The hunt for theta13 at the Daya Bay nuclear power plant

TL;DR

The Daya Bay experiment aims to precisely measure the neutrino mixing angle theta13 by deploying multiple detectors near nuclear reactors, achieving high sensitivity and low uncertainty over three years.

Contribution

This paper details the design, deployment, and expected sensitivity of the Daya Bay reactor neutrino experiment for measuring theta13.

Findings

Achieves a sensitivity of <0.01 to sin^2 2theta13 after 3 years.

Uses eight identical detectors to reduce systematic uncertainties.

Demonstrates a baseline uncorrelated detector uncertainty of ~0.38%.

Abstract

The Daya Bay reactor neutrino experiment is located at the Daya Bay nuclear power plant in Shenzhen, China. The experiment deploys eight "identical" antineutrino detectors to measure antineutrino fluxes from six 2.9 GW_{th} reactor cores in three underground experimental halls at different distances. The target zone of the Daya Bay detector is filled with 20 t 0.1% Gd doped LAB liquid scintillator. The baseline uncorrelated detector uncertainty is ~0.38% using current experimental techniques. Daya Bay can reach a sensitivity of <0.01 to $sin^2 2theta_{13}$ with baseline uncertainties after 3 years of data taking.