First Measurement of Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering on Argon

D Akimov; J B Albert; P An; C Awe; P S Barbeau; B Becker; V Belov; I Bernardi; M A Blackston; L Blokland; A Bolozdynya; B Cabrera-Palmer; N Chen; D Chernyak; E Conley; R L Cooper; J Daughhetee; M Del Valle Coello; J A Detwiler; M R Durand; Y Efremenko; S R Elliott; L Fabris; M Febbraro; W Fox; A Galindo-Uribarri; A Gallo Rosso; M P Green; K S Hansen; M R Heath; S Hedges; M Hughes; T Johnson; M Kaemingk; L J Kaufman; A Khromov; A Konovalov; E Kozlova; A Kumpan; L Li; J T Librande; J M Link; J Liu; K Mann; D M Markoff; O McGoldrick; H Moreno; P E Mueller; J Newby; D S Parno; S Penttila; D Pershey; D Radford; R Rapp; H Ray; J Raybern; O Razuvaeva; D Reyna; G C Rich; D Rudik; J Runge; D J Salvat; K Scholberg; A Shakirov; G Simakov; G Sinev; W M Snow; V Sosnovtsev; B Suh; R Tayloe; K Tellez-Giron-Flores; R T Thornton; I Tolstukhin; J Vanderwerp; R L Varner; C J Virtue; G Visser; C Wiseman; T Wongjirad; J Yang; Y-R Yen; J Yoo; C-H Yu; J Zettlemoyer; COHERENT Collaboration

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.012002

First Measurement of Coherent Elastic Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering on Argon

Phys Rev Lett. 2021 Jan 8;126(1):012002. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.012002.

Authors

D Akimov^{1

2}, J B Albert³, P An^{4

5}, C Awe^{4

5}, P S Barbeau^{4

5}, B Becker⁶, V Belov^{1

2}, I Bernardi⁶, M A Blackston⁷, L Blokland⁶, A Bolozdynya², B Cabrera-Palmer⁸, N Chen⁹, D Chernyak¹⁰, E Conley⁴, R L Cooper^{11

12}, J Daughhetee⁶, M Del Valle Coello³, J A Detwiler⁹, M R Durand⁹, Y Efremenko^{6

7}, S R Elliott¹², L Fabris⁷, M Febbraro⁷, W Fox³, A Galindo-Uribarri^{6

7}, A Gallo Rosso¹³, M P Green^{5

7

14}, K S Hansen⁹, M R Heath⁷, S Hedges^{4

5}, M Hughes³, T Johnson^{4

5}, M Kaemingk¹¹, L J Kaufman³, A Khromov², A Konovalov^{1

2}, E Kozlova^{1

2}, A Kumpan², L Li^{4

5}, J T Librande⁹, J M Link¹⁵, J Liu¹⁰, K Mann^{5

7}, D M Markoff^{5

16}, O McGoldrick⁹, H Moreno¹¹, P E Mueller⁷, J Newby⁷, D S Parno¹⁷, S Penttila⁷, D Pershey⁴, D Radford⁷, R Rapp¹⁷, H Ray¹⁸, J Raybern⁴, O Razuvaeva^{1

2}, D Reyna⁸, G C Rich¹⁹, D Rudik^{1

2}, J Runge^{4

5}, D J Salvat³, K Scholberg⁴, A Shakirov², G Simakov^{1

2

20}, G Sinev⁴, W M Snow³, V Sosnovtsev², B Suh³, R Tayloe³, K Tellez-Giron-Flores¹⁵, R T Thornton^{3

12}, I Tolstukhin³, J Vanderwerp³, R L Varner⁷, C J Virtue¹³, G Visser³, C Wiseman⁹, T Wongjirad²¹, J Yang²¹, Y-R Yen¹⁷, J Yoo^{22

23}, C-H Yu⁷, J Zettlemoyer³; COHERENT Collaboration

Affiliations

¹ Institute for Theoretical and Experimental Physics named by A. I. Alikhanov of National Research Centre "Kurchatov Institute," Moscow, 117218, Russian Federation.
² National Research Nuclear University MEPhI (Moscow Engineering Physics Institute), Moscow, 115409, Russian Federation.
³ Department of Physics, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405, USA.
⁴ Department of Physics, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA.
⁵ Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory, Durham, North Carolina 27708, USA.
⁶ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA.
⁷ Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, USA.
⁸ Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, California 94550, USA.
⁹ Center for Experimental Nuclear Physics and Astrophysics and Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA.
¹⁰ Physics Department, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, South Dakota 57069, USA.
¹¹ Department of Physics, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico 88003, USA.
¹² Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA.
¹³ Department of Physics, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Ontario P3E 2C6, Canada.
¹⁴ Department of Physics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695, USA.
¹⁵ Center for Neutrino Physics, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061, USA.
¹⁶ Department of Mathematics and Physics, North Carolina Central University, Durham, North Carolina 27707, USA.
¹⁷ Department of Physics, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15213, USA.
¹⁸ Department of Physics, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611, USA.
¹⁹ Enrico Fermi Institute and Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA.
²⁰ Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Dolgoprudny, Moscow Region 141700, Russian Federation.
²¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts 02155, USA.
²² Department of Physics at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, 34051, Republic of Korea.
²³ Institute for Basic Science (IBS), Daejeon, 34051, Republic of Korea.

PMID: 33480779
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.012002

Abstract

We report the first measurement of coherent elastic neutrino-nucleus scattering (CEvNS) on argon using a liquid argon detector at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Spallation Neutron Source. Two independent analyses prefer CEvNS over the background-only null hypothesis with greater than 3σ significance. The measured cross section, averaged over the incident neutrino flux, is (2.2±0.7)×10^{-39} cm^{2}-consistent with the standard model prediction. The neutron-number dependence of this result, together with that from our previous measurement on CsI, confirms the existence of the CEvNS process and provides improved constraints on nonstandard neutrino interactions.