Physics reach of a low threshold scintillating argon bubble chamber in coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering reactor experiments

Abstract

The physics reach of a low threshold (100 eV) scintillating argon bubble chamber sensitive to Coherent Elastic neutrino-Nucleus Scattering (CE$\hat{I}½$NS) from reactor neutrinos is studied. The sensitivity to the weak mixing angle, neutrino magnetic moment, and a light $Z^{\prime }$ gauge boson mediator are analyzed. A Monte Carlo simulation of the backgrounds is performed to assess their contribution to the signal. The analysis shows that world-leading sensitivities are achieved with a one-year exposure for a 10 kg chamber at 3 m from a 1 MW${}_{th}$ research reactor or a 100 kg chamber at 30 m from a 2000 MW${}_{th}$ power reactor. Such a detector has the potential to become the leading technology to study CE$\hat{I}½$NS using nuclear reactors.

9 pages, 5 figures. v2: figures added, minor changes. Matches published version