PROSPECT - A Precision Reactor Oscillation and Spectrum Experiment at Short Baselines

TL;DR

PROSPECT is a high-resolution antineutrino detection experiment near research reactors designed to resolve discrepancies in reactor antineutrino spectra and search for sterile neutrinos through precise spectral measurements at short baselines.

Contribution

It introduces a multi-phase, near-surface liquid scintillator detector setup at U.S. research reactors for precision spectral measurements and sterile neutrino searches.

Findings

Design of a segmented liquid scintillator detector for short-baseline measurements

Potential to resolve reactor antineutrino spectrum discrepancies

Capability to search for eV-scale sterile neutrinos

Abstract

Current models of antineutrino production in nuclear reactors predict detection rates and spectra at odds with the existing body of direct reactor antineutrino measurements. High-resolution antineutrino detectors operated close to compact research reactor cores can produce new precision measurements useful in testing explanations for these observed discrepancies involving underlying nuclear or new physics. Absolute measurement of the 235U-produced antineutrino spectrum can provide additional constraints for evaluating the accuracy of current and future reactor models, while relative measurements of spectral distortion between differing baselines can be used to search for oscillations arising from the existence of eV-scale sterile neutrinos. Such a measurement can be performed in the United States at several highly-enriched uranium fueled research reactors using near-surface segmented liquid scintillator detectors. We describe here the conceptual design and physics potential of the PROSPECT experiment, a U.S.-based, multi-phase experiment with reactor-detector baselines of 7-20 meters capable of addressing these and other physics and detector development goals. Current R&D status and future plans for PROSPECT detector deployment and data-taking at the High Flux Isotope Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory will be discussed.