Open AccessA novel experiment for coherent elastic neutrino nucleus scattering: CONUS
Author(s) -
C. Buck,
K. Fülber,
J. Hakenmüller,
G. Heusser,
M. Lindner,
W. Maneschg,
T. Rink,
H. Strecker,
Tobias Schierhuber,
Victoria Wagner,
R. Wink
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of physics. conference series
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.21
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1742-6596
pISSN - 1742-6588
DOI - 10.1088/1742-6596/1342/1/012094
Subject(s) - physics , nuclear physics , neutrino , elastic scattering , recoil , semiconductor detector , muon , scattering , germanium , monte carlo method , neutron , particle physics , detector , optics , silicon , statistics , mathematics , optoelectronics
The CONUS experiment (COherent elastic NeUtrino nucleus Scattering) aims at detecting coherent elastic neutrino nucleus scattering of reactor antineutrinos on Germanium. The experiment will be set up at the commercial nuclear power plant of Brokdorf, Germany, at a distance of ∼17 m to the reactor core. The recoil of the nuclei hit by the antineutrinos is detected with four high-purity point contact Germanium detectors with a very low threshold and an overall mass of about 4 kg. To suppress the background, the setup is equipped with a shell-like passive shield and an active muon veto system. The shield and the muon veto have successfully been tested at the shallow depth laboratory at Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik. Monte Carlo simulations have been performed to reproduce the prompt muon-induced background and to examine the induced neutron spectrum. Currently, the low threshold Germanium detectors are characterized and the experiment is prepared for commissioning.