Investigating the Spectral Anomaly with Different Reactor Antineutrino Experiments

Abstract

The spectral shape of reactor antineutrinos measured in recent experiments shows anomalies in comparison to neutrino reference spectra. New precision measurements of the reactor neutrino spectra as well as more complete input in nuclear data bases are needed to resolve the observed discrepancies between models and experimental results. This article proposes the combination of experiments at reactors which are highly enriched in ${}^{235}$U with commercial reactors with typically lower enrichment to gain new insights into the origin of the anomalous neutrino spectrum. The presented method clarifies, if the spectral anomaly is either solely or not at all related to the predicted ${}^{235}$U spectrum. Considering the current improvements of the energy scale uncertainty of present-day experiments, a significance of three sigma and above can be reached. As an example, we discuss the option of a direct comparison of the measured shape in the currently running Double Chooz near detector and the upcoming Stereo experiment. A quantitative feasibility study emphasizes that a precise understanding of the energy scale systematics is a crucial prerequisite in recent and next generation experiments investigating the spectral anomaly.

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• Sterile Neutrino Constraints from the STEREO Experiment with 66 days of Reactor-on Data
• The 5 MeV bump - a nuclear whodunit mystery
• Producing a new Fermion in Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering: from Neutrino Mass to Dark Matter
• Measurement of the Antineutrino Spectrum from ${}^{235}$U Fission at HFIR with PROSPECT
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• First antineutrino energy spectrum from ${}^{235}$U fissions with the STEREO detector at ILL
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• Impact of Fission Neutron Energies on Reactor Antineutrino Spectra
• Final Measurement of the U235 Antineutrino Energy Spectrum with the PROSPECT-I Detector at HFIR
• Particle physics origin of the 5 MeV bump in the reactor antineutrino spectrum?
• SANDD: A directional antineutrino detector with segmented 6Li-doped pulse-shape-sensitive plastic scintillator
• A Low Mass Optical Grid for the PROSPECT Reactor Antineutrino Detector
• Status of Anomalies and Sterile Neutrino Searches at Nuclear Reactors
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• Neutrino oscillation analysis of 217 live-days of Daya Bay and 500 live-days of RENO