The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory

TL;DR

JUNO is a large liquid scintillator detector in China designed to precisely measure neutrino properties, study neutrino mass hierarchy, and detect various neutrino sources including reactor, geoneutrinos, and supernova neutrinos.

Contribution

This paper introduces the design, physics goals, and ongoing R&D of JUNO, a high-precision neutrino observatory with unprecedented energy resolution.

Findings

Designed for 3% energy resolution at 1 MeV

Aims to determine neutrino mass ordering and measure mixing parameters

Capable of detecting geoneutrinos and supernova neutrinos

Abstract

The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) is a large and high precision liquid scintillator detector under construction in the south of China. With its 20 kt target mass, it aims to achieve an unprecedented 3% energy resolution at 1 MeV. Its main goal is to study the disappearance of reactor antineutrino to determine the neutrino mass ordering, and to precisely measure the mixing parameters $\theta_{12}$, $\Delta m^2_{12}$, and $\Delta m ^2_{ee}$. It also aims to detect neutrinos emitted from radioactive processes taking place within the inner layers of the Earth (geoneutrinos), as well as neutrinos produced during rare supernova bursts. Neutrinos emitted in solar nuclear reactions could also be observed, if stringent radiopurity requirements on the scintillator are met. This manuscript provides some highlights of JUNO's Physics Programme, and describes the detector design, as well as the ongoing detector R&D.