Open AccessLatest Results of the STEREO Experiment: a Search for a Sterile Neutrino at Very Short Baseline
Author(s) -
Adrien Blanchet
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 - 10.1088/1742-6596/1468/1/012204
Subject(s) - neutrino , physics , spectral line , sterile neutrino , neutrino oscillation , nuclear physics , astronomy
The increasingly precise study of antineutrinos spectra from reactors has revealed a deviation between the prediction and the measurements, which could indicate the existence of a new neutrino. This new neutrino state would not couple with the weak interaction (a sterile neutrino) and its mass would be around 1eV/c 2 . The STEREO experiment aims at testing this hypothesis using a gadolinium-loaded liquid scintillator in a segmented neutrino target at 10 meters distance from the compact core of the ILL research reactor, in Grenoble (France). The hypothesis of an oscillation towards a light sterile neutrino is tested by performing a relative comparison of measured v ¯ e spectra between cells. The data recorded during 119 (211) days of reactor turned on (off) are compatible with the null oscillation hypothesis and reject the original best-fit of the RAA at 99.8 % C.L. The analysis efforts are now pointing towards measurements involving absolute predictions in flux and shape of the antineutrino spectrum.