutrino Detection with a Portable Water-based Liquid Scintillator Detector
• Prospects for detecting eV-scale sterile neutrinos from a galactic supernova
• Machine learning technique to improve anti-neutrino detection efficiency for the ISMRAN experiment
• ${}^6$Li-loaded liquid scintillators produced by direct dissolution of compounds in diisopropylnaphthalene (DIPN)
• Short-baseline electron antineutrino disappearance study by using neutrino sources from ${}^{13}$C + ${}^9$Be reaction
• The eV-Scale Sterile Neutrino and Neutrinoless Double Beta Decay
• A new scheme for short baseline electron antineutrino disappearance study