The Physics and Nuclear Nonproliferation Goals of WATCHMAN: A WAter CHerenkov Monitor for ANtineutrinos

TL;DR

WATCHMAN is a large gadolinium-doped water Cherenkov detector designed for remote nuclear reactor monitoring and neutrino physics research, demonstrating potential for nonproliferation, supernova detection, and sterile neutrino searches.

Contribution

This paper introduces the WATCHMAN detector's design, simulation results, and technological innovations for nonproliferation and neutrino physics applications.

Findings

Successful simulation of reactor monitoring capabilities.

Potential to detect supernova neutrinos with direction and flavor info.

Sensitivity to sterile neutrinos and NSI with future upgrades.

Abstract

This article describes the physics and nonproliferation goals of WATCHMAN, the WAter Cherenkov Monitor for ANtineutrinos. The baseline WATCHMAN design is a kiloton scale gadolinium-doped (Gd) light water Cherenkov detector, placed 13 kilometers from a civil nuclear reactor in the United States. In its first deployment phase, WATCHMAN will be used to remotely detect a change in the operational status of the reactor, providing a first- ever demonstration of the potential of large Gd-doped water detectors for remote reactor monitoring for future international nuclear nonproliferation applications. During its first phase, the detector will provide a critical large-scale test of the ability to tag neutrons and thus distinguish low energy electron neutrinos and antineutrinos. This would make WATCHMAN the only detector capable of providing both direction and flavor identification of supernova neutrinos. It would also be the third largest supernova detector, and the largest underground in the western hemisphere. In a follow-on phase incorporating the IsoDAR neutrino beam, the detector would have world-class sensitivity to sterile neutrino signatures and to non-standard electroweak interactions (NSI). WATCHMAN will also be a major, U.S. based integration platform for a host of technologies relevant for the Long-Baseline Neutrino Facility (LBNF) and other future large detectors. This white paper describes the WATCHMAN conceptual design,and presents the results of detailed simulations of sensitivity for the project's nonproliferation and physics goals. It also describes the advanced technologies to be used in WATCHMAN, including high quantum efficiency photomultipliers, Water-Based Liquid Scintillator (WbLS), picosecond light sensors such as the Large Area Picosecond Photo Detector (LAPPD), and advanced pattern recognition and particle identification methods.