OKC colloquia

Observation of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering by COHERENT

by Kate Scholberg (Duke)

Europe/Stockholm
FA32

FA32

Description
Coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) is a process in which a neutrino scatters off an entire nucleus and for which the observable signature is a tiny nuclear recoil. It represents a background for direct dark matter detection experiments, as well as a possible signal for neutrinos from the Sun and supernovae. Furthermore, because the process is cleanly predicted in the Standard Model of particle physics, a measurement is sensitive to beyond-the-Standard-Model physics. The process was first predicted in 1973. It was measured for the first time by the COHERENT collaboration using the unique, high-quality source of neutrinos from the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS) at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and a cesium iodide crystal scintillator detector. This talk will describe COHERENT's recent measurement of CEvNS, the status and plans of COHERENT's suite of detectors at the SNS, and future physics reach.